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Secret Victory

The Intelligence War That Beat the IRA

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Secret Victory

By: Dr William Matchett
Narrated by: Nick Cracknell
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About this listen

Terrorist leaders are not benevolent men inclined to make peace but vicious bullies. The IRA was the Islamic State of its day. Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan are similar wars. In these, an insurgency like the IRA/Sinn Féin mix is the main problem.

A proven solution is the rule of law, where police intelligence dominates because investigative practices fail. The approach - widely misrepresented and commonly misunderstood - devastated the IRA. Some terrorists were killed, most were in prison, many were on the run, and the rest feared the same fate. The IRA was forced into a ceasefire.

Had this been disclosed in promoting the peace, nations would have benefited and lives saved. But the political endgame was botched. Unrepentant insurgents in government tainted security to sanitise their past. IRA leaders became peacemakers. Others contemplating conflict watched. Al-Qaeda was encouraged. New York's twin towers stood tall. Peace had a price.

©2016 William Matchett (P)2017 William Matchett Freedom & Security Political Science Politics & Government United States War & Crisis World National Security War Thought-Provoking Ireland

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Critic reviews

"William Matchett's Secret Victory provides a vital case study in counterterrorism at a time the West needs every lesson it can get. It may deal with Ireland, but it provides vital insights into both the value of human intelligence and the limits of force." (Anthony H. Cordesman, Burke Chair in Strategy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington D.C.)
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this is a very well rounded and interesting listen, thought provoking and intelligently written piece,

best audio book I've had for ages

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A couple of the one star reviews here either come from another side in the conflict or objected to the narrator reading out lists. He only does that in a couple of places and those can be skipped if it really irks, but I listened through it ok. I guess these are just tables in the actual printed copy.

I'm old enough to have lived through all this but only ever saw it via the news. I was interested to hear an insider's view and it was worth listening to. The narrator has a good voice for the listener and there's lots of stuff in here which never made it onto the news / into the public domain - and therefore never to people like me.

If I have a complaint then it does seem a bit longer in places than it needed to be (aside from the lists) and I think that an abridged version could probably hit all the important facts in about half the time, but I stayed with it and I'm pleased that I did.

Worth sticking with

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As a resident of NI there's not much in the book that surprised me, but it cemented my theories so thank you for that, the only bit I may query would be the Finicune affair and his innocence, or lack thereof, given subsequent info that may have come to light after this publication.

NI resident

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Interesting facts and viewpoints from a respected police veteran of the troubles. A topic dear to me and my military past. The author has done much to redress the balance in a climate looking for scapegoats in an unbalanced theatre.

Secret Victory - Moral Justification

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Loved it this book really give you an insight in to thing that I never really understood about Northern Ireland and why things happened the way that they did.
it gives you personal accounts of the people involved and the mind sets of the main protagonists.

excellent

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Having lived in some of this period, it was interesting to get more information - sometimes the writer's own views come through a bit too strongly for me and the book would have been better without this, that said, it was a good listen.

Interesting & shocking

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This book is an excellent account of what really happened and how the Government of the time fell for the ruse of the terrorist machine. The professional criminals played them like an old fiddle. Well read and made my commute that bit more interesting. Highly recommended.

The Truth at Last

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A highly enlightening, engaging account from the quiet side of conflict. An irregular war, won with controlled force and intelligence then predictably sold out by vacuous politicians. And a lesson in history unsurprisingly ignored.

An enlightening account from the quiet side.

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I have been in Belfast recently and have been reading about and thinking about the so called Troubles, and the equally so called Peace Process. Much as it can be argued that Unionist politicians made a mess of running Ulster and sowed the seeds of much grievance there is nothing that remotely justifies the psychopathic violence of the irregular war that was launched by the provisional IRA. The RUC and Special Branch have been treated disgracefully and the version of the conflict that has gained ascendancy since 1998 is, quite simply, wrong. A strange state of affairs. However, if the truth, rather than the sinister fairy tales of Sinn Féin is what you are after, then this is the account for you.

Important, and corrective

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This is an interesting book making the case against the all too readily accepted claim that the Republican movement in N.I. underwent a Damascus Road conversion to peace and arguing that they were forced to abandon violence because of the work of RUC Special Branch.

The author makes a convincing case with careful research which is well presented. Interestingly he draws out the fact that lessons from NI were not learned in establishing a police force until late in the day at the cost of many lives. He also makes intelligent points about the links between the PIRA and terrorists and terrorism in the 21st century.

I rated the book 4 star rather than 5 star simply because I feel the author neglects the role of others in the fight against terror in NI. The contribution of RUC officers outside of Special Branch was, I felt, not given enough attention while the role of the Army and particularly the locally recruited Ulster Defence Regiment was overlooked. I appreciate that isn’t the focus of the book but largely ignoring the contribution of others outside RUC SB was a weakness of another wise excellent book.

Interesting book making the case for Special Branch

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