CAPITOL
HILL, ST. PATRICK'S DAY, 2007 — The Raymond
Mc Cord case is going to become the Protestant
version of the Pat Finucane case.
That
is what the President of the Capitol Hill-based
Irish National Caucus, Fr. Sean Mc Manus, has
told Chief Constable Hugh Orde.
With
Mc Cord's father, Raymond, Sr., standing by his
side, Fr. Mc Manus told the Chief Constable in
Washington that the Mc Cord case was resonating
powerfully in the Congress and the White House
because of the power of its narrative, and the
impact of the O'Loan Report — and that it
was not going to go away.
"For
over 30 years," Fr. Mc Manus explained, "Members
of Congress have heard me go on and on about collusion
— about how the British security forces and
the Northern Ireland police cooperated with Protestant
death squads to assassinate Catholics. What is
dramatically different now is that the Mc Cords
are a Protestant family — a loyal Ulster
family, proud of their British heritage. And when
people see Mc Cord's father, Raymond Sr., walk
the halls of Congress and the White House with
a Catholic priest like myself, it makes a powerfully
compelling statement."
(Paul
Mc Illwaine, father of David murdered in 2000,
is also Protestant and he too was in Washington
lobbying).
Fr.
Mc Manus went on to say, "Just as Irish-Americans
have stood in solidarity with the Finucanes, we
will stand with the Mc Cords, and we will not
let any case of collusion slip through the cracks.
Both the Finucanes and the Mc Cords are the first
to emphasize that their cases are merely the tip
of the iceberg and both want all the other cases
give due attention, as do we."
