Facts are not necessarily truths and to know all the facts is not necessarily to know the whole truth. For us, truth is a matter of perspective, interpretation and perception. That’s why moguls seek to buy newspapers and radio stations and that’s why leaders, both democratic and not, seek to control the media. Hence the growth industry in doctoring spin.

We also tend to seek out those facts that appeal to us and to our way of thinking and seeing the world. These we assemble into what we believe to be the truth. We often fail to see that the truth we have found is one that we have ourselves constructed in the image of our beliefs, our values and our mores.
This isn’t actually about Martin Cullen and Monica Leech, although it could be. Nor is it about Ray Burke. Despite a bland exoneration in the first case and a prison sentence in the other, as regards both, people still believe what they want to believe.
If we turn to Iraq, the probability is that we will stick to the basic position we have held since the outset.
Those who opposed the American and British adventurism will point to the validity of their predictions of mayhem and resistance and the likely emergence of a conservative Shia Islamic state after a bloody civil war.
Those who supported the war will point to the moving and humbling determination of millions of Iraqis to vote in last week’s elections, to exercise a right that they had been denied by Saddam Hussein’s regime for a generation.
It is said that history is written by the winners, and that’s true. But it is also the case that history is also written by those who position themselves to control how we perceive. They seek to win by writing the history.
This is central to how Sinn Féin and the IRA go about their work. They start their arguments from a clearly defined position. They may tell the truth or not as suits the situation. Quite often you will find that they tell a truth but not the truth.
You can count on two things with Sinn Féin. Firstly, they will blame the British, using terms like ‘securocrats’ to sway the unwary. Language is an important weapon too. Secondly, they will present an entirely contrary scenario to that generally understood as the truth and use that to blame everyone else, especially those that are blaming them.
This essentially is what’s going on at the moment. Sinn Féin and the IRA participated in the peace process. They did so as part of their strategy summarised as ‘the Armalite in one hand and the ballot box in the other’.
According to the Irish and British Governments, the IRA carried out the £26.5m Northern Bank robbery. It appears from comments made from those privy to the security information on which this allegation is made that the case is pretty clearcut.
This places Sinn Féin and the IRA’s commitment to engaging in normal democratic political activity in jeopardy. What followed was inevitable. Accusation and counter-accusation leading to a suspension of the process and the withdrawal by the IRA of its offers on weapons decommissioning.
Well, you might not like Sinn Féin nor share any of the beliefs or values of physical force republicanism, but you have to acknowledge the brazenness with which they can argue that black is white and deny culpability.
A reasonable person would say that the robbery was either an incredibly stupid act carried out by an organisation that is not in control of its agents or a calculated act of contempt and provocation.
Notwithstanding the anger of the two governments and the opprobrium of many, the Shinners have gone on the offensive and presented an entirely contrary argument with the amorality of a barrister arguing a case in court.
As far as they are concerned, it’s not the existence of a highly trained and well-armed paramilitary force that’s a threat to the peace process, it’s the securocrats in the police forces in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
In Sinn Féin’s hall of mirrors, it’s not the massive bank robbery that has caused the present problems in the peace process, it’s the furious reactions of the two Governments.
It would appear that physical force republicans expect to retain their guns and explosives and to continue to raise money in illegal ways without demur. Anyone who complains that this isn’t the democratic way will be told they are undermining the peace process.
What we have here is a contest of truths and of wills. The physical force republicans aren’t using their ordnance these days and that’s a good thing. But they are waging war nonetheless.
Their weapons are words. They conduct evasions, distortions, decoys and myths. They set off verbal smokescreens, skirmishes, ambushes and full-frontal attacks. Insofar as they can, they sow confusion and pit their word against the rest.
The objective? To win by controlling history so that in time they may write history having won.
Typically, they will say that this is what everyone’s trying to do and they’ll be right. All political parties have their various resources in the field including their spin-doctors. But no other political party has an active private army to call on nor, indeed, on a membership basis, are any as financially well-endowed either.
It’s your vote that everyone is after. So, what is your truth and how are you going to find it? b