Introduction

It is a truism that counter-terrorism activities can cause harm as great or greater than the terrorism they are intended to combat; yet such activities frequently proceed without their agents engaging in detailed reflection on the morality of the policies or practices pursued. This is true both in general and with regard to the conflict in Northern Ireland in particular. Thus an examination of the morality of IRA terrorism ideally should include an examination of the morality of British counter-terrorism as well. My aims in this chapter are thus twofold. First, I want to survey British counter-terrorism policies and practices in Northern Ireland, distinguishing among activities authorised by counter-terrorism legislation (for example, internment without trial), those that clearly go beyond anything authorised in legislation (for example, alleged shoot-to-kill executions) and those that exist in the grey area in between (for example, methods of interrogation alleged to involve torture). Second, recalling that the domains of the legal and of the moral typically overlap but are not coextensive, I want to provide at least the beginning of a moral evaluation of a subset of these activities. Absent will be any detailed discussion of the covert intelligence war waged against the IRA which became increasingly important as the conflict wore on (Jackson 2007).