The SAM Song

The British army in Northern Ireland started to use helicopters in the mid-1970's, because ambushes and snipers made ground patrols and road transport a perilous undertaking. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (pIRA) realised that it would be devastating for British morale if they could bring down a helicopter and the organisation went shopping for surface-to-air missiles, or SAM's.
Initially the Provisional Irish Republican Army (pIRA) tried to buy SAM-missiles from Central American arms dealers in the United States of America. This plan however was frustrated by the PIRA Unit, a special FBI-unit, with the arrest of Gabriel Megahey in June 1982.

In the course of the 1980's however the relation between the Provisional Irish Republican Army (pIRA) and Libya's head of state Colonel Ghadaffi, the so-called Green-Green Alliance, started to pay off and rumours that the Provisional Irish Republican Army (pIRA) had acquired SAM-missiles started to buzz around.
Russian made SAM-missiles, especially the SA 7, also known as Grail, shoulder-fired heat seeking missiles, which are alleged to have been bought by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (pIRA), are well known and used by several paramilitary organisations over the world.

For a while these rumours could not be verified, mainly because no SAM was ever launched in Northern Ireland, but when Colonel Ghadaffi decided that Libya had to become a decent state he provided the government of the United Kingdom with documents concerning arms deliveries to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (pIRA). The exact number of systems is well hidden in the archives, but estimations vary from one to seven.
The fact that no SAM-missile was fired by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (pIRA) is puzzling, all the more given the efforts and money spent obtaining the systems. There are some different points of view in this matter. A bit too naïve perhaps is the idea that they lack the know-how needed to use the missiles. Others assume that the Provisional Irish Republican Army (pIRA) bought defective systems.
The discovery of two operational SAM-missiles with a short English manual in France in October 2004 might belie both opinions. It is believed that these missiles were bought by the Basque terrorist group Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA, meaning Basque Fatherland and Liberty) from the Provisional Irish Republican Army (pIRA).

The uncertainties will remain until the Independent International Commission of Decommissioning (IICD) publish the survey of weapons put beyond use by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (pIRA) in the decommission process or, God forbid, a dissident group actually use one. Due to advancing techniques the SA 7 is nowadays an obsolete weapon system for military use, but attacks on low flying civil planes are a theoretical possibility though.

Tiocfaidh ár lá, abbreviated to TÁL, meaning our day will come, is the slogan of the Republican movement. Nowadays this slogan is rarely heard in the Republic of Ireland and only occasionally in Northern Ireland. Among Irish descendants in the United States or Scotland however the slogan is still rather popular.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• SAM
• Song
• IRA
• Northern
• Ireland
• The
• Troubles
• Provisional
• Irish
• Republican
• Army
• Helicaopters
• British
• Colonel
• Ghadaffi
• Libya
• ooh
• ah
• up
• the
• 'RA!
• Athenrye

[conflictserum]

Does this sound to anyone like a rip off johnny cash's "Ghost Riders in the Sky" ? o.O

[godbrother10]

@conflictserum It is meant to be.

[MrTiarnanq]

why do british people come on to irish rebel music just to complain about how much they hate the irish? It is really annoying.

[mrdems41]

the huns come on to irish channells coz they secretly wish they wer irish, y else wud they come here, RESPECT to other countries who like us irish and our struggle for a united Ireland. Ur welcome here anytime to hav the craic

[HelmetFight]

Look, 8 helicopter pilots watched this video

[3tangle3]

@MrTiarnanq by british you mean the posh group in england ...us celts in wales cornwall and scotland in solidarity

[j98765432123]

I'm half english and half Irish, but I say fuck the British government...... OOO AAAAH UP THE RA

[keyban1]

@conflictserum Not to sound like a douche, but Johnny Cash didn't make Ghost Riders in the Sky, Stan Jones did. Oh and erin go bragh and all that jazz..

[theboyraz1]

TIOCFAIDH AR LA!

[VeritasAequitas777]

@Distortionsounds The flag with the 3 golden crowns on a blue background is the flag of the Irish province of Munster in the south of Ireland.

[RoyalArch1798]

In reply to Distortion Sounds, the flag you see on the video even though it is very like the flag of Royal Sweden, is actually the flag of the Irish Province of Munster. Hope this answers your question

[MrTiarnanq]

@sashasentine Its not its a missile launcher XD



[Distortionsounds]

sry if ask stupid, but why did they use 3 goldens crown and blue background. it look like the Swedish coat of arms? i just wonder. thanks