Nelson riddle could go to White House Lobby group to press Bush on UDA agent’s mystery death
Posted By: March 29, 2013
By Stephen Breen
THE row over the mystery death of UDA double-agent Brian Nelson could lead all the way to the White House, Sunday Life can reveal.
For the powerful Washington-based Irish National Caucus lobby group is set to ask US President George Bush, to tell the American people if the Army spy and convicted terrorist spent the last days of his life in the US.
It follows claims by Nelson’s wife’s family – first revealed in Sunday Life – that the agent died in Florida.
The US Congress has now urged the US State Department to explain the mystery of Nelson’s death.
New York Democratic Congressmen Joe Crowley and Tom Mahon, who sit on the ad-hoc Congressional Committee for Irish Affairs, have written to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a bid to uncover the truth behind Nelson’s death.
We also understand the same questions have been posed to US Special Envoy, Richard Haas.
A spokesman for the US State Department confirmed the congressmen had posed questions about Nelson.
Said the spokesman: “Questions have been asked about this issue, but we cannot comment any further.”
This latest development in the UDA man’s death riddle comes after we revealed last month that the powerful Washington-based Irish National Caucus lobby group, had also urged Colin Powell to investigate the mystery of Nelson’s death.
We revealed how a senior US government source told Sunday Life that the UDA double agent did not receive a visa by the US authorities, to settle in Florida.
But Nelson’s wife’s family told us how he died from a brain hemorrhage thousands of miles away from his old stomping ground in west Belfast.
Other reports have claimed he may have passed away at a secret location in Canada.
Irish National Caucus President Fr Sean McManus, told Sunday Life he was “disappointed” at the failure of the US State Department to respond to the questions which have been delivered to Colin Powell.
Said Fr McManus: “I have been in contact with the members of the US Congress and I can confirm that they, too, have written to Colin Powell on the Nelson issue.
“Like our own organization, the Congressmen haven’t received any reply.
“But we won’t stop until we force an answer one way or the other.
“We are coming into an election cycle in the United States and I don’t think George Bush would want to be ambivalent to an issue or cover-up involving terrorism.
“I am convinced we will get answers because the American people have a right to know how – if it is true – their government was able to make a deal with a convicted terrorist.”
Brian Nelson was reported dead, earlier this year, only days before the Stevens Inquiry was due to publish part of its findings into collusion between loyalist terrorists and the security forces.
sbreen@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
