Few figures from the conflict known as “the Troubles” evoke more suspicion, myth, and controversy than Captain Robert Nairac. While officially commemorated as a courageous British Army officer who died gathering intelligence behind enemy lines, he is remembered very differently within the Irish republican community—not merely as a soldier, but as a central figure in Britain’s covert war in Ireland. This was a campaign not fought in open battle, but in shadow: a strategy built on collusion with loyalist paramilitaries, the deployment of assassination squads, and the systematic targeting of civilians. Read a detailed article on Ireland's Long War on Substack.