Читать книгу Mad Dog - They Shot Me in the Head, They Gave Me Cyanide and They Stabbed Me, But I'm Still Standing - Johnny Adair - Страница 4

Many will find it unpalatable that I have written my autobiography.

There will be concerns I am exploiting the horrors of the Troubles for my own profit. I am also sure that no matter what reasons I give to justify this book there will be those who think there are disingenous and will remain unsatisfied.

But the fact is, there have been countless versions and accounts of my life put into the public arena with no input from myself and it is time for me to tell my story.

This is a straight account of my life growing up on the streets of Belfast and making my way to the top of the UDA. Despite being forced from my home and being betrayed by people I would have died for, I have not sought to settle scores in these pages.

I am genuine when I say I wish my story didn’t need to be told. I certainly didn’t want to grow up in the middle of a war zone, spend so many years hiding from snipers bullets and be seperated from my family behind bars. But I did.

I grew up in Protestant Belfast and that is what we believed in and fought for. We laid everything on the line to protect our community from Republican attack. This book is an account of how I first became involved and the battles that we fought. I do not wish to glorify violence or seek to exploit any of those who lost their lives. In these pages you will learn what happened to me and those around me.

Those days are over now and if the conflict in Northern Ireland has taught us one thing it is that violence solved nothing. This is a historical document and I hope it helps to move the peace process forward by drawing a line under what happened. My war is long since over and I hope that a full and proper peace will come to Northern Ireland.

JA