Sweeney,
The government had little choice but use the army with the level of violence threatening civil war.
They could not be withdrawn until IRA belatedly realised its terror was counter productive.
The British army is better than others but Akeneaton and Ardmhacha are right that soldiers make bad policemen.

I admitted that the army killed innocents but I have 3 caveats.

1 Last year an ex ira man, overcome by guilt, admitted having killed a child in a botched attempt to shoot a soldier.
IRA had lied about this and blamed it on the army.
How many more such cases?

2 We (RIGHTLY) expect high standards of restraint from our law keepers.
Other countries would not be shocked if car thieves crashing through a check point were shot at.

3 Republican paramilitaries killed far more innocents than the army.
Many hundreds more innocent deaths on their hands.