Investigating Bloody Sunday

So today I saw this:

A murder investigation is to be launched into the killings of 13 Roman Catholic civil rights marchers by British soldiers in Londonderry 40 years ago, Northern Ireland's police service said on Thursday.

Charles P. Pierce tries to make sense of the idea:

Bloody Sunday was what touched off the bloodshed that did not end until Bill Clinton and George Mitchell got both sides in a room and banged their heads together until they agreed to stop slaughtering each other. The fault for the modern outbreak of the "Troubles" lay always with the British military. This was a religious Sharpsville and it always was. Now, it seems, the reconstituted police force in Northern Ireland has decided to look into the possibility of bringing murder charges in connection with the shootings 40 years ago. This is why "getting past" things is not always a serious governing philosophy. A country that takes its history seriously knows this.