Ryan McIver

INCOMPLETE

"Ryan McIver was the head of the Black Guard, an Irish Dissident Group that made the IRA quake in their boots."

- Captain Price on McIver and the Black Guard.

Ryan McIver is an Irish-born terrorist and member (as well as co-founder) of the Four Horsemen. Known as the "bin Laden of Ireland", he was a member and eventual leader of the Black Guard as well as the terrorist organization known as the Phoenix Security Syndicate that turned the Russo-American War into World War III.

Early life and terrorist career
Little is known about McIver's childhood and early life. It is known that he was born in the city of Waterford on July 17, 1964, and grew up in a military family as both his mother and father were members of the Irish Defense Forces. He enlisted in the Defense Forces at age 18. However, somewhere later down the line, he became dissilusioned with the Defense Forces for unknown reasons and defected to the Provisional Irish Republican Army.

In 1979, the British Army attacked Waterford in an attempt to eradicate the Black Guard, a paramilitary splinter group of the IRA that specialized in guerilla warfare. In the attack, both of McIver's parents, as well as his brothers and sister, were killed. In response, McIver joined the Black Guard in the 1980's in hopes of gaining vengeance on the British.

Failed assassination attempt on Prime Minister Major
"When I was a boy, a veil of clarity passed over my eyes, allowing me to see the English for what they really were and are. This isn't over, Lieutenant Price."

- McIver to Price and MacMillan after being arrested. In early 1991, McIver had become the leader of the Black Guard and had befriended Imran Zakhaev, a prominent arms dealer who had previously served in the Red Army as a one-star general. McIver and Zakhaev took a liking to each other after realizing that they both had similar ideals (with McIver, due to his past in the IRA, wanting to reorganize Ireland into a socialist republic, and Zakhaev wishing to restore the Soviet Union) and McIver confided in Zakhaev his plan to assassinate Prime Minister John Major at the G7 Summit in London. Zakhaev decided to finance the attack and supply McIver and the Black Guard with top-grade weapons. In addition, Zakhaev requested that McIver assissinate newly-elected Russian President Boris Yeltsin as well, to which McIver accepted.

However, the UK's internal counter-intelligence and security agency, MI5, caught wind of the operation and sent Captain MacMillan and Lieutenant Price of the Special Air Service to stop it. The majority of the Black Guard were killed but McIver and his lieutenant (codenamed "Atrocity") were captured. McIver was sent to prison, and the Black Guard were scattered. McIver vowed revenge on Price for what he did.

Formation of the Four Horsemen
McIver remained imprisoned until about 1996. McIver was released via the machinations of Zakhaev, who had begun to form the earliest incarnation of the Ultranationalist Party, alongside former Spetsnaz captain Vladimir Makarov. During this time, Zakhaev operated out of Pripyat, Ukraine, selling spent nuclear fuel rods from the Chernobyl nuclear plant to other black market dealers.

McIver arranged for a meeting between Zakhaev and his associates and both Xaing Duong, a Chinese military commander who had previously been the leader of a radical paramilitary group of his own and was imprisoned, but was later pardoned (and eventually became Supreme Commander of the PLA) and Ahmed Al-Asad, who founded the earliest incarnation of the OpFor and later assisted his brother in overthrowing the government of Yasir Al-Fulani in the Middle East in 2011. The deal went awry when Lieutenant Price shot Zakhaev's arm off in a failed attempt to assassinate him. Nevertheless, this cemented China and the OpFor as eventual allies of the Ultranationalists and McIver.

Between 1996 and 2011
From that time, little is known of McIver and the Black Guard's activities. It is believed he began rallying more friends and allies to the Ultranationalist cause as well as for his own private agenda (because, despite his friendship with Zakhaev, he knew his plan had flaws, so he began forming a plan of his own should Zakhaev's fail) so he developed close friendships with Duong, Al-Asad, and Dragomir Gorgovich, a Russian politician who Zakhaev planned to instill as a figurehead ruler of Russian once he restored the Soviet Union. It is also believed that he befriended Viktor Khristenko, Kamal Waarabe, and Victor Carballo during this time.

Through his relationship with Ahmed and Khaled Al-Asad, he became aquainted with Saddam Hussein, the President of Iraq and a friend to the Al-Asad family. Hussein introduced McIver to his nephew, Shiek Omar Hussein, who owned a chain of banks in the North Sahara Province and was known to be one of Iraq's richest bankers. McIver struck up a friendship with Hussein and made him his personal banker. With Hussein's help, he set up multiple offshore accounts for himself, the Black Guard, and the Ultranationalist Party.

McIver's friendship with Vladimir Makarov grew during this time as well when Zakhaev begin ordeing him on terrorist missions. In 2001, McIver assisted Makarov in the bombing of Piccadilly Circus in London, hijacking the London Underground train that was used to transport the explosives. In 2003, McIver supplied several Black Guard operatives to Makarov during his hijacking of a pair of Kreigler Airliners. McIver also supplied Black Guard operatives to Makarov during his 2005 hijacking of a U.S. cruise ship in the Baltic Sea.

It is believed that he had a hand in many more of Makarov's operations, but little information about specifics is known.

It is believed that the Black Guard were heavily involved in drug, money, and people trafficking operations that took place in Rwanda and Sierra Leone ,with possible assistance from Kamal Waraabe. It is also known that a Black Guard terrorist cell operated out of Kosovo.

In 2006, McIver facilitated Ahmed Al-Asad's entry into the Arabian Ministry of Defense and Khaled Al-Asad's establishment as a fascist politician and leader of the OpFor. By 2009, McIver assassinated the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, and arranged for Ahmed to take his place.

Trivia

 * McIver is modeled after and voiced by Irish actor Liam Neeson.
 * McIver is the first main antagonist in the Call of Duty series to be Irish.