Saturday, March 5, 2011

Peter King, The IRA, and Islamic Terrorism

Talk about chickens coming home to roost!  New York Republican Peter King is preparing to hold a series of hearings on the "radicalization of American Muslims" in the House of Representatives.  It seems some folks who retain the ability to weigh inconvenient facts find this ironic, given his throaty, active support of the Irish Republican Army. 

King explains away the difference with a precision one might classify as "Clinton-esque", if such a distinction meant anything anymore.  Here is some of that explanation:  "But King sees no parallel between the IRA and violent Islamist extremism, which he describes as a foreign enemy or a foreign-directed enemy. His preferred comparison for the IRA is with the African National Congress led by Nelson Mandela; the IRA, no less than the ANC's military wing, was fighting for community rights and freedom, he says. "I [wanted] a peace agreement, a working agreement, where the nationalist community would feel their rights would be respected," King said in an interview at his Capitol Hill office. "I felt that the IRA, in the context of Irish history, and Sinn Fein were a legitimate force that had to be recognized and you wouldn't have peace without them"

Whether or not Islamic extremism is a "foreign enemy" or a "foreign directed enemy" is interesting, but not relevant--especially if you were in the British Army in Ulster, or were part of the Protestant community there.  What THEY saw was terrorism, flat out. I'm sure the British and the Ulster Irishmen saw PLENTY of foreign influence in the IRA (see connections to other worldwide terror organizations AND financing from the Irish-American community).  As a matter of fact, I was present as a boy of six or seven in a Long Island basement where the hat was passed to SUPPORT the IRA.

Should the Congress look into the radicalization of American Muslims as a threat to national security?  Yes.  Should Peter King lead that inquiry?  No.  He was a vocal supporter of a bloody terror organization and he does not have the moral standing to preside.

2 comments:

Doc Milnamo said...

Begrudgingly, I agree. If this were 1916 meh, but the IRA did move from freedom fighters to terrorists in the years since. Plus, the IRAs Marxist-Leninist leanings should give Mr. King pause.

Graham Pointer said...

I agree with the post and Doc's reply. One thing is that the IRA got its weapons from Libya, and so money raised by NORAID to help "Oirish freedom fighters" was going to help the Gadaffi regime. When Gadaffi falls, I wonder whether the new Libyan government would release details of just who gave money.

Doc is right about the Marxist-Leninist leanings. Their sole Member of the European Parliament, Bairbre de Brun, sits in the European United Left/Nordic Green Left group- i.e. the ex-Communists.

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