Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) has become one of Congress' strongest voices on the threat to the U.S. from Islamic terrorists. But as his hearings into the radicalization of American Muslims kick off, King's past support for a different kind of terrorist organization — the Irish Republican Army — has come under the spotlight. The New York Times reports that King pledged in 1982, when he was a Long Island comptroller, to support the "brave men and women" of the IRA as they "struggle against British imperialism in the streets of Belfast and Derry." King explained that the situation was different, as the IRA never attacked the U.S. Does it matter that this anti-terror campaigner once supported an avowed terrorist organization? (See Jon Stewart's take on King)
To King, some terrorists are better than others: It's true that the IRA never attacked the U.S, says Steve Benen at Washington Monthly. But neither have Hamas, Hezbollah nor the Muslim Brotherhood. "Is he comfortable with them, too?" True, it's not fair to equate the IRA with al Qaeda, but both can fairly be "described as terrorist organizations." Should we really have a Homeland Security Committee chairman who is on record being "sympathetic to those doing the killing"?
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