Set A Thief To Catch A Thief
The NY Times tells us about Rep. Peter King, who is about to open House hearings on Muslim radicalization in America:
WASHINGTON ? For Representative Peter T. King, as he seizes the national spotlight this week with a hearing on the radicalization of American Muslims, it is the most awkward of r?sum? entries. Long before he became an outspoken voice in Congress about the threat from terrorism, he was a fervent supporter of a terrorist group, the Irish Republican Army.
WASHINGTON ? For Representative Peter T. King, as he seizes the national spotlight this week with a hearing on the radicalization of American Muslims, it is the most awkward of r?sum? entries. Long before he became an outspoken voice in Congress about the threat from terrorism, he was a fervent supporter of a terrorist group, the Irish Republican Army.
?We must pledge ourselves to support those brave men and women who this very moment are carrying forth the struggle against British imperialism in the streets of Belfast and Derry,? Mr. King told a pro-I.R.A. rally on Long Island, where he was serving as Nassau County comptroller, in 1982. Three years later he declared, ?If civilians are killed in an attack on a military installation, it is certainly regrettable, but I will not morally blame the I.R.A. for it.?
As Mr. King, a Republican, rose as a Long Island politician in the 1980s, benefiting from strong Irish-American support, the I.R.A. was carrying out a bloody campaign of bombing and sniping, targeting the British Army, Protestant paramilitaries and sometimes pubs and other civilian gathering spots. His statements, along with his close ties to key figures in the military and political wings of the I.R.A., drew the attention of British and American authorities.
A judge in Belfast threw him out of an I.R.A. murder trial, calling him an ?obvious collaborator,? said Ed Moloney, an Irish journalist and author of ?A Secret History of the I.R.A.? In 1984, Mr. King complained that the Secret Service had investigated him as a ?security risk,? Mr. Moloney said.
In later years, by all accounts, Mr. King became an important go-between in talks that led to peace in Northern Ireland, drawing on his personal contacts with leaders of I.R.A.?s political wing, Sinn Fein, and winning plaudits from both Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, the former president and the British prime minister.
So he grew over the years. Nixon went to China, Obama quit smoking, and Mr. King can speak from personal experience about the possibility that seemingly mainstream people can become radicalized. His IRA past is not a bug, it's a feature.
Eventually the Times addresses that:
?King?s exactly right to say there?s a difference of approach between the I.R.A. and Al Qaeda,? said Tom Parker, a counterterrorism specialist at Amnesty International and a former British military intelligence officer. ?But I personally consider both of them terrorist groups.?
Mr. Parker was at a birthday party for a friend in London in 1990 when the I.R.A. tossed a bomb onto the roof of the rented hall, a historic barracks. Many people, including Mr. Parker, were injured, but none died, by lucky chance of location and quick medical response, he said.
What troubles him, Mr. Parker said, is that Mr. King ?understands the pull of ancestral ties. He took a great interest in a terrorist struggle overseas. He?s a guy who could bring real insight to this situation.? Instead, he said, ?he is damaging cooperation from the greatest allies the U.S. has in counterterrorism.?
Some who have been close to Mr. King agree. Niall O?Dowd, an Irish-born New York publisher and writer who worked with him on the peace process in the 1990s, broke publicly with him Monday on his Web site, IrishCentral.com, describing Mr. King?s ?strange journey from Irish radical to Muslim inquisitor.?
In Northern Ireland, Mr. O?Dowd said, they saw a Catholic community ?demonized? by its Protestant and British critics and worked to bring it to the peace table. Seeing his old friend similarly ?demonize? Muslims has shocked him, he said.
?I honestly feel Peter is wrong, and his own experience in Northern Ireland teaches him that,? Mr. O?Dowd said. ?He?s a very honest, working-class Irish guy from Queens who?s had an amazing career. Now I see a man turning back on himself, and I don?t know why.?
http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2011/03/set-a-thief-to-catch-a-thief.html
