Visiting UK, Rep. King Cheers IRA Terror Attacks

Stands By Support for Attacks on 'British Imperialism'

Usually when Rep. Peter King (R – NY) makes headlines, its because he’s badmouthing Muslims. The House Homeland Security Chair has spent most of the past year setting up committees to investigate the “threat” posed by Muslim-Americans and Somalis in particular.

But he’s got other interests too. The anti-Muslim thing is actually a relatively new tool in King’s repertoire, who built his career as a champion for terrorists in Northern Ireland, winning the affection of key Irish-American voters in his community.

So when Rep. King took a trip to Britain to warn parliament about the danger posed by Muslims, one of the MPs actually brought up King’s past life, pressing him on his role as “an apologist for terrorism” and asking him if he still stood behind his support for attacks on “British imperialism.”

King, apparently completely oblivious to what a hypocrite this stance makes him look like, insisted that he does stand by his position, insisting that as an Irish-American he felt a duty to publicly support Irish terrorists in the media.

So, just to summarize, the House Homeland Security Committee Chairman has spent three decades publicly supporting terrorism, and stands by that position.

While this makes King look like a hypocritical monster and surely embarrasses the committee to no end, it might explain a few things about King’s anti-Muslim perspective. If, after all, he felt a”duty” to defend Irish terrorists simply by virtue of being ethnically Irish, maybe he assumed all Muslims were as narrow-minded as he is and would, naturally, embrace Muslim terrorists simply because they’re Muslim.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.