Since a Washington Post story over the weekend pointed out that in the mid-1980s Rep. Peter King (R-NY) "was one of the most zealous American defenders of the militant [Irish Republican Army] and its campaign to drive the British out of Northern Ireland," there's been a growing buzz on the Web about whether he's being hypocritical by planning to hold a hearing Thursday on what he says is the growing danger of "Muslim radicalization" in the U.S.
Today, the AP reports that King:
"Told The Associated Press that radical Islam is a distinct threat that must be investigated regardless of whose sensibilities are offended. The congressman, a Republican, pointed to his support in the 1990s for hearings into right-wing militias, on grounds that they were the danger of that time.
"He supported the Irish Republican Army's political wing in the 1980s and 1990s, a time when the IRA was involved in violence in Northern Ireland. He says now that the IRA and al-Qaida are very different and that the IRA never attacked America. The IRA, he says, was a narrowly focused homegrown movement.
"Of the current situation, he said in an interview, 'You have a violent enemy from overseas which threatens us and which is recruiting people from a community living in our country. That's ... what this hearing's going to be.' "
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