At UK terror inquiry, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) defends IRA terror
This pretty much it speaks for itself. I find Rep. King’s continued hypocrisy and application of double standards galling. Video is available at the link.
[…] It was the longtime Labour MP David Winnick, who was first elected to the House of Commons in 1966, who confronted King.
“There’s been some surprise in the United States but also in Britain that you have a job looking into and investigating into terrorism,” said Winnick. King, the MP added, “seems to be an apologist for terrorism.”
Winnick cited a King quote from 1982:
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.
And another from 1985:
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.
“Do you stand by that?” Winnick asked King.
“I stand by it in the context of when it was said,” King responded, without hesitation.
He later added that those quotes were designed to “put [the conflict] in a perspective” for an American audience that was too often exposed to anti-I.R.A. points of view.
He then offered this lengthy defense of the role he played during the conflict in Ireland. Conspicuously missing from it is any denunciation of, or expression of regret for, I.R.A. terrorism. […]
It’s also worth noting here that this year King defended his support for the I.R.A. to the New York Times by claiming that the group had “never attacked the United States. And my loyalty is to the United States.” He did not repeat that explanation to the parliamentary committee. […]