Peter King Is Hunting Radicals, but Loves the IRA

Peter King has become the center of a major controversy thanks to the hearing he’s holding tomorrow on “Radicalization in the American Muslim Community.” So it’s sort of awkward that King himself was an outspoken IRA supporter, who once said things like, “If civilians are killed in an attack on a military installation, it is certainly regrettable, but I will not morally blame the IRA for it,” the New York Times observes.

King was once thrown out of an IRA murder trial for being an “obvious collaborator,” and was even investigated by the Secret Service as a “security risk,” according to one Irish journalist. Later, King became an important go-between in the IRA’s peace talks. He remains unrepentant about his pro-IRA past, calling the group a “legitimate force” battling British oppression, and sees no irony in hunting for Muslim radicals. “The IRA never attacked the United States,” he explains. “And my loyalty is to the United States.”