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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

British seek once again to blacken Rep. Peter King -- his role in Irish peace process never forgiven

Posted on Saturday, December 18, 2010 at 03:23 AM

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Congressman Peter King has been named 'America's worst congressman'by Scottish journalist Alex Massie writing in the Daily Beast. The story was also picked up by Salon.com.

King should consider it a badge of honor.

Massie points to King's role as a supporter of Irish Republicanism and says as a result, he's unfit to lead the House Homeland Security Committee.

King should indeed be very happy at the honor coming from a right wing- British writer who has regularly featured in publications such as the Daily Telegraph which consistently opposed the Irish peace process.

Massie writes that "For years, King, who represents a chunk of New York's Long Island, was in fact the terrorists' best friend. King wasn't merely an apologist for terrorism, he was an enthusiastic supporter of terrorism."

This is the old Britspeak of course. King was no such a thing. Alone among American politicians he stood up to the British and publicly challenged them on Northern Ireland, their very own Gaza Strip at the time.

Some British like Massie have never forgiven him for exposing what was really going on in Northern Ireland at a time when Her Majesty's government were desperately trying to put a clamp on it and hide it from prying eyes.

If toadies like Massie had their way that would still be the same situation in Northern Ireland,Britain's dirty little secret, instead of what it is.

Were it left to Mouthpiece Massie the peace process would never have happened.

The truth is an end to the long decades of violence would never have been achieved were it not for men like Peter King

He spoke for Irish nationalists in America and revealed issues such as the shoot to kill policy of British forces, the murder by British agents of Patrick Finucane, a lawyer who had the temerity to represent Republican suspects, and he led efforts to ensure that ten Northern Irish Republican prisoners would not starve to death on hunger strike,which the British allowed anyway.

But What Massie totally misses is Pete King was a voice for moderation, continually urging Sinn Fein to begin a political path and get away from the violence.

King leveraged his status as a respected American with Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA to urge them strongly to pursue the then nascent peace process.

When Sinn Fein decided to take his advice and that of other leading Irish Americans, the situation was transformed by the IRA ceasefire and the beginning of the Irish peace process that today is a showcase to the world on how to resolve ethnic conflicts.

Peter King played a major role in achieving that and no Brit apologist will change that.

Consider it a badge of honor, Congressman, that the Brits are singling you out again

As for Mr. Massie, perhaps he might be better employed finding out just how far up the chain of command to Downing Street and Margaret Thatcher perhaps that the orders to gun down a defenseless lawyer called Pat Finucane in front of his young family went.

When it comes to terrorism the Brits have very little to learn from anyone.

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kurtjohnson | Jan 01, 2011, 03:06 AM EST

@Realist - There is no british nation but three (or arguably four) people combined by force through a medieval sort of proto-bolshevism. The "british nation (and by extension its planters)," even presuming it existed, has no veto over the Irish right to self determination. The poisonous treaty of Versailles (the reparations from which Germany just completed paying this week) is what created the rise of the Nazis and WWII with its associated atrocities. Moreover, the etioogy of british and later Nazi supremacism can arguably be traced to degenerate anglo-dutch materialist doctrines.

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ancavker | Dec 28, 2010, 11:25 AM EST

Dan No denying that the IRA in the 30's frolicked with the Nazi's just like many English including Churchill initially froliced with Hitler, and admired him. Lets not forget that the English and French treatment of Germany at the end of WW1 went along way in leading to the rise of the mad man Hitler.

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ancavker | Dec 28, 2010, 11:22 AM EST

bobby40 True the Americans did destroy the native Americians. And yes the native Americans were depicted as savages even when I was in school which was not that long ago. Much of course the same way the English portrayed the Irish. Of course this has rightfully changed now, and the native Americans struggle is depicted as a fight for survival, and of course nobody is asking that they apologise for fighting back. Compare that of course to the Irish who are constantly told they should be ashamed of the so called atrocities committed against Protestants in the 1641 rising. The same settler stock who were destorying the native Americans in America.

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ancavker | Dec 28, 2010, 11:16 AM EST

realist: Ireland was an integral part of the UK??? Talk about tired old nonsense. I Guess you have been inhaling too much of Conor Cruise O'Brien's nonsense, or perhaps the Reform Movement silliness. Did Ireleand join the UK of it's pwn free will? Did the Irish people have any say in it? The answer of course is no. The fact remains that in the 1918 general election Sinn Fein won the majority of seats and had a mandate from the Irish people to establish an independent Ireland; simple as that.

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sirpeter | Dec 27, 2010, 08:11 PM EST

bobby40...Don't go..I like your way of thinking,I can see you contributing in a very positive way.There isn't much intelligents from the anti-Irish anglophiles..so it's a bit of fun.

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hancock | Dec 27, 2010, 09:08 AM EST

Yeah, we all got our own facts here, and eveybody is a bigot. Even the English terrorists.

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DanOLoingsigh | Dec 27, 2010, 07:52 AM EST

bobby40, welcome on board...try Irish Times online for some excellent articles...keep visiting this site to remind yourself that bigotry and bias is alive and well, and deserves to be challenged by the occasional fact(s)!!

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hancock | Dec 27, 2010, 12:58 AM EST

Thats the spirit Bobby, it took you all of ten lines to get with the program.

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bobby40 | Dec 26, 2010, 04:48 PM EST

Sorry I'm new to IrishCentral about an hour. I'm trying to find a site that covers irish issues maturely and professionally. Is the the quality of the journalism or can anyone write articles. Hate filled biased journalism. Pathetic. The author drives into the brits without mentioning the IRA or Irish American involment accurately in Ireland. Disappointed IrishCentral. "When it comes to terrorism the Brits have very little to learn from anyone" Well anyone could reply american destroyed a way of life, a culture, a people. Today Native americans on their reservations have high drug abuse, unemployment and sucide rates.

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hancock | Dec 26, 2010, 10:49 AM EST

Their all terrorists, English and Irish.

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DanOLoingsigh | Dec 26, 2010, 04:53 AM EST

Can anyone name any of the 21 victims killed by IRA in the Birmingham pub bombings? No, didn’t think so. Strange how the miscarriages of justice are remembered in detail, and seen as greater crimes than the bombings themselves, classic Nazi propaganda tactics…FACT - it was Sean Russell, and fellow pro Nazi IRA, who ‘frolicked’ with the Gestapo.

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pilib04 | Dec 25, 2010, 10:24 PM EST

Andanddec refers to the Birmingham and Guildford bombings. Presumably to remind us of the gestapo tactics of the british government. FACT: Annie Maguire served 14 years for a crime she did not commit. Patrick Maguire served 14 years for a crime he did not commit. Annie and Patrick's son, Patrick Maguire (age 14 at the trial) served 4 years for a crime he did not commit. Annie and Patrick's son, Vincent Maguire, age 17 at the trial, served 5 years for a crime he did not commit. Sean Smyth served 12 years for a crime he did not commit. Patrick O'Neill served 12 years for a crime he did not commit. Giuseppe Conlon died in prison after serving 12 years for a crime HE DID NOT COMMIT. FACT: Paul Hill, Paddy Armstrong, Carole Richardson and Gerry Conlon served 16 years for a crime they did not commit. the brit trial judge we should be reminded, said he wished he could have given them the death sentence!!! The Brit PM apologized in 2005 for this travesty. In regards to the Birminham the birmingham bombing, same thing.Brits framed six Irish men, Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkeny, William Power and John Walker. They were imprisoned from 1975 to 1991. Then released and later awarded compensations ranging 840,000 to 1.2 million pounds.

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Realist | Dec 24, 2010, 04:34 PM EST

ancavker: In the UK as a whole (of which Ireland was an integral part) Unionist parties won 611 of the 700 seats that were available. That gave them the mandate from the British people, to maintain the United Kingdom. The fact that Sinn Fein voted no, means nothing. They were a minority in the British Isles. Should states in the U.S. that do not vote for the winning presidential candiate be allowed to secede? Should the whites in South Africa have been allowed to set up a seperate white homeland? After all many of them had been there since the 1600's. Did the east Germans get to vote yes or no on reunificaiton with west Germany? Lol....it cuts both ways my friend. Even Provisional Sinn Fein don't wheel out that tired old rubbish anymore.

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ancavker | Dec 22, 2010, 04:19 PM EST

Dan That was not the IRA of the war of independence/civil war. They were either all dead, left the country in disillusionment etc. As far as partition yes it should have only been temporary, but the six counties should have been much smaller than it ended up being. Tyrone, Fermanagh,and west Derry should not have been included in that entity.

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DanOLoingsigh | Dec 22, 2010, 02:33 PM EST

What about IRA bombing Coventry 25 August 1939; the explosion killed five people, injured 100 more. Two IRA members and three others were put on trial for murder. Three were acquitted and two convicted and hanged in February 1940. What was their motivation?

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