PrintMarch 10, 2011
Another smear against Rep. King by the former 'paper of record'
It's not surprising, but it is another blood-boiling instance of the self-proclaimed "paper of record" acting more like the propaganda organ for the left wing of the Democratic Party than a legitimate news venue.
Just a day after a very strongly worded editorial slam at Congressman Peter King over his committee's planned hearings into the radicalization of domestic Muslim community members, the Gray Lady follows up with a two-pronged smear attack.
Right on the front page of the March 9 edition, the paper ran an article headlined: "For Lawmaker Examining Terror, a Pro-I.R.A. Past." Reporter Scott Shane, reaching back into the past some 30-plus years, advises readers:
As Mr. King, a Republican, rose as a Long Island politician in the 1980s, benefiting from strong Irish-American support, the I.R.A. was carrying out a bloody campaign of bombing and sniping, targeting the British Army, Protestant paramilitaries and sometimes pubs and other civilian gathering spots.
Although the article delves deep and wide into King's support for the Irish Republicans -- one shared by a considerable number of Americans at the time -- he does admit that King eventually played a key role in settling the conflict:
In later years, by all accounts, Mr. King became an important go-between in talks that led to peace in Northern Ireland, drawing on his personal contacts with leaders of I.R.A.'s political wing, Sinn Fein, and winning plaudits from both Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, the former president and the British prime minister.
Meanwhile, on its Web-site blog, "City Room," one Noam Cohen mocks King with claims that the Congressman's 2004 book, Vale of Tears, is nothing but a "barely veiled ... thriller" about King himself, which Cohen would have readers believe shows the Republican Representative to be a hypocrite at best, a long-term schemer at worst:
As Mr. King takes the spotlight this week with his hearings on the radicalization of American Muslims, "Vale of Tears" shows he has long been considering the dangers posed by radical Muslims, as well as what role a mere congressman can play in protecting his country.
Those of us who are not in the business of denying Islamic radicalism, apologizing for it, or painting it with whitewash will welcome the opening of hearings which are long past due to attempt to discover the causes of why so many domestic terrorists are able to be enlisted in a jihadi cause against their own country by one particular group following one particular book.
