Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Making an Impression in the UK

Here is the reaction from Kings appearance on the BBC daily lunchtime radio show 'The World at One' earlier this year....

Dear Congressman Peter King,
I heard your interview on the BBC 1pm radio news programme on 30 May 2006. Among other things you expressed the view that the events of 9/11 meant that the USA was more aware of the seriousness of the so-called "war" against terrorism than Europeans who had not experienced terrorism on such a scale. I assume, perhaps wrongly, that you must be aware of the terrorist attacks that have taken place in different European countries over very many years, since long before 9/11.
Basque atrocities in Spain, bombs on the metro in Paris, murders by the Red Brigade in Germany and nearly 20 years of terrorist murders in Greece are some which immediately come to mind. But, above all, IRA bombings, in Northern Ireland and mainland Britain, and assassinations of British officials serving in foreign countries, must be very familiar to you with your connections with Noraid. I see from its website that Noraid accuses the British Government of subjecting 50% of the population of Northern Ireland to terrorism and that you are one of several Congressmen signing a letter sponsored by an organisation which, in common with a great many other British people, I have found terrifying for years.
Like most Londoners I have had to wonder every time my children went out whether today would be the day when their lives would be ended or damaged for ever by some new IRA outrage. In many ways it was worse than the German Blitz on London during the second world war, which I also experienced. At least then we knew who our enemy was. One of the reasons for the warm sympathy felt and expressed all over Europe for our American friends after 9/11 was that we Europeans know from long and bitter experience how it feels to be the victims of such a terrible attack. It's a pity that those Americans who earlier supported the IRA and condoned its murders of innocent people in Ireland and Britain couldn't feel the same understanding for its victims.
Congressman, please don't lecture me about terrorism.

This is from an e-mail that circulated in the UK.....
I'll tell you something else about Congressman Peter King, Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. On Sunday 4 June [2006], I saw him on CNN Late Edition. He was criticizing Canada's record on terrorism and Al Quaida. He blamed it on their lax immigration policy. (All this in reference to the recent arrest of 17 terrrorist suspects in Canada). I was glad that the new Canadian Ambassador to the USA denied all these allegations. I have recently photocopied a review by one Graham Stewart of a book by Ashley Jackson called The British Empire and the Second World War. According to this "In the summer of 1940, Canadian troops provided a significant proportion of the front-line soldiers defending southern England from invasion. Canada also supplied nearly half the surface escorts guarding the Atlantic convoys from North America to Britain - a vital assistance to the mother country. By the war's conclusion, the world's third largest navy was Canadian."
In addition we of the wartime generation, and, I hope some others, know that Canada declared war on Hitler's Germany within days of 3 September 1939 and we know too that there was a large contingent of Canadians flying with the Few in the Battle of Britain. Perhaps Congressman King should reflect on which country has the better record in fighting Fascism and coming to the aid of its allies?

1 comment:

Sulayman said...

Excellent, if only Mr. King would actually get to read it.