The Trouble With Peter King, Libya’s Chaos and Other Unsettling News

David Szydloski

By David Szydloski On the eve of Representative Peter King's congressional hearings on the "radicalization of Muslim Americans," it's important to recognize how many individuals who rage against "radical Islam" have themselves provided material and political support to groups that the State Department has labeled as terrorists. Yesterday, the New York Times wrote about King's unqualified support for the Irish Republican Army, even going so far as to say that “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." There is also a growing movement to legitimize the Mujaheddin-e-Khalq (MEK), or the People's Mujaheddin of Iran. Many powerful political and military figures have received money and spoken at events supporting them, while others have lobbied the U.S. government to remove the MEK from the State Department's Foreign Terrorist Organization list. [Meanwhile, activists supporting dialogue and conflict resolution skills can be accused for 'providing material support to terrorists" under the Supreme Court's decision in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project (2009)] As NATO and the EU meet this week to discuss possible intervention in Libya, one story that hasn't gotten much press in the U.S. is that of the British SAS and MI6 agents who were captured by rebel forces near Benghazi in an attempt to make contact with anti-Gaddafi leaders. The Brits were held until the British government vouched for their identities and were subsequently flown back to England. Rebels are very aware on how pro-Gaddafi forces can use the presence of foreign aid to discredit the rebellion: "This could play into Gaddafi's hands…," a rebel in Benghazi said,"From the beginning [the Libyan Revolution] has been from the people here. It is not about foreigners." Haaretz found some proof of former Egyptian President's dirty dealings in documents recently obtained from Egypt's Interior Ministry, which prove that two of Mubarak's sons received large commissions on an unpopular, multibillion dollar deal to provide natural gas to Israel. Over at the Asia Times there's a good rundown of what might be going through the heads of the House of Saud in anticipation for Friday's planned "Day of Rage" in Riyadh. Last but not least, next time you wear body armor, it could have been made by the inmates of Yazoo City, Mississippi. And don't think that Patriot missile you have in your backyard is safe either--it could also contain components built by the same inmates!

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