Although disgruntled by near unanimous Irish nationalist/republican opposition to the 2003 United States invasion of Iraq , King nonetheless supported bail in 2008 for an Irish republican Maze escapee , Pól Brennan , who had escaped from prison in Northern Ireland in 1983 . Brennan was later deported to the Republic of Ireland in April 2009 . In a 2005 interview King said he had " cooled on Ireland " , blaming an epidemic of what he called " knee-jerk anti-Americanism " that swept through Ireland after the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq . " I do n't buy that it 's just anti-Bush . There 's a certain unpleasant trait that the Irish have , and it 's begrudgery ... and resentment towards the Americans . " King , who often used to visit Belfast twice a year , has not visited Ireland since shortly before the September 11 attacks . He said he had turned down an offer from the Obama administration to be the US ambassador to Ireland in 2009 . At a September 2011 hearing in England concerning terrorism , King said the IRA used British torture as a recruiting tool , but that it has no parallels with American treatment of suspects after 9/11
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Peter T. King