Anita Petche speaks

Well, it seems that Ms Petche is disputing the accuracy of this article, which states that she compared Food Not Bombs to al-Qaeda. She has responded with a new piece in the Record:

The recent firestorm of controversy including numerous angry letters to the editor in response to The Record's report is most unfortunate, and has reached a point where I must defend both my personal and business reputations.

At no time did I use the word "terrorist" in my presentation, although others did in the course of the evening.

I did not make a direct link between Food Not Bombs and al-Qaeda, nor did I at any time "foolishly," or otherwise, compare one to the other.

I did not suggest that the other organizations named in my reference to the website www.discoverthenetworks.org A Guide to the Political Left had terrorist affiliations of any kind.

My only intention was to demonstrate that the groups I had mentioned are all included within the full spectrum of the 800-plus political left-wing organizations listed on www.discoverthenetworks.org.

The website creates the "link," if any, and is there for anyone to see and review. My goal was to enlighten the public by enabling members of the community to develop a greater understanding of the political nature of the organization Food Not Bombs and the issues at hand, so that they could ultimately draw their own conclusions.

I'm not sure what to think about this, but since the claim in Saturday's post is in dispute, it's only fair to include her side of the story. It is indeed true that discoverthenetworks.org includes this summary of the organization. Not having been at the contentious city council meeting, I can't say what the truth is.