British M.P. George Galloway, who I wrote about a few weeks
ago, has just begun an “anti-war” speaking
tour of the U.S. which is scheduled through the end of next
week.
I put “anti-war” in quotes because Mr. Galloway isn’t really
opposed to the war in Iraq. He simply supports another side. Apart from being
a shill for Saddam (and for Stalin) Mr. Galloway is also a sleazy and corrupt
dandy – a tad homophobic, pro-death penalty, and belives – as a pro-lifer—that
Teri Schiavo was “murdered.”
So, as someone who has opposed this war from the first day,
let me say what too few opponents of the Bush administration have found the
impulse to voice:
MR. GALLOWAY, PLEASE GO HOME.
From coast-to-coast, for the next ten days, anti-war
activists are not only going to provide this oily goose a platform, they are
going to join him on the stage and applaud him like mad as he tosses off his
anti-Bush one-liners.
Indeed, his tour culminates in Washington on the 24th
when he will be accompanied on the dais by Cindy Sheehan.
I’d like to be able to say the self-deception or simple naievete of the anti-war movement boggles the mind -- so many people of
good intentions willing to marry themselves to this charlatan. But I can’t.
It’s as if the peace movement is currently under the management of FEMA and therefore nothing amazes me.
I was pleasantly surprised, however, to read a column by
Greg Palast blasting Galloway. For my taste, Palast is usually too quick to pander to the
Loonies (who at least until now have adored him). So it’s especially satisfying to watch Palast take them on:
“…it is not good
enough for the Left to oppose Mr. Bush's re-colonization of Iraq. We needed to
have actively supported Iraqis fighting to remove their Mesopotamian Stalin.
And now, we'd better come up with something a little less nutty than a recent
suggestion by one otherwise thoughtful writer that we, "unconditionally
support the insurgency" of berserker killers and fundamentalist madmen. If
that's the Left's program for Iraq, count me out."
We can't define ourselves as the "anti-Bush," blindly supporting
those he opposes, and thereby letting the nitwit Napoleon in the White House
pick our enemies for us. Nor can our revulsion for Bush's horrors throw us into
the arms of swamp-things like George Galloway.
Swamp things,
indeed. Take a gander at some of what Galloway said a
handful weeks ago to Al Jazeera when referring to the Iraqi “resistance.”
"These poor Iraqis – ragged people, with their sandals, with
their Kalashnikovs, with the lightest and most basic of weapons – are writing
the names of their cities and towns in the stars, with 145 military operations
every day, which has made the country ungovernable by the people who occupy
it... they decided when the foreign invaders came, to defend their country, to
defend their honor, to defend their families, their religion, their way of life
from a military superpower which landed amongst them...the Iraqi resistance is
not just defending Iraq. They are defending all the Arabs, they are defending
all the people of the world from American hegemony.”
Galloway’s bleating apology for the Jihadists and the Baathists has
special resonance just as their bloody handiwork has massacred 160 people and wounded more than
500 others. A massacre, please note, that intentionally targeted civilians:
"In what was believed to be a new tactic, the bomber set off
the explosive after calling the construction and other workers to his small van
and enticing them with promises of employment, a witness said. At least 112
people were killed and more than 200 were wounded, according to Health Ministry
officials. Twisted hulks of vehicles blocked the bloodstained main street in
Kazimiyah's Oruba Square."
So this is how Mr. Galloway’s heroes are writing their names
in the stars. Apparently with broad brushes soaked in civilian blood.
Any anti-war activist with an IQ above room temperature
should make it loudly known that Mr. Galloway is not welcome here. He is not
our ally, nor our friend. He is a Swamp-thing.
My pal Marc Danzinger and I
respectfully disagree with each over this war. But we have the same view of
Galloway.
Think about taking Marc's lead and showing up to one of the Galloway events to let him know, whatever you
think of George W. Bush, that apologists for murderers are not welcome amongst us.
Open invitation for
Southern California locals: On Thursday, Sept. 15 at 6:30 p.m. I’ll be
dialoguing with John Powers, author of Sore Winners: American Idols, Patriotic Shoppers
and Other Strange Species in George Bush’s America. It all happens at the Silent Movie Theater,
611 N. Fairfax Ave. in Los Angeles. Admission is free but please RSVP to sstreet@laweekly.com