Brit-Style Masochism

Last week's debate over the Iraq war between leftist-turned-Bush-supporter Christopher Hitchens and Ba'ath nostalgist George Galloway, who was booted from the British Labour party for endorsing the murder of American and British troops by Iraqi insurgents, promised to be an interesting couple of hours. At worst, I figured, I'd get to hear someone derided as a popinjay, jackanape, or quisling.

Galloway became a hero to the antiwar crowd after his recent testimony before a Senate subcommittee where he diverted allegations that he received bribes from Iraq by upbraiding the U.S. for its lies and rogue imperialism. Although he did nothing to discredit evidence that he was a paid shill for Saddam, he did memorably embarrass his Senate questioners, who seemed unprepared to think and talk at the same time.

Over a thousand showed up to watch the fireworks. Phil Donahue was sitting just behind me, a dismaying portent.

Anyone interested in either man's arguments can find their ideas in various published articles and quotes. The words were hardly the point, as the crowd, which tilted heavily toward Galloway, spent most of their time applauding their man or screaming "shame on you" at Hitchens.

Taking a break from his recitation of Hitchens' treasons and inconsistencies (he's metamorphed from "a butterfly back into a slug"), Galloway found time to mention that America and Britain were the biggest rogue states in the world and that we had 9/11 coming considering our policies in the Middle East, especially our support for the arch villain Sharon.

Galloway's claim that the attack on the towers was just comeuppance received much applause and occasioned Hitchens' finest line: "This is masochism but it is being offered to you by sadists."

There's something perverse in New Yorkers cheering for Saddam's favorite Brit, though, who's just back from a July trip to Syria where he fawned over dictator Bashar Assad and lamented the end of Syria's occupation of Lebanon. Imperialism between Arab states is, in Galloway's account, a noble form of resistance to Western hegemony.

Galloway isn't Michael Moore making agit-prop docudramas, and he isn't a mere actor like Shotgun Sean: He has long since gone beyond PR work into actual collusion with despots. While Hitchens may be a self-promoting buffoon, one cannot level the same claim against him unless prepared to call Bush and Blair despots.

The crowd, of course, did just that.

A good time was had by all, and that, of course, was the point. -Jacob Siegel