George Galloway spews anti-West rhetoric to an appreciative crowd at Boston's Faneuil Hall
Last night George Galloway, the British MP known for his support of Islamist terrorists, his admiration for Saddam Hussein and his hatred of the U.S. and Israel, began his U.S. speaking tour in Boston's historic Faneuil Hall, the "Cradle of Liberty."
The evening featured a stream of anti-U.S. and anti-Israel speeches.
First up was Annie Zirin who tied the Hurricane Katrina disaster to the Iraq War with this non-sequitur: "How can we transport 250,000 soldiers to Iraq but we can't evacuate the poor and sick from New Orleans." (I'll answer that for you Annie-because New Orleans, run by an entrenched left-Democrat machine, has one of the most corrupt and incompetent local governments in the U.S. ).
Up next was Eriko Nagai from the Campus Anti-War Network, a group at the forefront of the leftist-run Counter-Recruitment drive sweeping through U.S. high schools and universities. Nagai spoke about the New Orleans disaster in terms of race and class saying that both played a major role in determining the fate of people in post-Katrina New Orleans.
The crowd rose to its feet and howled in delight when Boston City Councilman Chuck Turner categorized America as "an obscenity". Said Turner, "The reality is, we have to cleanse the soul of America. Our soul is covered in militarism, economic exploitation and racism. We need to cleanse ourselves. We need to acknowledge the obscenity that America is. We need to acknowledge that people around the world acknowledege... America the beautiful is America the obscene...we are obscene, we are a joke to the rest of the world."
The crowd applauds as speaker after speaker bashes America
Turner claimed that local, state and federal officials plotted and carried out the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King. When Turner said this, many people in the crowd nodded in agreement. Turner left the stage to a thunderous ovation. He was followed by English Literature Professor William Keach who gave a lackluster speech filled with leftist platitudes concerning the Iraq war and the Bush Administration.
Keach urged the crowd to confront the "war criminals in the Oval Office" and urged them to oppose the "pro-war Democrats" that helped make Operation Iraqi Freedom a reality. Keach passed the microphone to Prof. Naseer Aruri of the National Council of Arab Americans, a virulently anti-Israel organization with close ties to the leftist International A.N.S.W.E.R.
Conveniently ignoring the fact that there hasn't been an Islamist terror attack on U.S. soil since 9-11-2001, Aruri accused the Bush Administration of making the U.S. less safe from terrorists. Again and again, Aruri referred to Islamist terrorists as "so-called terrorists," and blamed the existence of Israel, and U.S. support for Israel as the primary causes of Islamist "so-called" terror.
When Aruri finished speaking, George Galloway took the stage railing against the U.S. and Great Britain. Declaring his opposition to the U.S. in Iraq Galloway said, "You are either with your country going around the world occupying countries and stealing their things or you're against it." Galloway went on to lambaste Israel, lamenting that though Israel has the biggest cache of WMDs in the Middle East, it has never been brought before the U.N. to face sanctions. (Galloway conveniently ignored the fact that Israel has never used its WMDs, even though it has been under assault by homicidal Palestinians intent on its destruction for more than forty years). Galloway also praised Cindy Sheehan, urged the crowd to attend nation-wide anti-war rallies planned for September 24th and 25th and criticized Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina.
Saddam's good friend Galloway signs books for his American admirers
When Galloway finished speaking, people lined up to have copies of "Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington" signed by him. The book-signing line stretched to the back of the hall.
Books for sale at the Galloway event
I've attended a number of anti-war protests and events as a blogger/observer. I’ve never been truly bothered by crowds of young people, dressed up in quasi-Halloween costumes, marching in protest while screaming silly platitudes like, "No Blood for Oil!" I think that most of the young people participating in such events will abandon the "movement" when they get older. But last night I was extremely disturbed watching a group of well-dressed, educated upper- middle class people cheer Mr. Galloway, who sides with Islamist fanatics who would slit their throats if given the chance. In essence this cultured, educated (and in my opinion effete) group of people were enthusiastically cheering for their own deaths.
It was equally disturbing to watch the same crowd rise to its feet in approval when speaker after speaker told them what an evil, unworthy, racist oppressive place their country is.
