October
07, 2004
ITIS
a great pity that George
Galloway should have used the
Morning Star
(M
Star, October 2) to insult
comrade Abdullah Muhsin of the
Iraqi Federation of Trade
Unions, whom he describes as
an “Iraqi quisling.”
Filled with self-importance
and in love with his own
rhetoric, Mr Galloway clearly
believes hyperbole and
invective to be adequate
substitutes for reasoned
argument. It would seem that
he has little understanding of
the word “respect.”
By
way of contrast, Abdullah
Muhsin comes across as sincere
and courteous, irrespective of
whether we like what he has to
say .
Given his background as
a consistent and princi - pled
opponent both of Saddam’s
regime and the US invasion,
his opinion is worthy of
consideration at least.
George
Galloway cannot have it both
ways. Either
the “big four” trade union
leaders were acting out of
“cowardice and cynicism”
when they voted against
composite six or else they
were genuinely swayed by Mr
Muhsin’s representations.
Towards the end of his
piece, Mr Galloway describes
Iraq as a country which is
broken into pieces and
infested with “extremism and
terrorism, “ a diagnosis he
shares with the IFTU.
If
he disagrees with their
conclusions, the onus is on
him to describe an alternative
route whereby the democratic
institutions of civil society
may be rebuilt under these
circumstances. Somehow,
I think when we hear this, it
will be from other lips than
his.
Unfortunately
for left-wing simplists, the
time for slogans is over ..
MIKE
CHIVERS Waterlooville