"That was a valuable point and one worth following up on."
Good grief. If that was what Galloway said, then you're a fool to take him seriously. Lebanon's constitution was adopted in 1926 under the League of Nations mandate. It reserves the office of President for a Maronite Christian, Prime Minsiter for a Sunni Muslim, and Speaker for a Shi'ah Muslim. This isn't sinister; it's to avoid communal strife. The conspiracy theory you seem to be dimly recalling is that the US allegedly helped amend the Constitution in 1958 to allow a sitting President to sit for a second term.
As Galloway lied and you've demonstrated your gullibility and ignorance, I'm sure you'll immediately want to post a correction.
Actually, the state of Lebanon was carved out of Syria by the French as a Christian enclave. Read Juan Cole for how this came about:
http://www.juancole.com/2005/03/...yria-it-
is.html
And Juan Cole on what Hitchens allegedly said about him.
http://www.juancole.com/2005/09/...ole-i-
just.html
Cruddy on Hitchen's part.
http://gregpalast.com/detail.cfm...artid=460&
row=0
http://gregpalast.com/detail.cfm...artid=457&
row=0
Lenin's Tomb on Palast attack:
http://www.leninology.blogspot.com/
"While Galloway’s supporters, including me, were content to absorb his rapier-like arguments."
Err, which debate were you watching? His factual points were wrong (i.e. Hitchen's Dundee speech, Lebanon constitution etc.). It wasn't a debate as much as a rant from Galloway. At least Hitchen's attempted to engage the serious listener. You'd think from listening to Galloway it was a closed case and no serious argument was required. Very, very disappointing.
Well, it is a closed case. The USA went to war in Iraq for no reason. You can reasonably differ with my opinion that Galloway's arguments were rapier-like or not. You surely can't believe, on the other hand, that the case for a war in Iraq can still be made at this late stage of the game?
You must be joking. Galloway did not win the debate. I've met several watchers who are anti-war and they even say Galloway was hurt badly. Another thing is this arrogant approach that everyone thinks this war is wrong. dont get ahead of yourselves because if the Northern Iraqi Kurds, Marsh Arabs, Southern Shiites, and Red State America still believe in winning then so do I. Plus, when you have two noble peace prize winners like Elie Wiesel and Jose Ramos Horta on the pro side, its a much better side to be on.
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