Hail, Conquering Hero

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If Tony Blair thought his re-election would put the Iraq war behind him, George Galloway is determined to prove him wrong. The newly elected M.P. for the antiwar, socialist Respect party has called the collapse of the Soviet Union "the biggest catastrophe of my life"; has told Saddam Hussein, "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability"; and was expelled from the Labour Party for — among other reasons — saying Blair and George W. Bush had "attacked Iraq like wolves."

Last week his rhetoric served him well when he trounced a U.S. Senate committee that had accused him of profiting from 20 million barrels of oil it said had been secretly allocated to him by Hussein. He returned to Britain the talk of the town. The studio audience at a bbc current-affairs program greeted him with rapturous applause. On the floor of the House of Commons, M.P.s, who once might have steered clear, pushed close as if hoping a little of Galloway's mojo might rub off on them.

The Senate committee's evidence — papers from the Iraqi Oil Ministry that named Galloway as a recipient of Saddam's oil allocations, corroborated by former regime officials now under arrest in Iraq — didn't prove he actually received any oil or money, directly or indirectly. Galloway, a mesmerizing orator, swatted away the thinly supported allegations and turned the tables on his accusers for conducting "the mother of all smoke screens." "I told the world your case for war was a pack of lies," he thundered. "In everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong, and 100,000 people paid with their lives."

Can he keep up the fire-works? U.S. newspapers and TV gave him scant attention, but the Frankfurter Allgemeine and Le Monde devoted big articles to his bravura performance. In Britain he has made too many media enemies to receive fawning reviews, but his victory in Washington got blanket coverage and enhanced his stature. Even among his detractors, there was admiration for how effectively he stuck his thumb in Bush's eye. He's aiming for Blair next. He says Respect will seek to win control of some local councils in London now under Labour control, and wants his party to become a "fighting, militant organization." Before a meeting of supporters he exulted: "We are the enemy within, Mr. Blair."