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Out
of Babylon-on-the-Potomac comes
the news that one of the weapons inspectors appointed
by the UN to go into Iraq has "a leadership role in sadomasochistic
sex clubs." According to the Washington Post,
Harvey John "Jack" McGeorge, who, we are informed,
was picked by the UN "over some of the most experienced
disarmament sleuths in the world," and, no doubt, over
some
of the most experienced spies, too. Not only that, but
he has an … interesting sex life. It's pathetic, really, to
read this vicious, leering hit piece, that titillates us in
the first paragraph with a lurid hint and then gets to the
meat of the issue – so to speak – around paragraph 10
"An
Internet search of open Web sites conducted by the Washington
Post found that McGeorge is the co-founder and past president
of Black
Rose, a Washington-area pansexual S&M group,
and the former chairman of the board of the National Coalition
for Sexual Freedom. He is also a founding officer of the Leather
Leadership Conference Inc., which 'produces training
sessions for current and potential leaders of the sadomasochism/leather/fetish
community,' according to its Web site. Several Web sites describe
McGeorge's training seminars involving various acts conducted
with knives and ropes."
"Pansexual,"
eh? Isn't that just a fancy synonym for horny?
I
have long believed that the War Party is capable of anything,
and would stop at nothing, to derail the disarmament process
in Iraq: but this shocks even jaded old me.
Here's
a suggestion: Why don't we start examining the sex lives of
newspaper reporters – at least for such prestigious papers
as the Washington Post – as closely as we check out
those of UN weapons inspectors? I bet we'll come up with stories
a whole lot spicier and even less appetizing than Mr. McGeorge's.
The
UN, for its part, quite properly defended their employee,
declaring that his private life has nothing to do with his
job. McGeorge, according to the Post, "said yesterday
that a State Department official invited him to apply for
the U.N. team, and officials at State and the U.N. did not
ask about his S&M background. But he said he would tender
his resignation to Blix if The Post printed a story about
it."
But
this is only the "hook" that grabs the reader and
drags him down to the level of the author – one James V. Grimaldi
– who seems intent on making McGeorge's unconventional sexuality
a signifier of his allegedly dubious credentials. After all,
McGeorge works for the private sector, rather than some government
agency, and heads up his own company, Public Safety Group
Inc., which markets bioterror products. He offers seminars
at $595 a pop, and, sneers Grimaldi, "One online ad promotes
his role as a 'certified United Nations Weapons inspector.'"
Much
of the article is devoted to echoing the complaints of anonymous
US government officials, who bemoan the lack of "background
checks" on the inspectors. Only government employees,
you see, really have the expertise, they aver, bristling at
the UN rule that requires inspectors to resign their government
jobs.
Of
course, if some really rigorous checks had been done on the
inspectors last time around, more than a few spies might have
been unmasked, according
to former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter: apparently
the idea was to stake out Saddam rather than merely his weapons
of mass destruction.
"I
believe that Mr. McGeorge is technically very competent,"
said UNMOVIC spokesman Ewan Buchanan. "He knows his subject,
which is weapons. As a general principle, I think what people
do in their private life, as long as it doesn't interfere
with [their] professional life – and I'm not aware that it
has interfered – or doesn't break any rules or laws, shouldn't
be a significant issue."
Could
the effort to fatally undermine the inspection process be
any clearer? Next we'll be hearing all about the secret love
life of Hans Blix. Before this is over, apparently we are
to be spared nothing….
I
won't bother fulminating against the rather odd mixture of
prurience and prudishness that characterizes this smear campaign
against poor Mr. McGeorge – I'll leave that one to Andrew
Sullivan. Suffice to say that this kind of viciousness is
a new low, even for the War Party: and a measure of just how
desperate they've become. To stoop to this they must really
be at their wit's end, frustrated beyond endurance by the
prospect of a war aborted before it ever began.
Whatever
one might think of McGeorge, and private life, at least he
has the decency to carry out his S&M fantasies in private,
with consenting adults – unlike the Washington warmongers
and their chickenhawk amen corner in the media, who would
inflict their sadistic impulses on entire nations.
ANTIWAR.COM
CAMPUS TOUR CONTINUES
I'll
be speaking at the University of Colorado, in Boulder, on
December 5, at 7 PM, sponsored by the campus libertarian group;
go
here and see the cool poster they designed for the occasion.
My topic: "Iraq: First Stop on the Road to Empire."
RAIMONDO
ALERT
The
latest issue of The
American Conservative [December 2] has a short piece
by me in the front section: "Nancy Pelosi, Party Girl."
So, you haven't subscribed to TAC yet? This piece isn't online,
and so do yourself a favor, and go
here.
Okay,
so this is a short column, for me, but it's the night before
Thanksgiving, and I've got to taste Yoshi's made-from-scratch
cranberry sauce. Yeah, I'm another one of those with an, er,
unconventional private life, albeit not as exotic as McGeorge's.
So much for my dream of being a UN weapons inspector. *Sigh*
Have
a happy Thanksgiving – and pray, in your own way, for peace.
–
Justin Raimondo
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