David Aaronovitch has been named Columnist of the Year in the What The Paper’s Say awards.
Aaronovitch has been one of a handful of left columnists who took a pro-liberation position on the Iraq war and has been one of the most-linked to journalists on this blog.
Along with Nick Cohen at the Observer and Johann Hari at the Independent, Aaronovitch played an important role in giving voice to the minority of the left who refused to join the sheep of the anti-war movement.
Several times I have discussed Iraq with people and they have said “I have a sort of David Aaronovitch position on it all” and I’d hate to think what the state of debate over Iraq would have been like without that handful of writers who remained in solidarity with Iraqi democrats.
I suspect that without those dissidents the Iraq debate would have been presented as the right-wing supporting the war with the left opposing.
We should be thankful that there have been a few journalists, such as Aaronovitch who as the prize-givers put it: “At a time when most left-leaning commentators were opposing the war in Iraq, he took a brave and consistent stand, presenting the case for action in the most coherent and persuasive manner.”
(Spotted via Norman Geras)
