Friday, January 26, 2007
"There Is No Iraqi Government" - George Galloway.
This weeks House of Commons debate on Iraq, the first to be held in government time in around two and a half years - which is disgraceful - was excellent, with MP after MP giving their views intelligently and with very few, if any, attempts at party political point scoring.
Of course this important event was deemed by Tony Blair, who led the UK into this disastrous war, to be not important enough to attend, and he was seen slinking out of the chamber some minutes before the debate began to attend a meeting with the Confederation of British Industry just down the road from the House of Commons.
Perhaps he was just too terrified to face the House, or too embarrassed.
Whatever his thinking, his absence was extremely insulting to parliament, the country, the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the dead and bereaved, British and Iraqi.
That he was unwilling to justify his decisions or even listen to the views of the House, leaving it to the unlikely and none too convincing Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett to open the debate and give the government's view, was arrogant and utterly inexcusable.
But, on to the subject suggested by the title of this piece - the infamous George Galloway, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in London, who probably needs no introduction from me, though anyone with the time and inclination may search this blog way back to find various references to him, none complimentary.
George comes from the same Scottish city as myself, and is a past 'aquaintance', no more than that, and I have not had much time for him or his exploits in the past.
However, when he spoke during the debate on Iraq, his speech (as far as I could tell with no reference to notes) was a masterpiece, impassioned and heartfelt, and heard in a hushed chamber with no interruptions.
She (the Foreign Secretary) talked about supporting the Government and people of Lebanon. Well, let us split that proposition. She was not much help to the Government of Lebanon when its Prime Minister was weeping on television and begging for a ceasefire, and when the British and American Governments alone in the world were refusing, indeed blocking, any attempts to demand an immediate cessation of the Israeli bombardment. Worse, she was not much help to the Government or the people of Lebanon when British airports were being used for the trans-shipment of American weapons to Israel that were raining down death and destruction on the very people of Lebanon whom she now claims to stand beside.
So myopic was the Foreign Secretary's view that she prayed in aid an opinion poll from Basra which told us that the people had every confidence in the police—we had to send the British in to blow up a police station and kill umpteen Iraqi policemen because we said that they were about to massacre the prisoners in their jails.
The Foreign Secretary prayed in aid the Iraqi Government—a virtual Government—saying that, more importantly, the Iraqi Government do not consider that they have a civil war. Of course they do not, because there is no Iraqi Government. As the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton put it, we have installed a gang of warlords in power in Baghdad, the heads of competing militias, some of them at war with our own soldiers in the south of Iraq. It is not a Government, but Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York” that we have put in charge in Baghdad. That is not my concept. That is the concept of the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton.
Let me invite the House to contemplate this and see if I am as right about this as I was about Iraq four years ago. If a finger is raised against Iran by Israel or the United States, the first people to pay the price will be the 7,000 young men and women of the British armed forces that we have stationed in the south of Iraq, where Iran, thanks to us, is now top dog. If Members want to know what that will look like, think about the film "Zulu", but without the happy ending. That is how irresponsible our Government are. They are part of an axis that is contemplating a war against a country that we have made powerful in a place where we have our soldiers standing in a thin red line in the sand.
It was a truly extraordinary speech, easily the best of the day, and possibly one of the greatest heard in the House for many years, and I will admit to a wee tear in my eye as I listened.
Unfortunately, it was sadly under-reported by the British press and, sadly, Blair wasn't there to hear it and squirm.
Read George Galloway's Speech In Full Here.
The Official Website of the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow.
See all recent posts.
Of course this important event was deemed by Tony Blair, who led the UK into this disastrous war, to be not important enough to attend, and he was seen slinking out of the chamber some minutes before the debate began to attend a meeting with the Confederation of British Industry just down the road from the House of Commons.
Perhaps he was just too terrified to face the House, or too embarrassed.
Whatever his thinking, his absence was extremely insulting to parliament, the country, the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the dead and bereaved, British and Iraqi.
That he was unwilling to justify his decisions or even listen to the views of the House, leaving it to the unlikely and none too convincing Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett to open the debate and give the government's view, was arrogant and utterly inexcusable.
______________________________
But, on to the subject suggested by the title of this piece - the infamous George Galloway, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in London, who probably needs no introduction from me, though anyone with the time and inclination may search this blog way back to find various references to him, none complimentary.
George comes from the same Scottish city as myself, and is a past 'aquaintance', no more than that, and I have not had much time for him or his exploits in the past.
However, when he spoke during the debate on Iraq, his speech (as far as I could tell with no reference to notes) was a masterpiece, impassioned and heartfelt, and heard in a hushed chamber with no interruptions.
She (the Foreign Secretary) talked about supporting the Government and people of Lebanon. Well, let us split that proposition. She was not much help to the Government of Lebanon when its Prime Minister was weeping on television and begging for a ceasefire, and when the British and American Governments alone in the world were refusing, indeed blocking, any attempts to demand an immediate cessation of the Israeli bombardment. Worse, she was not much help to the Government or the people of Lebanon when British airports were being used for the trans-shipment of American weapons to Israel that were raining down death and destruction on the very people of Lebanon whom she now claims to stand beside.
So myopic was the Foreign Secretary's view that she prayed in aid an opinion poll from Basra which told us that the people had every confidence in the police—we had to send the British in to blow up a police station and kill umpteen Iraqi policemen because we said that they were about to massacre the prisoners in their jails.
The Foreign Secretary prayed in aid the Iraqi Government—a virtual Government—saying that, more importantly, the Iraqi Government do not consider that they have a civil war. Of course they do not, because there is no Iraqi Government. As the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton put it, we have installed a gang of warlords in power in Baghdad, the heads of competing militias, some of them at war with our own soldiers in the south of Iraq. It is not a Government, but Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York” that we have put in charge in Baghdad. That is not my concept. That is the concept of the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton.
Let me invite the House to contemplate this and see if I am as right about this as I was about Iraq four years ago. If a finger is raised against Iran by Israel or the United States, the first people to pay the price will be the 7,000 young men and women of the British armed forces that we have stationed in the south of Iraq, where Iran, thanks to us, is now top dog. If Members want to know what that will look like, think about the film "Zulu", but without the happy ending. That is how irresponsible our Government are. They are part of an axis that is contemplating a war against a country that we have made powerful in a place where we have our soldiers standing in a thin red line in the sand.
It was a truly extraordinary speech, easily the best of the day, and possibly one of the greatest heard in the House for many years, and I will admit to a wee tear in my eye as I listened.
Unfortunately, it was sadly under-reported by the British press and, sadly, Blair wasn't there to hear it and squirm.
Read George Galloway's Speech In Full Here.
The Official Website of the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow.
See all recent posts.
© Colcam 2005-2007
