Posted on 04/01/2003 2:08:22 PM PST by MadIvan
GEORGE GALLOWAY, the outspoken MP with close links to Iraq, faced a Labour backlash yesterday after calling on Arab leaders to wake up and “stand by the Iraqi people”.
In an interview for Abu Dhabi television, he accused British and American troops of attacking Iraq “like wolves” and predicted a long “war of liberation” by Iraqis to repel them.
“The war will continue,” he declared. “I don’t believe these wolves will be able to enter Baghdad and occupy Iraq. They must know this is the beginning of a long war of liberation to be staged by the Iraqis against the occupying forces. They must understand they are in the Iraqi quagmire and it will not be easy for them to get out.”
He called on other Arab states to cut off oil supplies to Britain and America, saying: “Even if it is not realistic to ask a non-Iraqi army to come to defend Iraq, we see Arab regimes pumping oil for the countries who are attacking it.
“We wonder when the Arab leaders will wake up. When are they going to stand by the Iraqi people?”
Downing Street issued a contemptuous response. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “George Galloway’s views on Iraq have been known for some time and the Prime Minister’s disagreement with those views has, equally, been known for some time.
“The Prime Minister has more important things to focus on today and for the duration of this conflict than George Galloway. He is more interested in the objective of freeing Iraq from weapons of mass destruction and allowing Iraq to be run by the people of Iraq rather than a tyrant such as Saddam.”
There was more anger at Mr Galloway’s outburst elsewhere in the Government. Adam Ingram, the Armed Forces Minister, told ITN: “I am ashamed he is member of the Labour Party.” Mr Ingram even questioned whether his remarks breached the oath of loyalty that MPs swear to the Queen.
There were signs of a backlash against Mr Galloway in his constituency of Glasgow Kelvin, where people approached by The Times came out two to one against him. The most common refrain was: “If he’s so keen on Baghdad, why doesn’t he go and live there?”
Andy McCreevy, a taxi driver, went so far as to offer to buy Mr Galloway an airline ticket to Iraq — economy class and, he emphasised, one-way.
John Aitchison, a shop assistant, said: “The guy is an absolute loony who has got away with saying this kind of thing for far too long. If he admires Saddam so much, why doesn’t he go and work for him instead of taking money from British taxpayers?”
Malcolm Green, chairman of the Kelvingrove Labour branch in the heart of the constituency, struggled to defend Mr Galloway, while casting doubts on the language that he had employed. “George is entitled to his comments because he has a knowledge of Arab regimes which the rest of us do not,” he said. “But he is also known for his colourful language and he feels very strongly about the war as well as the Palestinian crisis.” Mr Green said that the constituency party fully supported Mr Galloway’s “general” anti-war line, but he added: “We know that George is George. I do not think anyone will want to rock the boat in the party with elections coming up, but we may discuss the whole episode when the election is over.”
If Mr Green was choosing his words carefully, one Labour voter was much more candid in defending him. Grace McDonald, a grandmother who said she had voted Labour for nearly 40 years, compared her MP favourably with Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, who did not carry out her threat to resign from Mr Blair’s Cabinet over the war.
Mrs McDonald said: “This war is crazy and what George is saying is that we should recognise that. No, of course our soldiers aren’t wolves, but I don’t think he actually said that. At least you won’t get George Galloway doing a Clare Short. At least he’ll say something and defend it. He’ll not go running to Blair begging for forgiveness.”
Mrs McDonald was in a minority. Most people agreed with the description of Mr Galloway as “a traitor”.
You are wrong. That is why I will not make your case for you. And as you've acknowledged I am the authority given I live here, quit speaking about what you obviously know little.
Ivan
George Galloway is a Scot. From Scotland. Not England. Two different countries. Being English isn't synonymous with being British, as the Welsh, Scots and Northern Irish will quickly point out.
Here, here!
I worry about the British slide leftward, but then I worry about ours as well. History shows many things, including the enduring greatness of England through worse.
You insult my country and say it's doomed. That hardly sounds like the language of battle, it sounds like the language of dismissal, snobbery and disdain. As I say, America was not doomed by 8 years of Clinton. Britain is not doomed because the Labour Party was in power. This is not something you either acknowledge or accept.
If you don't want me to attack you, then don't attack my country. Attack my country and I will open fire with hell's own fury.
Ivan
If the EU gets its way we may be thrown out of the institution altogether. The EU Commission has said that it wants a plan in which countries which reject "deeper integration" are expelled from the EU. This would leave Denmark and the UK particularly exposed.
Regards, Ivan
Ten years ago I might have agreed with you. The Royal Marines and FreeBrittania seem to have reversed that trend, in my eyes. BTW read the preface to R.V. Jones' "The Wizard War", a message for every Briton and for the west.
I am reminded of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera, "The Mikado". There's a scene where the Lord High Executioner says:
"If I should ever be called upon to act professionally, I am happy to think that there will be no difficulty in finding plenty of people whose loss will be a distinct gain to society at large."He then launches into a classic song, "They'll None of Them Be Missed" (more popularly known as "I've Got A Little List"). The most relevant parts to the current topic are:
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,This was written in the 1880's -- apparently some things never change.
I've got a little list--I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed--who never would be missed!There's the pestilential nuisances who write for autographs--
All people who have flabby hands and irritating laughs--[snip]
Then the idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone, All centuries but this, and every country but his own;
And he isn't hiding anything.
This war's proven that again, at least.
-archy-/-
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