Galloway speaks Baathism in Damascus

[bemildred]

In a remarkable speech, this time at Damascus University, Galloway said: "You know, it never ceases to surprise me that Arab governments can allow a foreigner to come to their country and sit at their tables with their leaders to insult and attack another Arab country. This is the behaviour of slave governments, and the Bahraini regime should have asked Condoleezza to leave when she insulted Syria in their presence, in their capital. In fact, maybe it's the rulers who should leave." Galloway was referring to a meeting in Bahrain where Rice fired off provocative statements against Syria in the presence of Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shara.

Galloway added, in front of Syrian officials who were all smiles, that "All dignified people in the world, whether Arabs or Muslims or others with dignity, are very proud of the speech made by President Bashar Al-Assad a few days ago here in Damascus," referring to Assad's speech of 10 November where he spoke of steadfastness; rhetoric popular in Syria since the 1960s. Assad, Galloway said, "is the last Arab ruler, and Syria is the last Arab country. It is the fortress of remaining dignity of the Arabs."

He then slammed British Prime Minister Tony Blair for criticising the Syrian president, reminding the world that Blair had been the one to take Assad into Buckingham Palace to meet Queen Elizabeth II in 2001. If Assad was dangerous, Galloway noted, why then had Blair introduced him to the Queen of England? "The truth is, Mr Blair changed his policy towards Syria because President Bush ordered him to... Blair, too, is a slave of the slaves."

Almost mirroring Syrian rhetoric, Galloway went on to say: "The reason why Syria is being threatened is not because of anything bad which she did, but because of the good which she is doing. That's the reason why Syria is being threatened -- because she will not betray the Palestinian resistance, because she will not betray the Lebanese resistance, Hizbullah, because she will not sign a shameful surrender-peace with General Sharon, and above all -- more than any of these others -- because Syria will not allow her country to be used as a military base for America to crush the resistance in Iraq."

Al Ahram

[Greeby]

1. And how many important votes did he miss to make this speech?

:eyes:

[peacetalksforall]

2. Huh? Do you disapprove of the content of his speech or does he have

a record of missed votes that are essential to the margin? Yes? No? Examples? Just curious.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. The infamous example was a vote on terrorism laws

Galloway says he was legally obliged to miss key terror vote

George Galloway yesterday defended his decision to miss this week's key Commons vote on new anti-terror legislation, claiming he was legally obliged to attend a lucrative speaking engagement instead.

The Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, who swept to victory on an anti-war platform, was 350 miles away in Cork on his one-man tour, An Audience With George Galloway, subtitled The Mother of All One Man Shows.

The government prevailed by just one vote in a section of the bill outlawing the glorification of terrorism. The MP said dates for the speaking engagement were fixed before the schedule for the Commons vote was known. He told the Guardian that the £1,000 fees from each show on the tour are needed to finance Respect.

But critics yesterday accused him of letting down constituents. They pointed to his voting record in the Commons, where he has spoken in four debates since the general election and asked one written question. The Commons analysts Public Whip calculate he has taken part in just 13% of parliamentary votes.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1634967,00.html

So yes, his speaking engagements out of the country have affected the outcome of a vote.

[peacetalksforall]

5. OK. Thanks. Not so good. n/t

[Greeby]

6. The point is, a party of anti-war socialists that wants to go somewhere

Is pretty much gonna go nowhere if they are content for their one MP to have a lousy 17% vote attendance

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/george_galloway/bethnal_green_and_bow

Don't get me wrong, I want to see our involvement in this war end. But there's plenty of people who are in the Commons every day trying to make that happen while he's doing his speeches and debating that useless drunk Hitchens

[peacetalksforall]

3. I can't speak to all the issues because I'm international=news deprived

as a citizen of the U.S. It does, however, sound good to me. The cultural aspect of what he is saying is very logical. I would think that his outsider comments went over well.

I don't think there is any other person in the limelight who is as plain spoken and articulate as he is.

Certainly not our co-presidents - Cheney and Rumsfeld. Surely, not our Sec of State, Ms Rice.

Perhaps there is some power of the truth to the truth.