| Mr. Galloway Comes to Madison |
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| Q1 UJ: Mr. Galloway how do you reconcile your call for pulling troops out of Iraq with your warning that a civil war would be the most dangerous thing that could happen? If we do pull out, then the Sunnis would be in danger from both the Kurdish militia and the Shia militia, would that not be justified given their history of oppression to those other two groups? GG: Well that's a very simplistic analysis of recent Iraqi history but as I saw from your body language before you spoke, so you didn't surprise me. The case I am making is that the presence of the occupation parties is what is fueling the drive toward civil war. I deliberately chose my words carefully, I said that the withdrawal of the occupation armies is not a sufficient condition, but it is a necessary one in other words I'm not saying there will be no chaos or bloodshed if the occupation forces withdraw, but I am saying there will always be chaos and bloodshed until the occupying forces are withdrawn. We have to withdraw because we are not the solution we are the central problem and then the Iraqis will have to work out their future for themselves and I have very great confidence in their being able to do so. |
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| Q2 GG: Yes, I'll let you in again my friend UJ: I just wanted, (laughter) about the terrorists and the swamps. Now Bin Laden, I've read him and I know you have, he's got complaints against the Saudi Government and others going back to the 1200s I mean you know, the idea that granted there were policies of the West that exacerbated that but his basic complaint dates back well beyond anything we ever did and I'm just curious does that bear anything more than that the Bush companies, at one point, made some money. You know he's got the Caliphate in mind, restoring the Caliphate and from there potentially expanding it outward, that's a much more ancient claim. GG: Sure, I have a feeling you're misunderstanding me a bit, I'm beginning to get the impression that you're an honest man, I hope I'm not wrong. I think you're beginning, I think you're in danger of misunderstanding me. I'm not speaking for Bin Laden, I 'm not asking us to negotiate with Bin Laden. I'm asking us to negotiate with those who haven't joined him yet, those who might join him tomorrow, those who are among the hundreds of millions of angry Muslims in the world, angry about our policies who are drawn toward this man that I called in the House of Commons four days after 9/11this medieval, obscurantist savage. They are drawn to him because we are watering that swamp of hatred. Now I'm not saying you can reason with Bin Laden. I hate Bin Laden, the difference is I always hated Bin Laden. I hated him when the US and British governments were giving him guns and money and support. I was one of those who hated him, let me quote myself again if you'll allow me. I said to Mrs. Thatcher on the night before Kabul fell to Bin Laden and the Taliban and the rest. You have opened the gates for the barbarians and a long, dark night will now descend upon the people of Afghanistan. Was I wrong? Does anybody now think I was wrong? So my point is not that Bin Laden has a manifesto that is negotiable. If Bin Laden was here I'd kill him myself. My point is that Bin Ladenism is drawing it's strength from that swamp of hatred, and that swamp of hatred is what has to be drained by our policy. now I'm in danger of giving my speech twice so I believe we'll wrap it up here with your permission, unless someone has a pressing question. |
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| Q3 UJ: Unless you wanted to address the issue of disco dancing with Tariq Aziz. GG: Really, well we could do that if you like. UJ: Would you like to take this opportunity to deny it? (laughter) GG: If I'd ever, If I'd ever been to a disco with Tariq Aziz that might be a fair question, but you're reading too many of those neo-con websites Ebo: Disco dancing with Tariq Aziz eh? UJ: Oh yeah, it's verifiable, I think there's video. |
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| Q4: UJ: (prior to clip was asking if his words to Mrs. Thatcher were related to his sadness that his team lost in Afghanistan, and how our support for the mujahideen was global chess against the Soviets, due to the policy of Realpolitik) ...and us playing Realpolitik. We supported them GG: I've never loved the Soviet Union. You're believing all the.. UJ: Really, because I thought there was a quote that you were sad when the Soviet Union died, I mean I do fact check a little GG: Everything that's written is a quote (laughter) so it's true, for goodness sakes, Ebo: Must be true GG: No what I said was, the collapse of the Soviet Union leaving a single superpower in the world, with no equilibrium in the world is the reason that the world is in the chaotic state that it is in today. That when there were more than one, there were limits to what people could do. UJ: Absolutely crosstalk UJ: What if the Sunnis vote yes, is that a good thing or a bad thing? GG: They're not going to vote yes UJ: You don't think so? Some of the clerics, I have intel friends and they say some of the clerics are holding their tongues, because you don't want to get shot. laughter GG: We'll see UJ: Thanks a lot Ebo: Have a good time tonight, thank you. |
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