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both of Britain's main political parties

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supported the war in Iraq neither

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Advocates an immediate pull out of

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Coalition forces as a result much of the

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anger generated by the war has been

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harnessed by my guest today the founder

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of the respect party he's been described

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as a man who glories in his ability to

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rub people up the wrong way faster than

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anyone else but what really motivates

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George

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Galloway

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[Music]

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[Applause]

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[Music]

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[Applause]

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[Music]

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George Galloway Welcome to Hard talk

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thank you very much you had more than 30

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years inside the labor party sitting on

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your own in the House of Commons for the

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respect party that's not really where

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you want to be is it no that's why I'm

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mainly on the streets uh I'm mainly

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traveling around Britain making theater

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appearances meeting appearances leading

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demonstrations uh and I have uh National

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radio show three nights a week and I do

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as much television as I can because

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frankly the parliament of poodles and

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pagers that we have now is very rarely

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worth being in I will be there this week

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uh in the debate on Iraq but for the

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most part I'm required to either vote

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for the prime minister's motion or David

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Cameron Amendment and I seldom wish to

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votee for either but I suppose my bigger

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point was that you you took your career

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very seriously you wanted to achieve

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things in politics and you presumably

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wanted to reach a position of power and

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now that's completely Beyond you sure uh

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but I'm now speaking for the majority in

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the country and that's uh an unusual

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position for someone that's arguable but

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but the point is you are isolated and

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you're nowhere near power in fact you're

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very isolated but not many people would

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argue that the majority in Britain are

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not in my place uh saying that the war

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on Iraq was both a crime and a blunder

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saying that we ought to get out of here

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as quickly as we can this is uh

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consensus now in the country and of

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course around the world it's

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overwhelmingly so uh but you're right uh

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if you're asking me would I rather have

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been sitting in Downing Street than uh

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than sitting on the other side uh as a

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oneman parliamentary party of course the

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answer to that is yes I'm not

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necessarily asking you that but I am

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asking you whether you regret getting

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thrown out chucked out of the labor

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party well in a sense the alienation had

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begun much longer ago than that really

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dating back to the election of uh Tony

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Blair which I predict predicted in

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1994 after the death of John Smith would

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end in tears and Heaven Knows that's

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another of my predictions that's turned

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out to be accurate uh Mr Blair is

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leaving the leadership of the labor

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party if he's not in tears most of the

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members of the labor party that remain

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are in tears um but uh it's true I spent

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36 years in fact in the labor party it

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was like a stab to the heart to be

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expelled but I picked myself up dusted

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myself down and got back on the road

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that's the only thing I can do uh you

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set up this party respect 2004 you

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founded it your website calls it a

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radical alternative to the right

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rightward March of new labor that will

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speak for Millions isn't there a problem

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when that sort of rhetoric comes up

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against harsh reality and there appears

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to be such a mismatch no I think we are

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speaking for uh Millions we are the

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fastest gr you've got one MP and what

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just over a dozen counselors in the

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entire country actually we've got 20

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counselors which is a bit more than just

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over a dozen and we've got one MP and no

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party to the left of Labor has had an MP

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for 60 years we've got a higher vote

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than any left-wing party in Britain's

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history including the Communist party at

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the height of it power if you like after

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the second World War uh we have the

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fastest growing student organization

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we've got the busiest website in Britain

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and so on so we are speaking for

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millions in this sense that we are the

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ghost of Labor's past we say the things

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labor used to say stand for the people

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labor used to represent and therefore we

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are haunting them now it's true there's

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not a majority in Britain for old labor

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politics but there's millions in favor

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of old labor politics and we're seeing

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to represent them without getting too

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far into Old labor politics generally

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let's stick with Iraq for the time being

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because there is no denying you you

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struck a cord and you brought out

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hundreds of thousands I believe your own

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party says well over a million people

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onto the streets in in 2003 to protest

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the war but the problem for you is that

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two years after that there was a general

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election and 2third or more of the

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British public chose either the labor

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party or the conservative party both of

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which support the war and want to see

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troops continue in one form or another

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to play a role in Iraq so democracy has

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worked people have spoken and in the end

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again I come back to this same point

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you're isolated no actually the majority

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of people either didn't vote or voted

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for other than the two main parties uh

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the growth of small parties and above

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all the growth of the noneof the above

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party uh has left Mr Blair in Downing

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Street with the positive support of the

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smallest number of people in British

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history 21% of the electorate voted for

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Mr Blair and he's lost half his members

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he lost half his parliamentary majority

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and he's leaving three and a half years

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early Under Fire so it's true we didn't

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stop the war it's true we didn't knock

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the government out in the general

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election but the prime minister's been

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knocked out the mainstream political

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parties and their system is pretty

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discredit crited nobody believes a word

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the government says uh and nobody

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actually is terribly excited about the

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official opposition either your of the

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same back side what is your position on

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Iraq now because in the end your party

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is defined first and foremost by Iraq so

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what's your position if it is first and

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foremost would with that would I kind of

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would but if it is uh we're we're not

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going out of business anytime soon

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because the war in Iraq and the broader

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war that it has spread the conflagration

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which it has spread in the world isn't

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going out anytime uh soon but but in

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Iraq are you pushing for troops out now

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of course yesterday the only thing the

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Iraqi people need now from Mr Bush and

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Mr Blair is the sight of the back of the

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heads of the Armed Forces they sent in

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there on a pack of Lies taller than the

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Tower of Babel itself the idea that the

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people who caused this disaster have

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some role to play in sorting it out is

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discredited every day yesterday was the

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third heaviest rate of Allied casualties

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since the War Began this problem's

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getting worse now better well over 3,000

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Iraqis are dying every month and many

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people on the ground who have no uh

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Alliance to British or American policy

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believe that when those troops pull out

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the killing of Iraqis by Iraqis will get

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much much worse well it's not true that

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many people believe that more than 90%

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of the people of Iraq according to the

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opinion polls taken under the noses of

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the occupation say that they want the

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occupation to end the puppet regime

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inside the green zone which is the group

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that most journalists talk to and most

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ministers talk to uh they definitely

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want the troops to stay because they

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will hang from the lamposts as soon as

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the uh occupation forces leave uh so the

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reality on the ground is that as major

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uh General Sir Richard danut told