I'm not responsible for his actions
never suggested you were I simply wanted
to compare and contrast Saddam the most
important point because you didn't let
me finish it I am responsible for the
actions of my own prime minister I am
responsible for the actions of my own
country Saddam Hussein committed many
crimes I was demonstrating against them
at the time when British and American
governments were making sure that he
could carry out those crimes giving him
the wherewithal to carry out those
crimes but I have no responsibility as a
citizen as a voter as a member of
parliament for things that a dictator
does in Iraq but I have every
responsibility for the things that a
democratically elected prime minister in
my own country does that's why I would
refuse to shake the hands of Tony Blair
I think he should be on trial in in at
the he uh the kind of trial he didn't
allow Saddam Hussein a trial under the
international criminal court on the
crime of unleashing aggressive War the
ultimate War crime let me ask you this I
you proud to be
British being British is an accident of
birth you know if if you'll forgive me
that's just the patriotism which Dr
Johnson called the last Refuge of the
scoundrel I'm proud of many things that
British people have done and ashamed of
others I'm proud of uh many things that
French people have done and would be
ashamed of others I'm a human being I'm
a Believer in God I'm a European person
I'm a Scottish person of Irish
background who lives in Britain but all
of these things were accidents of birth
so uh frankly uh my uh my country uh as
I say in my book uh I'm not the only one
my country is the Future Tony Blair you
see he he believes that Britain can and
must be a force for moral good in the
world that's what he says and he says
that's going to take a mix of soft power
and hard military power as well says the
21st century must see Britain continue
to use that mix of soft and hard power
to achieve good to work toward stability
security democracy for the world well a
fat lot of good it's done but what I
want you to think about is this you
opposed him on Iraq you've made that
very plain today but do you see no
circumstance where British intervention
can be a force for moral good no I don't
uh the only Force for moral good would
be an internationally agreed one the
idea that the world is a White Man's
Burden and only Uncle Sam and Johnny
bull are quite white enough to shoulder
it is a deeply offensive one I come as I
told you from an Irish background once I
told my grandfather who was Irish that
the police had said the British had an
Empire so vast that on it the Sun never
set my grandfather answered that's
because God would never trust the
British in the dark so hundreds of
thousands de sorry to interrupt but
hundreds of thousands dead in darur
millions displaced and you still say
there can be no circumstance in which
the British can play a force nobody let
alone God gave Britain the the the the
uh um Power or the justification for
launching unilateral military Adventures
apart from being immoral they don't work
because we are a small countryes would
you
accept but if they were in I just want
to see how far you go in your opposition
I don't know how long you've got but I
do argue in my book that the first area
which has to be tackled in relation to
intervention from outside is a regional
one I believe the African Union should
be empowered and given the wherewithal
neither of which has properly happened
to help resolve a problem in a part of
Sudan because Sudan is an African
country there may come circumstances in
which an international agreement will be
reached between the powers to intervene
where a regional organization like the
EU or the Au cannot do so the one thing
that can never be tolerable is
anglo-american aggressive War being
Unleashed not only without international
support but against International
legitimacy I think that message is loud
and clear let I've got several other
things to cover not much time there are
people who believe that your party
respect has become a Haven for extremist
in particular some Muslim extremists
what's your response to that well the
opposite is true the Muslim extremists
hate us because we say to Young Muslims
we know that you're angry your right to
be angry the best way to be angry is not
blowing yourself and other innocent
people up on a bus or a train but to
join with non-muslims who are also angry
and make those people who have made us
all Angry pay for it democratically and
politically that's why the Muslims hate
us it's also why Mr Blair hates us after
Tony Blair do you see a possible route
back into the labor party uh no I think
that uh Mr Brown and Mr Blair are not
going to be all that uh different I am
the uh originator of the phrase that
they are two cheeks of the same
backside uh but nobody can ever say
never if labor were to change its
leadership change its direction withdraw
from Iraq and so on and become a labor
party again everybody in the country
would have to evalue everyone on the
left would have to reevaluate their
relationship to labor but I think the
chances of that are vanishingly small do
you see a labor party leader in the
offing who could deliver what you want
to see I kind of don't don't I think the
only one that could have fell off a
Scottish Mountain uh a year ago past
August and that was Robin Cook um I
don't think that anyone in the current
ranks of the labor party uh would even
be a John Smith uh labor man and you've
said that you won't stand again for
respect does does that mean you're
leaving your parliamentary political
career behind with a a sense of
frustration disappointment failure well
for the reasons I've repeatedly said
here there's not much point in sitting
in the House of Commons as a one-man
party you'd be as well on the road
trying to persuade the public to make
your party much bigger and that's what
I'll be doing I did say before the last
election that I wouldn't stand again and
I'm not going to go back on that I might
stand somewhere else I might stand for
something else I had a go for the
European Parliament last time I did
really well in the pan London
constituency and I might have another go
for that but I might just spend my time
talking to people through programs like
yours George Galloway thanks very much
for being on hard talk
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