I'm George Galloway Member of Parliament
anti-war campaigner and the presenter of
comment on press tv every week at this
time I answer the best question that has
been sent into ask Galloway # ask
Galloway and N Hussein's question is the
one that got the nod this week her
question was this is Isis the result of
the Arab Spring and how much of a role
did the West play in both well 2 minutes
is not enough time to fully adre all my
views on Isis on the Arab Spring and on
the western role in both but here's how
I see it the old order much of which
still persists in most of the Arab world
the old order could not persist the
decrepit sclero
rotten dictatorships of the Arab world
were bound to fall when they started to
fall first in Tunisia and then in Egypt
Western countries who had been the main
beneficiaries of the old order rushed to
try and influence the outcome they
haven't given up and they haven't gone
away they sought to morph the Arab
Spring in directions against targets
that would be more useful uh for them
and the most uh gross of these is the
one that we see being played out in
Syria they tried to overthrow the Syrian
regime they have completely failed to do
so but they have killed more than
200,000 people and torn apart the fabric
of an ancient Arab country and the old
regime in part is back in Tunisia and
back with a vengeance in Egypt so the
West is playing a big role and has done
throughout the Arab Spring as to Isis
this Springs out of a well of fanaticism
and extremism that again was influenced
by Western policy beginning in
Afghanistan throughout the
1980s it's true that there are many
unanswered questions about the
capacities of Isis and and it may very
well be that apart from weapons that
they helped themselves to after they'd
been delivered by Western benefactors to
the so-called I emphasize so-called
Syrian moderate opposition and after
they had taken a large stock of weapons
from the Iraqi Army that they defeated
in the west and the north of the country
it may be that they have other
benefactors too just like Al-Qaeda and
the phenomenon of this extremism
generally there are many unanswered
questions but I'm not one of those who
believes in The Conspiracy Theory the
Isis is somehow the product of uh
Zionism or the product of the United
States or Britain this is a genuine
authentic upsurge of utter barbarous
hideous head chopping throat cutting
crucifying extremism and it's the kind
of extremism that is delighting the
people who hate all the Muslims whatever
sect they belong to and the kind of
extremism that's bringing disaster to
the Arab world thanks for that question
n Hussein I'm George Galloway ask
Galloway hash ask Galloway I'll answer
the best one again God willing next week