to add to the heated political Fallout
of the Iraq crisis tonight three former
UK ambassadors and major public figures
have called for Tony Blair's removal as
Middle East Envoy that campaign is
supported by MPS from different parties
including respect MP George Galloway who
joins us now from catbridge in Scotland
and with be here Tony Blair's former
special adviser John murnan and I
suppose inevitably given tonight
extraordinary developments across Iraq
and across the Middle East generally uh
George Galloway won is to question
whether uh your preference for the
unelected dictators in Assad and Saddam
Hussein perhaps beats Tony Blair's
interest in um invading
Iraq well that's an entirely false
dichotomy and a diversion from what
we're here to talk about which is the
seven years that Tony Blair has spent as
the quartet's envoy they've been seven
fat years for him but they've been seven
lean years for the people of the Arab
Middle East the Palestinians are under
lockdown being shot down being arrested
on a mass basis every day uh Egypt is
falling to pieces as you've just been
discussing and do I need to mention Iraq
which is now almost not a functioning
State at all so it's enough enough is
enough it's time to sack blair. org
thousands of people are signing up
including British ambassadors that we
pay for their expertise in the Middle
East that that that's enough of the
promotion for your um campaign but let
me talk to you John MC murnan it must be
very hard not to look at the Middle East
and say hang on a minute if we could
wind the clock back this was a grave
mistake and it was a mistake in which Mr
Blair was very very heavily involved the
original Invasion no it wasn't a mistake
to uh go into Iraq it's not a mistake
now to try to defend Kurdish democracy
and Iraqi democracy but is a mistake is
to in some way decide that hang on Iraqi
democracy that has excluded the sunnis I
mean in the sense that they have no role
in government in Iraqi democracy which
is yet as Lindsay said on your report to
form a new government the voters
punished al- Malaki uh now the
government has to be formed there but
there is democracy there five elections
since 2003 but the point here is it's
not right to blame Tony Blair for the
failure of the government of Israel to
come to a peace deal with uh the
Palestinian people that is a failure in
Israel Tony Blair's visited the Middle
East 117 times he's working hard with
all the principles he's working hard on
economic development he's doing the job
the quarter asked him to do well let's
put that specific point um not fair to
blame Tony Blair for for Israel do you
want us to stick to Iraq or we got to
talk about Israel as
well well everyone is blaming him
everyone except the one man you managed
to find in London who's counting the
number of times he's visited the Middle
East a fat lot of good all those 117
visits have done the uh Gaza Strip is
living on the edge of starvation the
West Bank is on lockdown there have been
four children killed in the last 10 days
by Israel the Egyptian regime is locking
up Al jazer journalists and sentencing
your own former colleague to 10 years in
jail Iraq is half controlled by Al-Qaeda
and the other half appears to be in the
hands of Shiite militia it is an
absolute unalloyed catastrophe and if
John murnan was being honest he'd have
to agree that Mr Blair for all his 117
visits is not achieving anything well
let me take time for him go let let me
take John mcturner back to Israel where
was Tony Blair when the Israelis were
flattening Gaza the the point about t
that's a big question where was he how
often has he been to Gaza he's been 17
times the has he been to Gaza I don't
know how many times I can tell you once
okay I mean that isn't good enough is it
that place is absolutely strangled
completely strangled the Egyptians have
cut them off the Israelis have cut them
off GA Gaza has been given to back to
the Palestinian people the settlers the
Israeli settlers there were moved out by
the Israeli Army the Israelis are able
when they decide to move out of an area
to evacuate an area the issue theang no
the issue about the issue about the
issue is to stop the terrorist firing
the issue is Sur to bring you talk about
democracy what about the people of Gaza
what is to happen to them they voted for
a particular government it happened to
be Hamas but they voted for it in free
and Democratic elections but nobody
liked it and as a consequence they have
been strangled and where has Tony Blair
been in defending them Tony Tony Blair's
job is to try to get the principles
ready to do two things one is to create
economic development in Palestine which
is a central part of any independent
democ there and the second one is to put
as much pressure as he can on behalf of
the
quartet going to resign he's going to
resign before he's pushed there's no
chance he be pushed there's no chance to
resign he's doing the job the court
asked for and it's the Prime Minister
net who who has to make the peace deal
John murnan and George Galloway thank
you both very much