1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,784 George Galloway 2 00:00:02,167 --> 00:00:09,059 Thank God, Mr Speaker, for the erudition and historical memory of the last three speeches; 3 00:00:09,434 --> 00:00:14,165 almost entirely absent in the Prime Minister’s initial address. 4 00:00:14,165 --> 00:00:20,878 He was clearly making a speech which was not the one he intended to make here this afternoon. 5 00:00:20,878 --> 00:00:24,828 Otherwise, he would not have persuaded you, at vast public expense, 6 00:00:24,828 --> 00:00:27,902 to recall the House of Commons to decide 7 00:00:27,902 --> 00:00:32,493 that we’re actually going to decide on this matter next week or the week after, 8 00:00:32,493 --> 00:00:35,608 when we’re back here in any case. 9 00:00:35,608 --> 00:00:42,218 It’s absolutely evident that if it were not for the democratic revolt 10 00:00:42,218 --> 00:00:49,900 which has been under way in this House of Commons and outside in the wider public against this war, 11 00:00:50,415 --> 00:00:55,273 that the engines in Cyprus would now be revving 12 00:00:55,273 --> 00:00:59,857 and the cruise missiles ready to fly this very weekend, 13 00:00:59,857 --> 00:01:04,779 and any attempt by the Prime Minister to pretend that he had always, all along, 14 00:01:04,779 --> 00:01:10,678 intended on this course of action is just bunkum. 15 00:01:10,678 --> 00:01:16,009 And the reason for the unease here on both sides of the House 16 00:01:16,009 --> 00:01:19,834 [demonstrated in] two exceptional speeches from the last speaker 17 00:01:19,834 --> 00:01:23,431 and the Hon. Member from New Forest East, 18 00:01:23,431 --> 00:01:27,104 encompassed the feelings of the people of the country. 19 00:01:28,029 --> 00:01:32,973 Only 11% of the public, according to The Daily Telegraph this morning, 20 00:01:32,973 --> 00:01:36,739 support Britain becoming involved in a war in Syria. 21 00:01:36,739 --> 00:01:42,444 Can ever a British Government have imagined sending its men and women to war 22 00:01:42,444 --> 00:01:47,910 with the support of just 11% in public opinion? 23 00:01:47,910 --> 00:01:55,480 First; that there is no compelling evidence- to use the Leader of the Opposition’s words- 24 00:01:55,480 --> 00:02:00,715 that the Assad regime is responsible for this crime, yet. 25 00:02:00,715 --> 00:02:04,577 Not that they’re not bad enough to do it, Mr Speaker; 26 00:02:04,577 --> 00:02:07,824 everybody knows [that] they’re bad enough to do it. 27 00:02:07,824 --> 00:02:10,897 The question is: are they mad enough to do it? 28 00:02:11,619 --> 00:02:16,410 To launch a chemical weapons attack in Damascus on the very day 29 00:02:16,410 --> 00:02:23,056 that a United Nations chemical weapons inspection team arrives in Damascus; 30 00:02:23,056 --> 00:02:26,847 must be a new definition of madness. 31 00:02:26,847 --> 00:02:29,928 And of course, if he is that mad, 32 00:02:29,928 --> 00:02:33,603 how mad is he going to be once we’ve launched a blizzard 33 00:02:33,603 --> 00:02:37,886 of Tomahawk cruise missiles upon his country? 34 00:02:39,959 --> 00:02:45,358 As I heard the Front Benches describe how bad he was, 35 00:02:45,358 --> 00:02:48,984 I wondered just why the former Prime Minister 36 00:02:48,984 --> 00:02:55,717 forced Her Majesty to billet him in her guest room at Buckingham Palace just a few years ago, 37 00:02:55,717 --> 00:02:59,398 and how a former Prime Minister recommended him for an honour 38 00:02:59,398 --> 00:03:03,265 and how he was hailed on all corners as a moderniser. 39 00:03:04,354 --> 00:03:07,200 But of course the narrative has changed 40 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:11,738 because the Government is intent on regime change in Damascus 41 00:03:11,738 --> 00:03:17,612 which brings me to the only other point I'm going to be able to make in the time available. 42 00:03:18,358 --> 00:03:25,272 The reason for the unease is that people can see the character of the Syrian opposition. 43 00:03:25,272 --> 00:03:28,993 They have seen the videos; we’ve heard about horrific videos. 44 00:03:28,993 --> 00:03:34,601 Take a look at the video of one of the commanders of the Syrian revolution 45 00:03:34,601 --> 00:03:39,966 cutting open the chest of a human being and eating his heart and liver 46 00:03:39,966 --> 00:03:43,854 and videotaped himself and putting it up on YouTube 47 00:03:43,854 --> 00:03:47,938 because he thought it might be considered attractive. 48 00:03:47,938 --> 00:03:54,187 Take a look at the videos of Christian priests having their heads sawn off- 49 00:03:54,187 --> 00:03:58,057 not chopped off; sawn off- with breadknives. 50 00:03:58,557 --> 00:04:03,673 Even a bishop in the Christian Church was murdered by these people. 51 00:04:04,285 --> 00:04:09,222 Every religious minority in Syria- and there are 23 of those- 52 00:04:09,222 --> 00:04:13,146 is petrified at the victory of the Syrian rebels, 53 00:04:13,146 --> 00:04:18,956 that the British Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have been doing their utmost to supply 54 00:04:18,956 --> 00:04:24,149 with weapons and money these last two years, and they cannot deny it. 55 00:04:24,149 --> 00:04:28,431 They say it’s now about this crime, whoever committed it, 56 00:04:28,907 --> 00:04:32,451 but it’s been the Government’s policy for two years 57 00:04:32,451 --> 00:04:35,749 to bring about the defeat of the regime in Damascus 58 00:04:35,749 --> 00:04:39,680 and a victory of the kind of people responsible for these crimes. 59 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:41,202 I have 20 seconds left— 60 00:04:41,202 --> 00:04:42,133 Will the hon. Gentleman give way? 61 00:04:43,180 --> 00:04:44,879 Willingly. 62 00:04:47,119 --> 00:04:49,355 If only for another 60 seconds. 63 00:04:49,355 --> 00:04:51,741 The Hon. Member made reference [to arms supplied to Syria], 64 00:04:51,741 --> 00:04:54,821 but let’s remember where those arms have come from, over decades: 65 00:04:54,821 --> 00:04:57,202 from this country’s supply to Syria 66 00:04:56,837 --> 00:04:58,470 Indeed. 67 00:04:58,470 --> 00:05:04,184 I have now 60 seconds at my disposal, so let me make this point more clearly. 68 00:05:04,184 --> 00:05:10,675 When did Russia and China- 2.5 billion people- 69 00:05:10,675 --> 00:05:14,121 cease to be members of the international community? 70 00:05:14,121 --> 00:05:21,420 Who are you on the other side to decide what the international community thinks [we] should do? 71 00:05:21,420 --> 00:05:26,959 I f you are unable to persuade the Security Council to go along with your point of view, 72 00:05:26,959 --> 00:05:31,952 who are you to decide that you will launch a war in any case? 73 00:05:33,147 --> 00:05:37,355 You see, I keep hearing about the unreasonable use of the veto. 74 00:05:37,355 --> 00:05:41,184 I’ve heard that many times over the last few years in this House. 75 00:05:41,184 --> 00:05:48,396 The United States has vetoed every attempt to obtain justice for the Palestinian people 76 00:05:48,396 --> 00:05:55,155 and to punish and issue retribution for international law-breaking on the part of Israel, 77 00:05:55,155 --> 00:05:59,979 and nobody in this House has said one word about it. Yes I’ll give way. 78 00:05:59,979 --> 00:06:03,994 I’m very grateful to the Honourable Member for giving way to me. 79 00:06:03,994 --> 00:06:09,643 Mr Speaker, I think you will be very interested to know that I’ve had several constituents email me 80 00:06:09,643 --> 00:06:14,192 about comments made by the Hon. Member for Bradford West on Iranian Press TV 81 00:06:14,192 --> 00:06:18,073 in which, my constituent claims, that the Hon. Member said 82 00:06:18,073 --> 00:06:21,190 that Israel supplied the chemical for the attacks in Syria. 83 00:06:21,190 --> 00:06:24,891 I would find that very hard to believe that the Hon. Member said that, 84 00:06:24,891 --> 00:06:28,432 so would he like to take this opportunity to refute that 85 00:06:28,432 --> 00:06:32,790 or provide the evidence to satisfy my constituent? 86 00:06:33,396 --> 00:06:38,419 It just shows the unreliability of relying upon green-ink letters, 87 00:06:38,419 --> 00:06:43,181 whether they come in the post or in e-mails, for I said no such thing. 88 00:06:44,314 --> 00:06:47,616 But the Syrian rebels definitely had sarin gas, 89 00:06:47,616 --> 00:06:50,843 because they were caught with it by the Turkish Government, 90 00:06:50,843 --> 00:06:56,533 as was referred by the former Government Minister opposite- 91 00:06:56,533 --> 00:07:00,736 if you’ll forgive me, I forget his constituency. 92 00:07:02,021 --> 00:07:03,899 [Interruption] 93 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:14,934 No, I know mine; it’s where I gave you such a bloody good hiding just over a year ago. 94 00:07:16,039 --> 00:07:19,258 The Syrian rebels have got plenty of access to sarin. 95 00:07:19,258 --> 00:07:22,532 It’s not rocket science, Mr Speaker. 96 00:07:22,532 --> 00:07:28,316 A group of Shinto obscurantists in Japan living on Mount Fuji 97 00:07:28,316 --> 00:07:35,227 poisoned the Tokyo underground with sarin gas less than 20 years ago. 98 00:07:35,227 --> 00:07:42,074 You don’t have to be Einstein to have your hands on sarin gas or the means to distribute it. 99 00:07:42,074 --> 00:07:47,879 Russia and China say no to war; so do I and most people in this country.