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Blair’s
Party Expels Galloway Over Anti-war Stance
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"This
was a politically motivated kangaroo court whose verdict had been
written in advance in the best tradition of political show
trials," said Galloway
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LONDON,
October 23 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - British Prime
Minister Tony Blair’s ruling Labour Party announced Thursday, October
23, expelling prominent lawmaker George Galloway for his staunch
opposition to the Anglo-American war and then occupation of oil-rich
Iraq.
Galloway,
48, was suspended
from the party in May following an interview with Abu Dhabi television
on March 28 - eight days into the war - in which he accused Blair and
his war duo U.S. President George Bush of invading Iraq "like
wolves".
Speaking
to reporters after his expulsion from the party, Galloway stressed he
had been subjected to a "political show trial".
"This
was a politically motivated kangaroo court whose verdict had been
written in advance in the best tradition of political show trials."
"Mr
Blair's response to the mistake of the war is to attack those who stood
against the war and root them out of British politics," the BBC
News Online quoted him as charging.
"Labour
will rue the day that they took this decision," confident Galloway
said, stressing that the anti-war movement "is not going
away".
The
Glasgow Kelvin lawmaker, who had been a member of the Labour for 36
years having joined when he was just 13, reiterated determination to run
as an independent
in the next election, hinting he might quit to run against Labour in a
by-election.
"I
was prominent in the Labour Party when Tony Blair was just an ugly
rumour," he said in a jibe about the prime minister's student band.
"I
am still under 50-years-old, I have a strong heart," Galloway
noted, vowing to "fight with every bone in my body to bring a
lying, deceiving prime minister to account".
"I
intend to make sure that Tony Blair regrets this day," said the
prominent legislator.
Galloway
was charged of inciting Arabs to fight British troops, inciting British
forces to defy orders, inciting Plymouth voters to reject Labour MPs,
threatening to stand against Labour and backing anti-war candidate in
Preston, according to the BBC.
He
was found guilty of all but the third charge, said the broadcast,
indicating that the decision can not be appealed but only challenged in
courts.
"The
message that is sent out is: if you are in favour of the UN charter and
peace, then don't be a member of the Labour Party because if you do, you
might be expelled," former Labour cabinet minister Tony Benn told
BBC News 24 commenting on the decision.
However,
Labour chairman Ian McCartney argued the party had been right to expel a
man who "incited foreign forces to rise up against British
troops".
"He
was the only Labour MP to do this and he has never taken back or
apologized for these comments," he said.
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