MP George Galloway on BBC Radio 4 "Any Questions" 15 July 2005 20:00

[Benbow]

BST (British Summer Time). Listen live via BBC web site - see link from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/anyquestions.shtml

The programme is repeated on Saturday 16 July, at 13:10 BST.

On "Any Questions", a panel of four guests - usually politicians or other "opinion formers" - answer questions put by members of their audience present in the hall/venue at the time. Chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby.

[tenshi816]

1. Ooh, and there's a "US law lecturer and Republican" -

a Professor Colleen Graffy - on the panel. This should be a lively programme once Mr. Galloway starts shredding her!

On edit: Here's a link to this Colleen Graffy person: http://law.pepperdine.edu/fac_staff/bios/graffy.jsp

She's also the Chairman of Republicans Abroad for the United Kingdom.

[CJCRANE]

4. She's getting some moderate applause

but also more shouts of "rubbish!" and also a lot of shouts of "anti-Bush" (when audience was asked if it was anti-American).

Galloway on top form and getting a lot applause.

[Benbow]

7. Despite being a law lecturer, Graffy evidently does not know that

libel law in the UK is different from that in the USA. I think that she may have said enough to give Galloway enough cause to bring a suit for defamation. Though I doubt that he would bother.

What a humourless, ultra right-wing harpy she is. And my opinion of Frank Field - plodding, stuffy, self-righteous (what is it with Christians who think that Harry Potter books incite children to witchcraft?) - fell through the floor.

[tenshi816]

9. For some reason,

most of the Americans I've met in Britain are fairly humourless and rigid compared to Britons, but then most of the ones I've met have been Republican types working over here on corporate transfers from the States.

I've lived in the UK for 19 years and have exactly one close American friend. She's a Dem too, although not as obsessed with politics as I am.

I don't see how people like Prof. Graffy can live here as long as she has without getting a clue about how people feel about Republicans. Honestly, what is she thinking?

Harpy - great description!

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

2. starting in 15 minutes

to listen go here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/

& click "LIsten Live" in the top-right corner

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

3. on now

[CJCRANE]

5. A Must Listen.

Colleen Graffy somewhat shocked by the "rough and tumble" of a British audience (the audience started laughing when she mentioned what she called "the B-word" - Bush - and democracy in the same sentence).

[Benbow]

6. Thank God - Galloway knew that MEMRI is a pro- Israeli web site

and said so when Graffy was telling everyone to look at the translations from the Arabic on that site. From what I remember, it was set up by a former Israeli secret serviceman; and from what I have seen, it is far from a reliable, unbiased source.

[Jim Sagle]

13. I've always thought of MEMRI as a damn reliable site. Hard evidence to

the contrary would be much appreciated.

[Benbow]

14. But what are you comparing MEMRI with -

There are a number of reports on the web about this organisation with links to the Likud party in Israel. Here is one article

The second thing that makes me uneasy is that the stories selected by Memri for translation follow a familiar pattern: either they reflect badly on the character of Arabs or they in some way further the political agenda of Israel. I am not alone in this unease.

Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations told the Washington Times: "Memri's intent is to find the worst possible quotes from the Muslim world and disseminate them as widely as possible."

<snip>

The reason for Memri's air of secrecy becomes clearer when we look at the people behind it. The co-founder and president of Memri, and the registered owner of its website, is an Israeli called Yigal Carmon. Mr - or rather, Colonel - Carmon spent 22 years in Israeli military intelligence and later served as counter-terrorism adviser to two Israeli prime ministers, Yitzhak Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin.

Retrieving another now-deleted page from the archives of Memri's website also throws up a list of its staff. Of the six people named, three - including Col Carmon - are described as having worked for Israeli intelligence. Among the other three, one served in the Israeli army's Northern Command Ordnance Corps, one has an academic background, and the sixth is a former stand-up comedian.

Col Carmon's co-founder at Memri is Meyrav Wurmser, who is also director of the centre for Middle East policy at the Indianapolis-based Hudson Institute, which bills itself as "America's premier source of applied research on enduring policy challenges". The ubiquitous Richard Perle, chairman of the Pentagon's defence policy board, recently joined Hudson's board of trustees.

There is a lot more about its modus operandi.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,773258,00.html

[CJCRANE]

8. Can you post a link

of the recording? (I'm not sure where to find it).

It'd be good for fellow DUers to hear what it's like when an unscreened audience gets to question politicians.

[tenshi816]

10. Link is up now!

Go here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/index.shtml?logo, then under "Listen Again" on the right hand side of the page, click "Any Questions".

Make a cup of tea before doing all that, and then sit back and listen!

[Benbow]

11. Here is the link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/networks/radio4/aod.shtml?radio4/anyquestions

If that doesn't work, go to

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/anyquestions.shtml

and click on the Listen Again link on the righthand side.

[CJCRANE]

12. Thanks both!

I missed the beginning, got a chance to catch it now.

[magellan]

15. I'm astounded by one assertion that keeps coming up

Paraphrased: "What happens in Iraq and Gitmo and Abu Ghraib and Palestine isn't a reason for people to blow others up. It's not even the beginning of a reason."

Either the conservatives on the panel who keep saying this are dolts or they're dealing the usual misleading party line. They alternately attack Galloway for "condoning" the attacks of 9/11 and 7/7 because he dares to explain why he believes they happened, or say they just don't get it. Are they unaware of how radical Islam distorts the Koran, making it okay to suicide oneself for a literalized "Holy War"? Is it beyond their grasp that the anger these atrocities foment in Muslim communities might in some cases find a nurturing home in such extremism?

We didn't understand kamikaze pilots at first, either. That didn't make the Japanese crazy or invalidate their reasons for doing what they did. They had their reasons, and I doubt all those pilots were selected from the local asylum.

Acknowledging a cultural/religious difference that permits such acts isn't condoning the actions. It's the beginning to understanding what could possibly be making people so angry that they'd be willing to kill themselves in order to kill others. And unless the GD conservatives figure that out, their foolish intransigence guarantees we're in for a long and bloody battle in which many more innocent people will die at the hands of terrorists.

[Benbow]

16. Hear hear

[CJCRANE]

17. Don't worry most Britons know its nonsense

to ignore Iraq as a trigger factor. A lot of white Britons are angry about the illegality and violence of the Iraq war let alone muslim brits.

Unfortunately there are a few who are now starting to parrot the Blair/Conservative talking points ("they hate us for our freedom" type stuff).