The George Galloway-SWP alliance has apparently found a name – The RESPECT Unity Coalition.
Each letter of R-E-S-P-E-C-T stands for some political value. Your guess is as good as mine.
Workers Liberty have received a copy of what appears to be RESPECT’s draft founding statement.
It’s pretty much as you would expect – the usual anti-war rhetoric with the left’s traditional wish-list added on.
There is at least one section I will give my wholehearted support to though:
The lying and hypocrisy that have accompanied the attack on Iraq (sic) have brought many to the conclusion that they must rethink their traditional political allegiance.
Just a little bit, just a little bit….
Update: Talking of friends of Saddam – a fascinating snippet from The Spectator’s interview with the Iraqi dictator’s old translator Saman Abdul Majid:
Of all the foreign visitors to Baghdad, Saman was most impressed by Tony Benn, who interviewed the dictator in February but refused Saddam’s offer of a presidential palace for his stay and insisted on paying for his own hotel room. ‘He seemed like a very sincere person.’ Unlike George Galloway, whom Saddam disliked after he said he cared for the Iraqi people, not their leader. Saman says that he was asked to leave the room for 15 minutes during Galloway’s last meeting with Saddam in January this year. ‘Were they talking “business”? A mystery,’ he says in his book.
A mystery indeed. And I wonder if GG paid for his own hotel room?