Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Another Blow to British Politics

As if Galloway wasn't a big enough stain on the history of British politics we now also have Jenny Tonge- this is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament and LibDem "spokesperson for children"- who was sacked from her front bench role for her comments in which she said that she might become a suicide bomber if she were Palestinian. Her boss, LibDem leader Charles Kennedy, an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq- even now he's opposed to British troops helping this fledgling democracy- said at the time: “Her recent remarks about suicide bombers are completely unacceptable. They are not compatible with Liberal Democrat party policies and principles. There can be no justification, under any circumstances for taking innocent lives through terrorism."

Tonge tried to excuse her comments at the time by saying that, "having seen the violence and the humiliation and the provocation that the Palestinian people live under every day and have done since their land was occupied by Israel, I could understand and was trying to understand where [suicide bombers] were coming from." No mention of the hundreds of innocent lives which have been ended by these murderers, no understanding of the destruction caused. Does she for a moment even consider the victims of these barbaric crimes? Of course not, but Labour MP Richard Burden thought that she was right to recognise the "pain of the suicide bomber". It's enough to make you sick.

Kennedy sacked her a day after many complaints were made about Tonge's comments and his statement certainly sounded good but it fails to explain why he has now nominated her for Britain's upper chambers, the House of Lords. Is her stance on terrorism still wrong or is it now in line with Liberal Democrat policies? Do the LibDems now support the murder of innocent civilians with explosive vests? Or is it that he really does agree with her and now that the election is past he feels free to do something controversial?

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