[Ignitionnet]

Amusing that this thread is more anti-Galloway than the thread in a Canadian political forum that I frequent.

Amusing and unfortunate actually.

Incidentally Galloway doesn't praise the Taliban, his most recent quote on the war in Afghanistan was this:

Galloway’s most recent comment on Afghanistan was to the Grimsby and Scunthorpe media group and was, “More British soldiers have now died in Afghanistan than in the whole of the disastrous war in and occupation of Iraq. And yet the Taliban are growing in strength and instability is spreading across the border into Pakistan. My heart goes out to the families of all the loved ones who have lost their lives and in particular to the families of Corporals Grahame Stiff and Dean John, the latest soldiers to lose their lives in Afghanistan. The majority of British people, the latest opinion polls show, do not understand why we have sent troops to Afghanistan. I want our troops brought home from Afghanistan now, so no more lives are lost in this pointless and unwinnable war."

One can be anti-war as a lot of British people are without being pro-Taliban. Galloway is emotive, controversial, and Canada did this purely for political points scoring with some of their Jewish and other constituents. It's backfiring spectacularly of course as it gives Galloway that thing he loves - attention - and makes Canada look even more like a formerly liberal and free thinking society that's presided over by a bunch of rabid neo-con wannabe Bush-ites. In the absence of neo-cons in power in the US it appears Canada has decided to take up the mantle with the Harper government keeping a tight reign on ministers, dampening down the press coverage of things they don't like nicely, for example the banning of a British MP from Canada has barely been on the radar, and even going as far as slagging off Barack Obama, with a nice undertone of being very deeply up Israel's backside in true Bush fashion:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/h...rvative_speech

In a recording obtained by The Canadian Press, Harper goes after the Liberals in a election-campaign style attack, saying the current situation would be much worse had they been in power.

"Imagine the stance Canada would have taken when Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists attacked Israel. Imagine how many Liberal insiders and ideologues would be now in the Senate, the courts and countless other federal institutions and agencies - I should say, how many more," Harper said to laughter.

"Imagine the costs of going through with the Kyoto and Kelowna accords with no plan to actually achieve anything on either the environment or aboriginal affairs. Imagine what a carbon tax would be doing to our economy in the middle of a global recession."

He twice pointed disdainfully to tax hikes U.S. President Barack Obama introduced for the highest tax brackets.

Incidentally the immigration minister, Jason Kenney, who made this decision has a few other great things to his credit including:

A longtime Conservative who opposes same-sex marriage has been appointed to the tribunal that decides whether gays get refugee status in Canada.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is poised to slash federal funding to Canada's largest Arabic group after its president called him a "professional whore" for supporting Israel.

In August 2006, Kenney compared Hezbollah with the Nazi Party of 1930s Germany, while agreeing with the tactics used by Israelis including the use of human shields and white phosphorous, a banned and illegal form of biological warfare. He also rebuked Prime Minister of Lebanon Fuad Saniora for having criticized Canada's support for Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. Saniora had argued that most nations of the world, apart from Canada, regarded Israel's military actions in Lebanon as disproportionate and illegal. Kenney's response was, "Canada took a responsible position and I would hope that the Lebanese prime minister would express gratitude".

In April 2006, Kenney attended a rally supporting the People's Mujahedin of Iran, a group designated by Canadian federal legislation and UN agreements as a terrorist organization because it advocates the violent overthrow of the Iranian government and the purging of Western influence from the region. Kenney later claimed that he did not remember attending the rally, and then that he did not know at the time the group was connected to a terrorist organization. He is however in close association with the JDL, whom the FBI have deemed a violent and extreme terrorist group, as shown in his recent banning of George Galloway at their behest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Defense_League

Sorry to disturb, let the Galloway bashing please continue.

Incidentally I don't agree with a lot of what he says either, but I respect his right to say it, and think Canada are idiots for doing this - they lose whichever way you look at it beyond scoring points with the Jewish in Canada.