LEBANON: British politician in Beirut George Galloway on Saturday congratulatest the Lebanese people and the leader of the Hizbollah guerilla group on what he called "a great and historic victory" against Israel.

Maverick British politician and Iraq war opponent George Galloway on Saturday (August 26) extended his congratulations to the Lebanese people and the leader of the Hizbollah guerilla group on what he called "a great and historic victory" against Israel. Galloway, who is in Beirut to present a phone-in radio show for a British radio station, made the comments at a news conference in a Beirut hotel. "I came here to extend my congratulations to the Lebanese people on a great and historic victory against this aggression," said Galloway. "I want to congratulate the Lebanese resistance and their leading edge, Hizbollah, whose martyrs and heroes have achieved this great victory. And in particular to their leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whose name now rings in joy around the world," he added. Galloway condemned British Prime Minister Tony Blair's response to Israel's war with Hizbollah, adding that the blood of the Lebanese people was on his hands. "Tony Blair did everything he could to extend, to prolong, to intensify the suffering of the people of Lebanon. The blood of these thousands is on his hands," he said. Galloway, a controversial MP for London's Bethnal Green and Bow, alarmed his constituents earlier this year after he sported a Lycra catsuit and impersonated a cat on the Celebrity Big Brother reality TV show. In the past, Galloway has caused many a political storm with comments such as saying it would be morally justified for a suicide bomber to kill Prime Minister Tony Blair in revenge for the war in Iraq. Galloway was kicked out of the Labour party for his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war. He also took his anti-war case to Washington in a much-publicised, televised showdown with a U.S. Senate panel which accused him of profiting off Iraqi oil deals before the war, allegations he denied. Galloway also won a long-running libel dispute with Britain's Daily Telegraph after the newspaper published a story in 2003 saying he had been "in the pay" of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The newspaper based its story on documents it said it found in the abandoned Iraqi Foreign Ministry building in Baghdad after the invasion to topple Saddam in 2003. The report claimed Galloway had received 375,000 pounds a year in payoffs from the Iraqi government, something he had always denied. Elsewhere is Beirut, Secretary General of the Fatah movement, Farouk Kaddoumi, held talks with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. "These sacrifices [of Lebanon] have given the example of real Arab steadfastness and shown that the invincibility of Israeli has ended," said Koddoumi, after his meeting with Siniora. Israel's 34 day war with Shiite Muslim Hizbollah guerillas cost the lives of nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mainly soldiers.

ITN Source | August 27, 2006

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