View Single Post
Old 01-23-2004, 11:57 AM   #1 (permalink)
Strange Famous
follower of the child's crusade?
 
"The Moronic Inferno"...

Quote:

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/libde...129744,00.html


Tonge sacked over bombing comments

Tom Happold and agencies
Friday January 23, 2004

Charles Kennedy has asked Jenny Tonge to step down as the Liberal Democrats' spokeswoman for children following her claim that she might consider becoming a suicide bomber if she lived in the Palestinian territories.
The MP made her remarks at a meeting of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign [PSC] on Wednesday, and has subsequently insisted she did not mean to condone suicide bombings.

Yesterday the party distanced itself from the MP, with a spokesman saying: "Jenny Tonge was expressing her personal views. The Liberal Democrats do not condone terrorism."

But Dr Tonge and the Lib Dems have continued to suffer a barrage of criticism, including a demand from the shadow foreign secretary, Michael Ancram, that Mr Kennedy condemn his colleague.

Mr Ancram claimed the party's response to Dr Tonge's remarks was "fainthearted" and asked the Lib Dem leader whether he believed it would "satisfy those who have suffered at the hands of suicide bombers".

"I urge you to personally intervene by distancing both yourself and your party from Dr Tonge's comments as a matter of urgency," he demanded.

Dr Tonge has also been condemned by a spokesman for the Israeli embassy, who said: "We would not expect any human being - and surely not a British MP - to express an understanding of such atrocities."

The Labour MP Louise Ellman, a member of the Holocaust educational trust, also demanded that she apologise for "giving the green light to terrorism".

Dr Tonge told the PSC: "This particular brand of terrorism, the suicide bomber, is truly born out of desperation.

"Many, many people criticise, many, many people say it is just another form of terrorism, but I can understand and I am a fairly emotional person and I am a mother and a grandmother. I think if I had to live in that situation, and I say this advisedly, I might just consider becoming one myself.

"And that is a terrible thing to say."

This morning she sought to clarify her remark, telling BBC Breakfast: "That doesn't mean to say I condone suicide bombers, I don't. "I think it's appalling and loathsome. But we have to try and understand where they are coming from and understand the situation in which they live."


http://politics.guardian.co.uk/libde...129505,00.html

Lib Dem MP: Why I would consider being a suicide bomber

Nicholas Watt, political correspondent
Friday January 23, 2004
The Guardian

Charles Kennedy was last night considering whether to sack a frontbencher who said that she would think of becoming a suicide bomber if she lived in the Palestinian territories.

Jenny Tonge was summoned to explain her comments to the Liberal Democrat chief whip after telling a Westminster rally that the daily "killings and the bulldozings and all the other horrible things" in the occupied territories made her understand why people became suicide bombers.

Dr Tonge, the spokeswoman on children, told a meeting of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign on Wednesday: "This particular brand of terrorism, the suicide bomber, is truly born out of desperation.

"Many many people criticise, many many people say it is just another form of terrorism, but I can understand and I am a fairly emotional person and I am a mother and a grand mother, I think if I had to live in that situation, and I say this advisedly, I might just consider becoming one myself. And that is a terrible thing to say."

Amid a chorus of condemnation, Mr Kennedy distanced himself from Dr Tonge's remarks. A party spokesman said: "Jenny Tonge was expressing her personal views. The Liberal Democrats do not condone terrorism in any circumstances whether by suicide bombers or anybody else."

Dr Tonge was summoned to a meeting "as soon as possible" with the chief whip, Andrew Stunnell. The party leadership was minded to sack her as a sign of its disapproval but a clear expression of regret by Dr Tonge may save her.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli embassy said such remarks would inflame the conflict by encouraging militants to become suicide bombers.

"We were shocked to hear these remarks which were extremely disgraceful. We would not expect any human being - and surely not a British MP - to express an understanding of such atrocities. Her words show something about her moral standards."

James Purnell, chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel, said: "Having sat down with people who have lost children, mothers and fathers to suicide bombers and to military action in the West Bank I am really appalled by what Jenny Tonge has said. "There is real suffering on the Israeli side and on the Palestinian side. British parliamentarians should be helping to find a way out of the conflict."
__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas
Strange Famous is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360