Well thank you Shakey for clarifying your own position!

It is a bit rich coming from a Labour Party member the leader of which was an important , if junior partner, in the invasion of Iraq.
An invasion which started with "Shock And Awe" and has led to the deaths of some hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.The driving into exile of some 4 million others and the malnutrition of many of its children.The country has been plunged into barbarism .

The invaders have destroyed cities,apartment blocks ,mosques and have tortured and killed with impunity.It is a racist war with the Iraqi people being called all kinds of abusive names by their "liberators".

Writing as a member of Respect and as a former vice chair of my Labour Party branch I don't know how anyone could bear to be part of such a party whose leadership has played such a leading role in that invasion.Indeed ,Blair should be in the dock at the Hague to face war crimes charges if there was any justice in the world.

Your party leader ,in one of his last acts as Prime Minister, abandoned the criminal investigation into the corrupt British arms for Saudi Arabia scandal which shamed the country both nationally and internationally and showed that there is one law for the powerful and another law for the rest of us.

And incidentally, the Saudi Royal family has now been accused of funding extreme militant Sunni groups in Iraq which is bizarre to say the least! And of course the Saudi regime ,pals and cronies of Bush and Blair is renowned for its public executions in Chop Square by the sharp sword .Executions often of Asian men and women workers who are only in Saudi Arabia as economic migrants from the ravages of the free market in their own countries.

Respect emerged out of the anti war and anti capitalist movement.I was there at its founding conference in 2004.

It is opposed to the imperial war and the grab for oil and strategic power in that unfortunate country. Respect also supports the right of Palestine to be free. The destruction of the Lebanon last year was supported by Blair who allowed US military planes to land and refuel at airports in the UK .The UK also supplied military hardware to Israel.Blair of course also notoriously refused to support calls for a ceasefire in the Lebanon when that country was being bombed to bits by Israel.
Respect ,part of the anti war movement did its part in mobilising public opinion against the indiscriminate attack on the people of Lebanon.
Respect has also stood up to the racists here at home.Your party leadership has fuelled anti immigration hysteria and even put refugee children into prison.Here in Swansea ,a christian Iraqi family was threatened with deportation back to the hellhole that is Iraq.This is just one of numerous examples of the kind of thing that has been happening across the country.
There may be things wrong with Respect [lack of size and strength for example ] but its members will not accept unwarranted and pathetic criticism from the war and privatisation party!
best wishes
Albert

ps Mudcatters who want to find out more about Respect The Unity Coalition may want to go its website.