Syria Attack Debate: 'Is Assad Mad?' asks Respect MP George Galloway

Respect Bradford West MP George Galloway has harshly criticised the British government for its motion that could pave the way for military action in Syria in response to a chemical attack in the Ghouta region.

Galloway, who once defined Assad's Syria as "the last castle of Arab dignity", argued that the issue of determining if the Assad regime was to blame for the use of chemical weapons in eastern Damascus' outskirts was based on whether they are "mad enough to do it".

"Everyone knows they're bad enough to do it [use chemical weapons] but is he mad enough to do it?" he asked.

"To launch a chemical weapons attack in Damascus on the very day that a United Nations chemical weapons inspection team arrives in Damascus must be a new definition of madness," he said during the parliamentary debate.

"And of course if he is that mad, how mad is he going to be once we've launched a blizzard of tomahawk missiles upon his country?"

The Respect MP asked why Britain invited Assad to stay at Buckingham Palace and one prime minister offered him a knighthood. (Tony Blair's government considered asking the Queen to bestow on him an honorary knighthood).

He invited the government to take a look at videos of the Syrian rebels including those in which people "eat human flesh and saw heads off their opponents".

Galloway, who in 2010 flattered Assad's aides in order to obtain support for the delivery of an aid convoy to the Gaza strip, also criticised Britain for its willingness to use force in Syria even if the UN security council blocks its draft.

"When did Russia and China - 2.5bn people - cease to be members of the international community?" he said, referring to the opposition to any military action in Syria by Russia and China at the permanent session of the UN Security Council.

The MP also said that no one in the Commons has criticised Israel for its illegal settlements.

Assad allegedly has had links with dictators across the Arab world, including Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, and with Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza and the Iranian regime.

Galloway was kicked out of the Labour Party in 2003 after his remarks against Tony Blair, then prime minister, over Britain's participation in the Iraq war.