Brit/Yank Politics Meet: Galloway Before the Senate

[Monte Smith]

Hearing happens on Tuesday. This should be interesting. Either the Senate has the goods on Galloway or they'll get their ass bit or neither and/or both.


Galloway arrives in Washington
George Galloway has arrived in Washington and vowed to set the record straight on allegations that he profited from Saddam Hussein's regime.

The Respect MP said he would be looking for an apology for the way US Senators carried out an investigation in which they accused him of receiving vouchers for millions of barrels of oil from the former dictator.

"It is a schoolboy dossier, full of holes, full of falsehoods," he said. "I am not expecting any justice from the innards of the US government but I want to appear not as the accused but as the accuser."

Mr Galloway said there was no doubt documents cited which allegedly link him to the oil for food scandal were forged and pledged to clear his name.

"I have never bought or sold a drop Iraqi oil or any other commodity in my life," he added.

The former Labour MP, who was re-elected to Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow running for his own Respect party, is to appear before a Senate hearing tomorrow.

He described the idea that he could have been made a multi-millionaire by Saddam Hussein as "inherently preposterous".

Mr Galloway said he had a number of complaints to make about the process under which the senate committee on investigation drew its conclusions and the way he claimed their "schoolboy dossier was passed off as an investigation".

He said it was full of value judgements apparently only shared in Washington and suggested he had been targeted because he was the leader of the anti-war movement in the UK.

Senator Norm Coleman's committee have invited Mr Galloway to appear at its hearing entitled Oil For Influence: How Saddam Used Oil To Reward Politicians And Terrorist Entities Under The United Nations Oil For Food Programme.

[Pedantic Wretch]

(stepping briefly out of the shadows of lurkdom...)

Galloway's is a cause worth defending, since despite his vaguely shady past, he is currently the only voice for the far left in the British Parliament. 'Respect' is the brainchild of the Socialist Workers Party, and has become the viable left alternative to Labour in several inner city areas, primarily on the back of widespread outrage over Iraq. The problem will be to build upon this initial momentum: I can't help feeling that Respect will run out of steam before it makes any further headway (the choice of such an idiotic name, its reluctance to define itself as openly socialist, and its opportunistic attitude to Islam do not help matters).

Meanwhile, the hypocrisy of investigating Galloway when the Bush administration has repeatedly encouraged corruption in the Middle East is covered in an article published this morning.

[john williams]

Respect

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by Pedantic Wretch

(stepping briefly out of the shadows of lurkdom...)

Galloway's is a cause worth defending, since despite his vaguely shady past, he is currently the only voice for the far left in the British Parliament. 'Respect' is the brainchild of the Socialist Workers Party, and has become the viable left alternative to Labour in several inner city areas, primarily on the back of widespread outrage over Iraq. The problem will be to build upon this initial momentum: I can't help feeling that Respect will run out of steam before it makes any further headway (the choice of such an idiotic name, its reluctance to define itself as openly socialist, and its opportunistic attitude to Islam do not help matters).

Yes, there is the Leftist politics to defend. And then maybe the facts in the case. Those we will have to play as they lay.

Pedantic Wrench!!!!


Welcome back, my friend!!!

[tristano's ghost]

Oops...

...the Senate report found that US oil purchases accounted for 52% of the kickbacks paid to the regime in return for sales of cheap oil - more than the rest of the world put together.

"The United States was not only aware of Iraqi oil sales which violated UN sanctions and provided the bulk of the illicit money Saddam Hussein obtained from circumventing UN sanctions," the report said. "On occasion, the United States actually facilitated the illicit oil sales."

Full article

[Monte Smith]

Oops indeed! Looks like Galloway won't be alone in holidaying in the States:

Terror suspect facing extradition
BBC.co.uk

A judge has ruled that British terror suspect Babar Ahmad can be extradited to the United States.


Babar Ahmad, pictured in green, is fighting extradition to the US

The district judge told London's Bow Street Magistrates' Court it was a "difficult and troubling case".

Mr Ahmad, 31, a computer expert from London, is accused of running websites that supported terrorists and urged Muslims to fight a holy war.

The case has been sent to the home secretary for final approval and Mr Ahmad has the right to appeal.

BBC home affairs correspondent Andy Tighe believes an appeal is likely, in which case the matter would be decided in the High Court.

In claims dating back to 1997, the US government has accused Mr Ahmad of "conspiring to support terrorism", saying he "sought, invited and solicited contributions" via websites and emails.

The US Department of State has claimed that websites run by Mr Ahmad, who is from Tooting, south London, urged Muslims to use "every means at their disposal" to train for jihad, or holy war.

Terror allegations

The websites are said to call for support for terrorist causes in Afghanistan and Chechnya, as well as encouraging the transfer of money and useful equipment via the sites.

Lawyers representing Mr Ahmad said he would be at risk of the death penalty if he was sent to the US and transferred to military jurisdiction.

But senior district judge Timothy Workman, who described the matter as "a difficult and troubling case", decided that "none of the statutory bars apply" to refusing extradition.

He said it would be up to Home Secretary Charles Clarke to decide if Mr Ahmad should be sent to the United States.

If our government has any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Babar Ahmad then he should be charged in this country and put on trial here
Iqbal Sacranie
Muslim Council of Britain

Judge Workman told Mr Ahmad that he had the right to appeal to the High Court.

Any extradition order would come under UK legislation designed to speed up the extradition of suspected terrorists, which came into force in January 2004.

Under the act there is no requirement for the US authorities to present a prima facie case, although UK authorities must do so in seeking extraditions from the US.

Muddassar Arani, the defendant's solicitor, said the decision had been political and her client made a "scapegoat".

And Mr Ahmad's wife, Maryam, said: "We will fight to the end. We will never give up. "We believe we are not just fighting for Babar but for any other British citizen who can be subject to such a treaty which is one-way and will deny fundamental human rights." Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: "If our government has any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Babar Ahmad then he should be charged in this country and put on trial here."

[Slurpy]

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

Mr Ahmad......is accused of running websites that supported terrorists and urged Muslims to fight a holy war.

Is this really that different than what James Dobson and Tony Perkins do with Focus on the Family and The Family Research Council? Granted Ahmad
probably doesn't have such a disingenuous name for his site (or does he??)

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Slurpy,

Are you talking about web-sites that encourage the bombings of women's clinics and the targeting of doctors who perform abortions?

Nah that's domestic terrorism. We're cool with that.

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by Darryl G. Thomas

Are you talking about web-sites that encourage the bombings of women's clinics and the targeting of doctors who perform abortions?

Is that what Dobson and Perkins are up to?

[Pedantic Wretch]

In quotes: Galloway showdown

Here are some of the quotes from British MP George Galloway as he confronted his accusers on a US Senate sub-committee.

• "Who paid me hundreds of thousands of dollars? The answer to that is nobody and if you had anybody who paid me a penny you would have produced them here today."

• "I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is that Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps the better to target those guns."

• "You traduced my name around the world without ever having asked me a single question, without ever having contacted me, without ever having written to me or telephoned me, without any contact with me whatsoever and you call that justice."

• "Senator [Norm Coleman, committee chairman], this is the mother of all smoke screens. You are trying to divert attention from the crimes that you supported from the theft of billions of dollars of Iraq's wealth."

• "You have nothing on me Senator [Coleman], except my name on lists of names in Iraq, many of which were drawn up after the installation of your puppet government in Iraq."

• "I have never seen a barrel of oil, owned one, bought one, sold one, and neither has anybody on my behalf."

• "I know that standards have slipped over the last few years in Washington but for a lawyer you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice."

• "One of the most serious mistakes you have made in this set of documents is such a schoolboy howler it makes a fool of the efforts you have made."

• "Senator [Coleman], in everything I said about Iraq I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000 have paid with their lives, 1,600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...cs/4557279.stm

Published: 2005/05/17 19:46:13 GMT

© BBC MMV

P.S. If you have RealPlayer you can watch the whole thing (and quite entertaining it is) on video at the BBC News site.

P.P.S. An amusing anecdote about that creep Hitchens:

'Before the hearing began, the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow even had some scorn left over to bestow generously upon the pro-war writer Christopher Hitchens. "You're a drink-soaked former-Trotskyist popinjay," Mr Galloway informed him. "Your hands are shaking. You badly need another drink," he added later, ignoring Mr Hitchens's questions and staring intently ahead.

"And you're a drink-soaked..." Eventually Mr Hitchens gave up. "You're a real thug, aren't you?" he hissed, stalking away.'

- Galloway and the mother of all invective, The Guardian

[Monte Smith]

Haven't seen the actual testimony, but I note that Galloway did not impress liberal Senator Carl Levin (who voted against the Iraq war). It's no surprise that Galloway's bluster didn't move Senator Norm Coleman, but you'd have thought if Galloway had right on his side he could have won over an eager war critic like Levin.

In post-testimony media spots, Galloway insisted that he never sold oil and never benefitted from the sale of oil. He at the same time insisted that his "party" was above board in declaring that their contributions came from an Iraqi businessman who did business with Saddam. The fact that $600,000+ came into Galloway campaign coffers from this source is described by Galloway not as "a Republican attack" or as "American lies" but, tellingly, as "strictly legal." Which, of course, all oil-for-food corruption was. It was legal to get oil from Saddam and sell it to the highest bidder (often an American bidder). Just as it was legal for Saddam to divert monies from his "starving people" to bribe a UK politician. That was the beauty of this UN program: it's strict legality.

[crawjo]

George Galloway has to be one of the biggest jerkoffs in politics anywhere right now, left-wing or right-wing, though a few American Republicans are giving him a run for his money.

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by crawjo

George Galloway has to be one of the biggest jerkoffs in politics anywhere right now, left-wing or right-wing, though a few American Republicans are giving him a run for his money.

And there is still Saddam...I mean, come on. I mean, you're like attacking Count Dooku when we have the Emperor in prison.

[Pedantic Wretch]

Originally Posted by Monte

It's no surprise that Galloway's bluster didn't move Senator Norm Coleman, but you'd have thought if Galloway had right on his side he could have won over an eager war critic like Levin.

Obviously Galloway was not going to 'win over' any American senators, since his speech was vigorously anti-American in tone. Also, he highlighted the incompetence of the data that had been assembled. While his financial past is hardly spotless, the fact remains that the accusations made by the Senate committee are unproven; their line of questioning about the source of Galloway's charity's chairman's funds was irrelevant to the initial accusation.

Originally Posted by crawjo

George Galloway has to be one of the biggest jerkoffs in politics anywhere right now, left-wing or right-wing, though a few American Republicans are giving him a run for his money.

It is quite amazing, the apparent ability of Galloway to irritate people who can have only a tangential awareness of who he is. While hardly an ideal figure - personally I object to his dubious endorsement of religion, for one - he is the only elected politician who is not afraid to display an open contempt for the actions of both the British and American governments over the last few years. It is difficult to convey the frustration of those of us on the left in Britain whose views are in no way represented by the Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat parties, which all seem like variations on the same tedious right-leaning theme. Even if Galloway achieves nothing with his bellowing, it can at least provide some indirect satisfaction for the ignored masses.

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by Pedantic Wretch

While hardly an ideal figure - personally I object to his dubious endorsement of religion, for one - he is the only elected politician who is not afraid to display an open contempt for the actions of both the British and American governments over the last few years.

I think this is the quality which redeems Galloway, to those inclined, from any accusation.

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

And there is still Saddam...I mean, come on. I mean, you're like attacking Count Dooku when we have the Emperor in prison.

What a nerd..............

[crawjo]

Saddam? He's in prison, I've forgotten about him.

I don't really care anymore what Galloway did or did not do, but I've read numerous stories about him over the last couple of years and I remain firm in the conviction that he is a supreme asshole, regardless of whatever positive traits he may possess.

[Sergio Zamora]

From what I' ve been reading, Galloway kicked all of their asses despite how American media will no likely portray it.

To which I say: Right on!

[crawjo]

The one story I read was from Reuters, and it was so one-sided that I had no idea what actually happened. The story quoted Galloway at length, but as far as you would know from reading the story, Senator Coleman just stood there and never responded, because there was not one quote from him, or from any other member of the Committee.

[Root Doctor]

Video of Galloway's appearance can be found here:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/05/17.html

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

He's a stalinist bastard who's election was based almost entirely on whipping up racial tension about three miles from where I live. But I'm watching it now and he appears to have whipped their arses.

[Gary Sisco]

Strange how every report about the scandal has mentioned American corporations but no one seems much interested in talking about them.

Strange, too, that there is still illicit oil being shipped out of Iraq today, and every day -- unmetered, acording to The Economist.

The oil's being shipped and sold. Who has the money? How much? Who will ever know or even be able to determine?

No, we'll fuck with some individual. It's always a lot easier than confronting corporate power, fucking with one guy who has nearly no power.

As usual, anything the US media is paying attention to to any serious extent is probably not worth bothering much about. It's almost always the case.

[Gary Sisco]

Putin's a Stalinist bastard and a career KGB murderer, yet, guess who knew he could trust him after looking into his eyes? He's "a guy we can work with" says Alfred E. He's right, of course.

So long as it's understood that I'm not a part of that "we," because I have no use for *any* Stalinist and never have, unlike many in the Republican Party's leadership.

Originally Posted by Mr. Grumpybottoms

The oil's being shipped and sold. Who has the money? How much? Who will ever know or even be able to determine?

Is it safe to assume that you refer to Tom Clancy movies as "documentaries"?

[Root Doctor]

From yesterday's Guardian:

"Before the hearing began, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow even had some scorn left over to bestow generously upon the pro-war writer Christopher Hitchens. "You're a drink-soaked former Trotskyist popinjay," Mr Galloway in formed him. "Your hands are shaking. You badly need another drink," he added later, ignoring Mr Hitchens's questions and staring intently ahead. "And you're a drink-soaked ..." Eventually Mr Hitchens gave up. "You're a real thug, aren't you?" he hissed, stalking away."

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally Posted by Root Doctor

From yesterday's Guardian:

"Before the hearing began, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow even had some scorn left over to bestow generously upon the pro-war writer Christopher Hitchens. "You're a drink-soaked former Trotskyist popinjay," Mr Galloway in formed him. "Your hands are shaking. You badly need another drink," he added later, ignoring Mr Hitchens's questions and staring intently ahead. "And you're a drink-soaked ..." Eventually Mr Hitchens gave up. "You're a real thug, aren't you?" he hissed, stalking away."

Ok, that might have been an unfair, callous, and insensitive thing to do, but that was just beautiful!

[crawjo]

Originally Posted by Sergio Zamora

Ok, that might have been an unfair, callous, and insensitive thing to do, but that was just beautiful!

No, it was just cruel, and was the opposite of beautiful.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Forgive me, but Galloway's performance cracked me the hell up. For one thing, it was obvious that his naked contempt threw Coleman for a loop. The cat sat there with his blow-dry hair and artificially whitened teeth in shock. Levin probably backed Coleman up because he didn't like a foreigner punking out one of his homies. The Senate is a club, is it not?

All Coleman could sputter afterwards was that Galloway was obviously not a credible witness.

I wonder why no one asked him why? If the Senate had hard core evidence (like bank accounts, money transfers, etc) shouldn't they have presented it?

The Brits play rough. They don't seem to mind reaming new assholes during political debates. What's that thing they got where the Prime Minister has to go before Parliament and get drilled for about an hour or so? It's on CSPAN all the time. Coleman should've checked it out.

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally Posted by crawjo

No, it was just cruel, and was the opposite of beautiful.

It was fucking great.