Hey Brits--What's with Galloway?

[Monte Smith]

To the several British posters on this board. My eyeballs widened when I read in my morning Financial Times about this Galloway MP alledgedly being paid off by Saddam's people. Originally reported by the Telegraph, I gather, from documents found in Baghdad.

This must be a pretty sizeable story in the UK. I'm not familiar with Galloway--unless (as I suspect) his is the Scottish voice I heard on the BBC and NPR rather frequently before the war addressing crowds about the evils of American imperialism. In which case, yuk yuk yuk.

To whit:

Investigation to probe Galloway's finances
By Christopher Adams, Political Correspondent

A Labour party investigation into the conduct of George Galloway, its pro-Iraqi MP, is to include his financial dealings after newspaper allegations that he received hundreds of thousands of pounds from Saddam Hussein's regime.

Party insiders made it clear on Tuesday that the investigation being conducted by David Triesman, general secretary, would seek a full explanation from Mr Galloway.

The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday_said that a letter written by an aid of the Iraqi dictator found_in_Baghdad stated_that Mr Hussein had rejected a request from Mr Galloway for more money, saying his "exceptional" demands were not affordable.

Mr Galloway on Tuesday strongly denied the claims in The Daily Telegraph_that he was paid £375,000 a year by Mr Hussein's regime out of proceeds from an oil-for-food programme set up and monitored by the United Nations. The accusations were "black propaganda" and "intelligence hocus pocus", he said and promised to sue the Telegraph for libel.

But Charles Moore, the newspaper's editor, stood by the claims. "When you find a document of this sort, what you need to establish is the prima facie case for its validity, and then you get the other side of the story, you get the person in question to put his side. That is what we have done," he said.

The newspaper said its story was based on information in documents found by one of its reporters in Iraq's foreign ministry in Baghdad. They showed Mr Galloway had received money and wanted more.

The Labour MP, who is no stranger to controversy and has campaigned against war and the sanctions on Iraq for a decade, faces almost certain expulsion if the investigation by Mr Triesman finds any evidence of wrongdoing.

He is already at risk of suspension after hundreds of complaints to party headquarters from members concerned at his recent remarks on Iraq, which included describing Tony Blair and George W. Bush, the US president, as "wolves".

Ian McCartney, Labour chairman, told reporters the allegations were "extremely serious", but noted the MP's denial and said that he could not comment further.

Highlighting Mr Blair's description of some of Mr Galloway's anti-war remarks as "disgraceful", he added: "The general secretary will consider all these issues arising from this and will come forward with recommendations to the national executive committee."

For Mr Blair, a decision to expel Mr Galloway without substantive evidence of wrongdoing could backfire. He could become a martyr for discontented Labour backbenchers.

The Telegraph said the documents included a confidential memorandum from the chief of the Mukhabarat, the Iraqi secret service, to Mr Hussein, which purportedly outlined talks between Mr Galloway and an Iraqi agent. The memo quoted Fawaz Zureikat, who was acting as Mr Galloway's agent in Iraq for the Mariam Appeal, a campaign group fighting for the lifting of sanctions against Iraq, as saying Mr Galloway needed "financial support" to continue his campaigning.

Mr Galloway said it was "preposterous" to suggest his pro-Iraq campaigning was funded by Mr Hussein: "I have never solicited nor received money from Iraq for our campaign against war and sanctions." Nor had he ever knowingly met any Iraqi intelligence officer.

-Financial Times



I'd love to hear opinions/insight into this Galloway character and this accusation.

[Gordon B]

The rumor is that the next run of bumper stickers that relate oil to war will no longer read--
"No war for oil."

The new version will read --

"No war, for oil."

An article in today's Guardian provided support for the serious accusations against Galloway.

The "No war, for oil" tag also fits Canadian PM Jean Chretien.

His daughter is married to the largest shareholder of TotalFina, which holds the now worthless oil contracts with Iraq that would have been worth billions of dollars.

[Philip]

The FT piece sums up the Galloway story well. He has instructed his solicitors to sue the Telegraph for libel for the claims the Telegraph has made.

It may not be known across the pond, where the US constitution protects the rights of the press, that the UK libel laws have often been used to muzzle media investigations. When Galloway's writ has been served the case will become sub judice and it will not be possible for further investigations, including measures by the Labour Party, to take place.

[Monte Smith]

Interesting, Philip. Thanks for the update. Do you have an opinion as to the merits of the Telegraph's accusation against Galloway?

[Tom Storer]

Should this fellow be shown to have been stupid enough to compromise himself and his cause by accepting money from Iraq (375K£ per annum?! wow), it will be interesting to see how much of it went to, ahem, operating costs for this Marian Appeal. Rank, cynical corruption and dishonesty, or desperately rationalized fellow-traveler recklessness? In any case, if he did it, he wins the booby prize.

[Monte Smith]

I also wonder how big a figure in the British anti-war movement Galloway was? Without encouraging "guilt by association," I wonder does this represent egg on the face for anybody or was he marginal? Having heard him on the Beeb and NPR, I doubt he was marginal.

In the US, I would not be surprised if Scott Ritter's accounts are suffering as a consequence of this war. I would not be suprised and here is my basis for saying so: he didn't strike me as a figure with any integrity (he struck me as a publicity hound) and we know that Saddam paid for his trips to Baghdad when he addressed that interesting curiousity, the Iraqi Parliament. I hypothesize (as an amateur, not as anything more) that either Ritter was paid off or blackmailed. Blackmailed on the basis of appetites he sated while in Iraq. That's my two cents--not legal tender and redeemable only for a gumball.

[Gordon B]

Tom, if you thought that the intial reports of 375K£ per annum were a lot, read on. According to this report, published online by the CSM today, he received much more.


Newly found Iraqi files raise heat on British MP
Documents indicate payments of more than $10 million for support of Labour Party official.

By Philip Smucker | Special to The Christian Science Monitor

BAGHDAD - A fresh set of documents uncovered in a Baghdad house used by Saddam Hussein's son Qusay to hide top-secret files detail multimillion dollar payments to an outspoken British member of parliament, George Galloway.

Evidence of Mr. Galloway's dealings with the regime were first revealed earlier this week by David Blair, a reporter for the Daily Telegraph in London, who discovered documents in Iraq's Foreign Ministry.

The Labour Party MP, who lambasted his party's prime minister, Tony Blair, in parliamentary debates on the war earlier this year, has denied the allegations. He is now the focus of a preliminary investigation by British law-enforcement officials and is under intense scrutiny in the British press, where the story has been splashed across the front pages.

The most recent - and possibly most revealing - documents were obtained earlier this week by the Monitor. The papers include direct orders from the Hussein regime to issue Mr. Galloway six individual payments, starting in July 1992 and ending in January 2003.

The payments point to a concerted effort by the regime to use its oil wealth to win friends in the Western world who could promote Iraqi interests first by lifting sanctions against Iraq and later in blocking war plans.

The leadership of Hussein's special security section and accountants of the President's secretive Republican Guard signed the papers and authorized payments totaling more than $10 million.

The three most recent payment authorizations, beginning on April 4, 2000, and ending on January 14, 2003 are for $3 million each. All three authorizations include statements that show the Iraqi leadership's strong political motivation in paying Galloway for his vociferous opposition to US and British plans to invade Iraq.

The Jan. 14, 2003, document, written on Republican Guard stationary with its Iraqi eagle and "Trust in Allah," calls for the "Manager of the security department, in the name of President Saddam Hussein, to order a gratuity to be issued to Mr. George Galloway of British nationality in the amount of three million dollars only."

The document states that the money is in return for "his courageous and daring stands against the enemies of Iraq, like Blair, the British Prime Minister, and for his opposition in the House of Commons and Lords against all outrageous lies against our patient people...."

The document is signed left to right by four people, including Gen. Saif Adeen Flaya al-Hassan, Col. Shawki Abed Ahmed, and what the Iraqi general who first discovered the documents says is the signature of Qusay. The same exact signatures are also found on a vast array of documents from the offices of the president's youngest son. The final authorization appears to be that of Qusay, who notes the accounting department should "issue the check and deliver to Mr. George Galloway," adding, "Do this fast and inform me."

An Iraqi general attached to Hussein's Republican Guard discovered the documents in a house in the Baghdad suburbs used by Qusay, who is chief of Iraq's elite Guard units.

The general, whose initials are "S.A.R.," asked not to be named for fear of retribution from Hussein's assassins. He said he raided the suburban home on April 8 with armed fighters in an effort to secure deeds to property that the regime had confiscated from him years ago. He said he found the new Galloway papers amid documents discussing Kuwaiti prisoners and Hussein's chemical warfare experts, and information about the president's most trusted Republican Guard commanders.

The documents appear to be authentic and signed by senior members within Saddam Hussein's most trusted security circle, but their authenticity could not be verified by the Monitor.

The British newspaper The Guardian raised possible questions about the first round of documents, including the possibility that while the documents could be real, they might include false allegations from which Iraqi agents could profit internally.

Galloway - a colorful Scot who is sharp of suit and even sharper of tongue - made regular visits to Iraq, and was dubbed by conservatives in Britain as an "apologist for Saddam Hussein." He once told the dictator, "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability."

In Parliament, Galloway, an MP since 1987 and a controversial figure, has championed the plight of Iraq, and blasted Blair for going to war in league with President Bush in his "crusade" against the Muslim world. He labeled Blair and Bush "wolves" for attacking Iraq, sparking a firm rebuttal from Blair, who called the remarks "disgraceful."

Galloway has vehemently denied he accepted any cash payments from the regime, initially, suggesting the documents may have been forged. The outspoken Labour Party member called earlier Daily Telegraph stories about his dealings a "smear campaign" against war opponents, and his lawyers have initiated legal proceedings against the newspaper.

Repeated efforts to contact Galloway, who is currently traveling in Portugal, were unsuccessful. No one answered at his House of Commons office, and his mobile phone was switched off.

David Blair, the British reporter who first broke the story, told the BBC: "I think it would require an enormous amount of imagination to believe that someone went to the trouble of composing a forged document in Arabic and then planting it in a file of patently authentic documents and burying it in a darkened room on the off-chance that a British journalist might happen upon it and might bother to translate it. That strikes me as so wildly improbable as to be virtually inconceivable."

According to the documents Blair found in the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, Galloway received money from Hussein's regime, taking a slice of oil earnings worth at least $600,000 a year. A top-secret memo sent by Hussein's spy chief requested that Galloway get an even-greater cut of Iraq's exports under the UN-sponsored oil for food program.

The document said that Galloway was profiting from food contracts, and sought "exceptional" business deals.

The most recent documents obtained by the Monitor suggest that payoffs may well have been made by checks in lump sums. The Iraqi general, who is familiar with financial dealings of Hussein's inner circle, said that checks of several million dollars could have easily been cashed in a bank on the ground floor of one of the President's most important palaces in Baghdad.

In a more recent Telegraph report based on a memorandum from May 2, 2000, Hussein is said to have rejected a request from Galloway for more money, saying his "exceptional" demands were not affordable.

The letter, found in the foreign ministry files, refers to the date and reference number of the intelligence chief's memo, which asked for Hussein's decision on Galloway's alleged requests.

That memo would have come nearly a month after one of the six letters - obtained by the Monitor - from Qusay's cabinet detailing a payment on April 4, 2000. That payment also references Galloway's "courageous and daring stands towards the oppressive blockade and in support of our courageous and patient people who violently oppose all enemies of Iraq and its leaders..."

Another payment authorization on July 27, 1999, states the money is being given upon "agreement of Sayid Qusay Saddam Hussein (the president's son) who has supervision over the Republican Guard." It calls the $1 million payment a reward for Galloway's support in trying to repeal the "unjust blockade on our beloved country and for his firm stand against the prime minister of Britain, the criminal Blair."

The two earliest payments, in July of 1992 and October of 1993, are noted down on green stationary as having already been delivered. For example, the October payment states, "kindly be informed of the issuing of a gratuity by the esteemed leader President Saddam Hussein (may Allah protect and guide him) to Mr. George Galloway in the amount of $600,000." It says the money was handed over to him by the representative of the directorate of the Special Security Organization, Colonel Shawki. Thursday, the US Marines had surrounded the house of Colonel Shawki. His neighbors said he might have already fled to Syria.

The general who gave access to the documents - General "S" - was until a decade ago a general in the regular Iraqi army but was attached to the Republican Guard. He was subsequently jailed on three occasions. He claims the government punished him because he is a Shiite, by assassinating his wife, three daughters, and one brother.

General "S" was determined to make up for his losses. What he really wanted back, however, was the deeds to the three homes taken from him. He planted his own driver as a spy in the guards of Qusay and followed the presidential paper trail when it moved to the suburbs in March.

On April 8, when US forces prepared to storm the capital, he rounded up six men who had served in prison with him and set out for the house.

He took possession of items including computer printouts that give the names, biographies, and residences of Hussein's most trusted Republican Guard officers. Also in the files is information on chemists who worked in the Iraqi biological-weapons program.

He also, unexpectedly, found documents discussing Kuwaiti prisoners still in Iraq and the ones that noted specific payments of money to Galloway. There was also a document detailing the biographies of Qusay's most trusted assassins.

One of The Monitor's interpreters was a fellow inmate of the general in Hussein's political prison. When the interpreter visited him several days ago, the general mentioned the documents he held.

The general had been most interested in discussing the Kuwaiti file. When the Monitor's reporter and the interpreter arrived to speak with him, he mentioned the Galloway material in passing.

[Philip]

Scott Ritter, the former UN arms inspector, in this mornings Guardian basically finds the allegations against Galloway to be suspicious.

[patricia]

Whatever one thinks of Ritter, the documentation of payments to Galloway, so conveniently found in Iraq, implicating Galloway, do seem suspicious. Of course, these days, just being accused of what amounts to borderline treason seems to be enough.
Let's hold off on judgement of Galloway until actual proof of wrong-doing, beyond the damning papers ostensibly found and see what the whole truth is.
Again, it seems very convenient that complete documentation of apparant huge cash payments to someone, so publicly against the invasion, should be found in their entirety. Does anyone else find this suspicious, especially now??

[mke]

Galloway may well be corrupt, but is the General "S" story really more credible than David Blair's "wildly improbable" scenario?

[Sonnyboy]

Originally posted by Philip
Scott Ritter, the former UN arms inspector, in this mornings Guardian basically finds the allegations against Galloway to be suspicious.

There's nothing like raising a little doubt when you know that you're the next one to be found out.

[mke]

Ironically, in the list of related articles, there is:

07.04.2003: George Galloway: My views are those of millions

And you thought he meant millions of people...

[Monte Smith]

This just in: Galloway's wife believes he is innocent and supports him. No word yet on the opinion of the family dog.




GALLOWAY'S WIFE TALKS TO THE MIRROR
Daily Mirror (U.K.)
04/25/03

FOR 12 years the wife of MP George Galloway has refused to talk publicly about her husband.

But yesterday Dr Amineh Abu-Zayyad told the Daily Mirror: "He has done nothing wrong. He is a hero to me."

As the media besieged their home, following the "cash for oil" allegations, the renowned biologist - a close relative of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat - went on: "I have always admired him and I continue to do so. I am fully behind him. I have always believed in him 100 per cent."

Speaking publicly for the first time since they were linked, 41-year-old Amineh refuted allegations that George, 48, received illegal payments from Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime.

She said: "Any idiot can see this is a disgraceful smear campaign and we will fight it. My husband is an honourable man, which is why I married him."

Amineh is in constant contact with "the love of my life", who was in their villa in Portugal - working on a book about Iraq - when the allegations broke over Easter.

Since then they have found themselves under attack - he in the Algarve and she at home in Streatham, South London.

But if George was worried about how his Palestinian-born wife would cope with the glare of adverse publicity, he can rest assured she is up to the task.

Amineh, who has done considerable work in cancer research, said: "I believe in him and nobody on this earth can make me think otherwise.

"I keep telling him he must hold his head up high. He knows his family and friends are behind him.

"We believe in justice and his innocence will be proved." Amineh was angry at suggestions by the Daily Telegraph that the Glasgow MP received backhanders of £375,000 a year from Iraq as his share of secret oil deals.

"There is a dirty campaign to discredit him," she said. "He is passionate about certain causes, whether they be anti-war, Arab or Muslim and there are people who don't like that.

"But this will be dealt with by the courts and his name will be cleared."

She said support for the MP has come from all over the world. "I have had calls and emails from so many countries and people are shocked at the way my husband has been smeared.

"I have some very good friends from my Glasgow University days who stayed with me over Easter and have been very supportive of me and George. I haven't felt alone at all."

Fiery Amineh, born in Jerusalem and a graduate of Glasgow and Jerusalem Universities, is used to controversy.

WHEN she became engaged to George, her relative Arafat invited the couple to marry in Jericho.

Her family gave the planned wedding their blessing after George visited them in Jerusalem eight years ago to ask for Amineh's hand.

George gave his fiancee a three diamond engagement ring and told friends she was "incredibly pretty with a lot of brains".

But the couple married modestly at Lambeth register office, South London, in March 2000 after a five-year courtship.

Only a handful of their inner circle witnessed it. Asked why the couple did not pose for pictures, George said: "I didn't want photographers there. Quite simply, I made a decision that I would not discuss my private life again."

Amineh has also lived by that mantra and, until yesterday, had refused to discuss her husband.

The daughter of a Palestinian businessman, she completely captivated George when they met in 1991 - but both stress they were friends long before the relationship blossomed into romance.

Both were passionate about the plight of the Palestinians. George had been speaking on the subject at a meeting in Partick, Lanarkshire. Impressed, Amineh felt compelled to find out more about him.

One cause which drew them together was the Mariam Appeal, launched in 1998 for eight-year-old Iraqi Mariam Hamza.

She was suffering from leukaemia and George blamed uranium-tipped weapons used by the Allies in the 1991 Gulf War. The fund was used to fly her to Glasgow for treatment but she went blind.

It was a cause Amineh and George battled for, but it was criticised for becoming too political and not seeking full charitable status.

Until now, little has been known of Amineh's background. But a long- term acquaintance said: "George is immensely proud of his wife.

"We don't know why he has kept her under wraps this long, though.

"It could be that he is anxious that her Middle Eastern roots could cause her problems in the light of death threats he has received because of his devotion to that part of the world."

Amineh's family have suffered for their beliefs - her brothers were jailed and her uncle killed as they campaigned to reclaim the Occupied Territories from Israeli control.

Close relative Ziad Abu-Zayyad was a Cabinet minister under Arafat and his brother Khalil served 17 years in prison for fighting for the Palestinian cause.

GEORGE - once dubbed the Member for Baghdad Central because of his close links with Iraq - found a soulmate in Amineh.

A close friend said: "She understands him completely and although she believes just as fervently in all his causes, she has the ability to calm him too. And she can match him word for word intellectually."

George said: "The night I saw her changed my life. I saw this beautiful young woman in the audience and made sure I was introduced to her."

His marriage to wife Elaine had hit the rocks, following his affair with a civil servant. The couple, who have a daughter Lucy, 20, separated in 1987 but did not divorce for 12 years.

The flamboyant MP, also nicknamed Gorgeous George, said that when he met Amineh "I was pretty miserable and in a turbulent relationship which was going badly.

"But as soon as I met Amineh I knew things were different. We started to see each other and fell head over heels."

She was equally smitten with the charming, knowledgeable MP who felt so strongly about her people.

Amineh said: "From the day I met him, he was the most gentle and honest man I have ever known.

"Once we got serious there were enough people willing to tell me about his past and other women.

"I didn't care about that. I see the side that nobody else sees. I sometimes see him worried and tired but I also see how committed he is to his work."

[Uli]

Originally posted by Monte Smith
This just in: Galloway's wife believes he is innocent and supports him. No word yet on the opinion of the family dog.

Well, at least we have the JC dog's underhanded opinion.

[Monte Smith]

To that you are always welcome, Uli.

[Gordon B]

Originally posted by Sonnyboy
There's nothing like raising a little doubt when you know that you're the next one to be found out.

On January 25, 2004, a daily newspaper in Iraq called al Mada published a list of individuals and organizations who it says received oil from the now-deposed regime. Among those listed is Shakir al Khafaji, an Iraqi-American from Detroit, who ran "Expatriate Conferences" for the regime in Baghdad. Al Khafaji also contributed $400,000 to the production of Scott Ritter's film "In Shifting Sands." Finally, al Khafaji arranged travel and financing for the "Baghdad Democrats"--Jim McDermott, Mike Thompson and David Bonior--last fall. Following the trip, al Khafaji contributed $5,000 to McDermott's Legal Defense Fund.

from The Weekly Standard online.

[Sergio Zamora]

In case anyone missed it, the Telegraph apologized to Galloway last year admitting the documents were forged.

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by Sergio Zamora
In case anyone missed it, the Telegraph apologized to Galloway last year admitting the documents were forged.

Thanks, Serg. I'd heard there was some doubt and that Galloway had sued.

Now, of course, Galloway will have to fight off a second, completely different set of allegations. I'll watch that, too, with an open mind.

[Gordon B]

Originally posted by Sergio Zamora
In case anyone missed it, the Telegraph apologized to Galloway last year admitting the documents were forged.

That's true, but the documents just released this week in the Iraqi newspaper "Al-Mada", list Galloway receiving 1 million barrels.