Posted on 04/29/2003 4:47:53 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
A pre-war flashback: Diane Sawyer's trusted guidepost to European disgust with President Bush, it turns out, was on Saddam Hussein's payroll to the tune of $3 million a year. As recounted in the February 28 CyberAlert, on Good Morning America Sawyer showcased Labor Member of Parliament George Galloway's swipe at how "this born again, right-wing, Bible-belting, fundamentalist, Republican administration in the United States wants war," a screeching she called "a wake-up call for me." She contended that such widespread disgust with President Bush and America "really raises the question about what it means to override the United Nations if we don't get those nine votes...in order to pass the second resolution."
Now we know, thanks to London's Daily Telegraph, that papers found at Iraq's Foreign Ministry document payments to Galloway.
An excerpt from a story in the April 22 Daily Telegraph by David Blair in Baghdad, "Galloway was in Saddam's pay, say secret Iraqi documents."
George Galloway, the Labour backbencher, received money from Saddam Hussein's regime, taking a slice of oil earnings worth at least 375,000 [pounds] a year, according to Iraqi intelligence documents found by The Daily Telegraph in Baghdad.
A confidential memorandum sent to Saddam by his spy chief said that Mr Galloway asked an agent of the Mukhabarat secret service for a greater cut of Iraq's exports under the oil for food programme.
He also said that Mr Galloway was profiting from food contracts and sought "exceptional" business deals. Mr Galloway has always denied receiving any financial assistance from Baghdad.
Asked to explain the document, he said yesterday: "Maybe it is the product of the same forgers who forged so many other things in this whole Iraq picture. Maybe The Daily Telegraph forged it. Who knows?"
When the letter from the head of the Iraqi intelligence service was read to him, he said: "The truth is I have never met, to the best of my knowledge, any member of Iraqi intelligence. I have never in my life seen a barrel of oil, let alone owned, bought or sold one."
In the papers, which were found in the looted foreign ministry, Iraqi intelligence continually stresses the need for secrecy about Mr Galloway's alleged business links with the regime. One memo says that payments to him must be made under "commercial cover".
For more than a decade, Mr Galloway, MP for Glasgow Kelvin, has been the leading critic of Anglo-American policy towards Iraq, campaigning against sanctions and the war that toppled Saddam....
END of Excerpt
For the story in full: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$3KKLC3LV5ZQX XQFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2003/04/22/ngall22.xml
For a follow-up story the next day about Galloway's requests for higher payments: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/23/ngall23.xml
Galloway denies he got paid by Hussein, but a story in the Daily Telegraph on Monday recounted new allegations that "the appeal set up by George Galloway to treat a sick Iraqi child spent more than 800,000 [pounds] on political campaigns and expenses, including a direct salary payment to his wife, the MP admitted yesterday..."
For that story, which at the bottom lists links to previous articles, go to: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/28/ng all28.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/04/28/ixhome.html
A piece by Stephen Hayes in the May 5 Weekly Standard nicely summarizes the stories about Galloway, including a Christian Science Monitor article which pegged Galloway's take from Iraq at around $3 million a year. Check: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/605fgcob.asp
In light of the revelation about Galloway being on Hussein's payroll, let's revisit how Sawyer, on the February 27 Good Morning America, treated Galloway as a wise counselor issuing a warning both President Bush and Prime Minister Blair should heed.
Sawyer's citation of Galloway came during an interview with the British Ambassador to the UN, Sir Jeremy Greenstock. Sawyer, MRC analyst Jessica Anderson noticed, highlighted Galloway's vitriolic attack on Bush: "I want to get to that resolution in just a moment, but yesterday Prime Minister Tony Blair got a vote of confidence from the British parliament, but after a blistering number of speeches by people in the parliament, and one of them was a wake-up call for me, listening about the view of Americans. I want to play this to begin. It is George Galloway." Galloway, a member of the Labor Party on the floor of the House of Commons: "There is no doubt that the United States administration would like to go forward into this war. There is no doubt in any member on this side of the House, however much they protest, in their hearts, that this born again, right-wing, Bible- belting, fundamentalist, Republican administration in the United States wants war."
Sawyer wondered: "Does America have to face the fact that we are seen, that Americans are seen and this administration is seen this way overseas?" Greenstock: "It's not for me to comment on British politics, but George Galloway does not represent the center view of the United Kingdom. The British people, you know, are in favor of a very close relationship with the United States." Sawyer argued: "But there is enormous opposition, even in Great Britain, to this war." Greenstock: "There is enormous opposition to any war -- it has to be the last, last resort. It has to be properly explained...." Sawyer adamantly maintained: "But it really raises the question about what it means to override the United Nations if we don't get those nine votes, if America does not get those nine votes in order to pass the second resolution."
Sawyer owes her viewers an apology for trumpeting as credible and relevant the anti-American hatred of such a disreputable man.
Yeah, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it. Remember: "Being a liberal means never having to say you are sorry!"
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