Posted on 05/17/2005 6:55:45 PM PDT by wjersey
Whatever else you made of him, when it came to delivering sustained barrages of political invective, you had to salute his indefatigability. George Galloway stormed up to Capitol Hill yesterday morning for the confrontation of his career, firing scatter-shot insults at the senators who had accused him of profiting illegally from Iraqi oil sales.
They were "neo-cons" and "Zionists" and a "pro-war lynch mob", he raged, who belonged to a "lickspittle Republican committee" that was engaged in creating "the mother of all smokescreens".
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.
It was a hint of what was to come: not so much political theatre as political bloodsports - and with the senators, at least, it was Mr Galloway who emerged with the flesh between his teeth.
"I know that standards have slipped in Washington in recent years, but for a lawyer, you're remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice," he told Norm Coleman, the Minnesota Republican who chairs the senate investigations committee, after taking his seat at the front of the high-ceilinged hearing room, and swearing an oath to tell the truth.
"I'm here today, but last week you already found me guilty. You traduced my name around the world without ever having asked me a single question."
The culture clash between Mr Galloway's bruising style and the soporific gentility of senate proceedings could hardly have been more pronounced, and drew audible gasps and laughs of disbelief from the audience. "I met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him," Mr Galloway went on. "The difference is that Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns, and to give him maps the better to target those guns."
American reporters seemed as fascinated as the British media: at one point yesterday, before it was his turn to speak, Mr Galloway strode from the room, sending journalists of all nationalities rushing after him - only to discover that he was going to the lavatory.
By condemning him in their report without interviewing him, the senators had already given Mr Galloway the upper hand. But not everything was in his favour. For a start, only two senators were present, sabotaging Mr Galloway's efforts to attack the whole lickspittle lot of them - and one of the two, the Democrat Carl Levin, had spent much of his opening statement attacking the hypocrisy of the US government in allegedly allowing American firms to benefit from Iraqi oil corruption.
Even so, Mr Galloway was in his element, playing the role he relishes the most: the little guy squaring up for a fight with the establishment.
For these purposes, Senator Coleman served symbolically to represent all the evil in the world - the entire Republican party, the conscience of George Bush, the US government and the British government, too: no wonder his weak smile looked so nauseous.
"I gave my heart and soul to stop you committing the disaster that you did commit in invading Iraq," Mr Galloway told him. "Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong."
And yet for all his anti-establishment credentials, Mr Galloway is as practised as any of his New Labour enemies at squirming away from awkward questions. Under scrutiny by Senator Levin, he deployed a classic example of the bait-and-switch technique that is the government minister's best defence in difficult questioning.
But Mr Galloway Goes To Washington had never really been an exercise in clarifying the facts. It was an exercise in giving Norm Coleman, and, by extension, the Bush administration, a black eye - mere days after the bloody nose that the Respect MP took credit for having given Tony Blair. And it went as well as Mr Galloway could have wished.
There was another thread on here earlier today concerning Galloway being married to Arafart's niece. After all his Bush/Blair bashing, troop morale undermining etc., the most relevant thing about him is his family connection but we are just now hearing about it?
He who laughs last.....
They got the goods on this particular ahole.
Interesting reading on this guy. Very interesting!!!
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/s/chitribts/20050504/ts_chicagotrib/glovesareoffinmpracefullofiraqwartension
Hope you'll enjoy reading the link
Thanks!
"A passion for change and getting things done has defined the life of Norm Coleman from an early age. It has led him from campus organizer in the sixties, to a prosecutor in the seventies, to Solicitor General of Minnesota in the eighties, to mayor of Saint Paul in the nineties, and now to proudly representing all of Minnesota in the United States Senate.
Growing up in a large Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, he has often said that most of his preparation for a life in politics came from sitting around the huge Coleman family kitchen table. Full-throated debate on the issues of the day and mutual goodwill were always on the menu.
In college at Hofstra University on Long Island, Norm was student body president and a student activist deeply involved in the anti-war and civil rights movements. He went to the University of Iowa Law School where he also served as student body president and graduated with highest honors. And then, drawn by a job opportunity in the office of Minnesotas Attorney General, he headed north to take his first professional job.
He spent 17 years in the Attorney Generals office, prosecuting cases all over Minnesota and getting involved in a wide variety of public policy matters including drug abuse and civil rights.
In 1993, as a Democrat, Coleman was elected mayor of St. Paul, defeating the endorsed candidate of the Democratic Farm Labor Party. One of his very first actions as mayor was the rejection of a proposed contract with city workers because it included a huge unfunded retirement benefit liability. His action was controversial, but it saved Saint Paul tax payers tens of millions of dollars.
When he took office, the Capital City was experiencing a serious economic decline and increase in crime and other social problems. He set out to reform city services, put a lid on property tax increases and established public-private partnerships. His formula was hope plus confidence equal investment. He wanted to prove to the local business community that city government was a reliable partner in their shared goals for the city. His efforts paid off, with more than $3 billion of private investments in St. Paul. In 2002, then-Mayor Coleman received the U.S. Conference of Mayors highest award recognizing excellence in public-private partnership. <
An era of rapid change and economic improvement took hold in Saint Paul. Eighteen thousand new jobs came to the city. A new Science Museum was built. The states largest software developer, Lawson Software, moved its headquarters to Downtown St. Paul. Harriett Island Park and the land adjacent to the river were rehabilitated, reconnecting the city to its greatest natural asset: the Mississippi River. Increased community involvement in Saint Paul schools and law enforcement also brought measurable improvements. And finally, he engineered the return of a National Hockey League franchise to Minnesota. The nationally recognized Xcel Energy Center is now one of the premier entertainment venues in America and home to the NHL Minnesota Wild.
In 1996, Mayor Coleman made a major change. Frustrated that the Democratic party he had been a part of from his youth had assumed the role of defenders of the status quo, he switched to the Republican party because he felt it held the best opportunity to bring about job growth, quality education and greater public safety. In 1997 he was reelected mayor as a Republican, with 59 percent of the vote.
In 1998 he ran for governor and narrowly lost to Independent candidate Jesse Ventura in a three way race. At 8 AM on the day after the election, he was back at his desk in Saint Paul.
Shortly after his term as mayor ended, he entered the race for one of Minnesotas seats in the U.S. Senate. He engaged in close and hard-fought campaign with incumbent Senator Paul Wellstone, who tragically perished in a plane crash eleven days before the election. Former Vice President Walter Mondale replaced him on the ticket. In one of the largest turnout elections in the country, Norm was elected with over 1.1 million votes and a 2 percent margin of victory. ...."
Thanks for the verification. I hope the investigations can bring out enough truth as to his involvement to bring his ass down.
I've had to attempt sleep with the image of good men, decent men, so abused. I don't think the image of this Stalinist, AQ apologist, brutal enemy, Galloway in a similar situation will bother me. no.
Galloway's bluster reminded me of Jim Traficant.
Yes, I saw that this morning. However, the BBC et al are playing his statement straight, while Coleman says Galloway is a major gatekeeper. I am wondering who would try these foreign players, anyway. Not US courts, though I imagine the the records of Bay Oil will show a lot.
Looking over my hasty post, I am aware of defects in my punctuation etc. Ah well, I will try to do better this time. I have been observing this individual Galloway. His much vaunted lifestyle- which seems to turn an often politically corrupt British press on- may be his undoing.
Stocky, class A individuals, who bluster and use invective are at risk. In Victorian times, one could read of a type of older gentlemen being seized with "an appoplectic fit".
No hypocrite 'ere meself, and like you, I could care less about his well being. LOL
I don't know, either. Many Brits detest him also; perhaps they would help us if a crime could be established.
Now George, you can't go telling the truth. After all, you are in Washington..
Is the "Iraqi" mentioned in your post named Chalabi, Screwloose, or Curveball? Only the Bush administration was dumb enough to swallow the lies peddled by that bunch before Bush started his dirty war.
His use of those terms simply proves to folks in the US that he's guilty.
Frankly I see no reason to bother with a trial for this funny little foreign guy. Just slap him in cuffs and send him out to ride a gurney in Terre Haute.
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