More on George Galloway here.
Galloway received kickbacks from Iraq, has documented involvement in the Palestinian cause, harsh questions have been raised about his "charity" the Mariam Appeal and how the money was spent, plus the exact nature of his involvement with Palestinian businessman Fawas Zureiket is curious. All of these and more- have been part of the rich tapestry of his life since his Iraqi connections became public.
It is alleged that Galloway used the proceeds from his Miriam Appeal "charity" – which he started ostensibly to bring an Iraqi child sick with leukemia to Britain for treatment, for personal purposes. It did not cost the hundreds of thousands of pounds that were donated to the fund by members of the British public, and also Middle Eastern governments, to cure Miriam. Long after Miriam was declared leukemia-free, the charity rocked along, mutating as it went into an appeasenik organisation protesting the war in Iraq. Because it is not a registered charity, it has never had to open its books to the public. The fact that it is not a registered, tax-deductible charity might lead one to believe that charity was never its purpose.
But funds from the Miriam Appeal pale beside funds from Saddam Hussein who allegedly authorized payments to Galloway of approximately $550,000 per year, filtered out of the oil-for-food program, over a period of 10 years.
Sounds like the guy is quite a celebrity as far as the Baathists (Iraq Socialist Party-of which Saddam was a member) go.