A Jordanian businessman? I'm shocked! Shocked!
Posted on 04/21/2003 6:49:40 PM PDT by Pokey78
Mystery surrounded accusations last night that the Labour MP George Galloway was on the payroll of Saddam Hussein, taking hundreds of thousands of pounds from oil-for-food income intended to feed starving Iraqi children.
A document purporting to be a confidential memorandum to Saddam by his head of intelligence and obtained by The Daily Telegraph from the floor of a looted ministry is reported to show that the MP for Glasgow Kelvin took up to £375,000 a year from the Iraqi regime's oil-for-food programme.
But in a statement issued last night by the MP – who faces deselection and expulsion from the Labour Party over his outspoken opposition to the war – he said: "I have never solicited nor received money from Iraq for our campaign against war and sanctions. I have never seen a barrel of oil, never owned one, never bought one, never sold one."
The memorandum, which the Telegraph said was found by one of its reporters in the looted Foreign Ministry in Baghdad, allegedly shows that Mr Galloway had a secret relationship with Iraqi intelligence as he waged a fierce campaign against the war on Iraq and the previous UN sanctions regime.
The document, allegedly sent to Saddam Hussein's office on 3 January 2000, outlines talks between Mr Galloway and an Iraqi spy. In a meeting with the spy on Boxing Day 1999, Mr Galloway allegedly outlined the plans of his Mariam Appeal against sanctions, named after an Iraqi child he flew to Britain for leukaemia treatment.
The spy chief wrote that Mr Galloway had told him that he "needs continuous financial support from Iraq. He obtained through Mr Tariq Aziz [Deputy Prime Minister] three million barrels of oil every six months, according to the oil-for-food programme. His share would be only between 10 and 15 cents per barrel ... He [Galloway] also obtained a limited number of food contracts with the Ministry of Trade. The percentage of its profits does not go above one per cent."
The security chief, whose signature on the memo is illegible, said Mr Galloway was pressing for more money and recommended that his demands be met. "He suggested to us the following: first, increase his share of oil; second, grant him exceptional commercial and contractual facilities," the memo says.
A letter from Mr Galloway himself, allegedly also found in the Foreign Ministry, is reported to show that Mr Galloway's intermediary in Iraq was Fawaz Zureikat, a Jordanian businessman. The letter, on House of Commons notepaper, says: "This is to certify that Mr Fawaz A Zureikat is my representative in Baghdad on all matters concerning my work with the Mariam Appeal or the Emergency Committee in Iraq."
The intelligence chief's memo quotes Mr Zureikat as saying: "His [Galloway's] projects and future plans for the benefit of the country need financial support to become a motive for him to do more work and, because of the sensitivity of getting money directly from Iraq, it is necessary to grant him oil contracts and special and exceptional commercial opportunities to provide him with an income."
Mr Galloway's statement last night said he had never met Iraqi intelligence officials "to the best of my knowledge".
"Given that I have had access over the years to Iraq's political leadership, most often the Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, I would have absolutely no reason to be meeting with an official of Iraqi intelligence.
"From the way they have been described to me, I can state that [the documents] bear all the hallmarks of having been either forged or doctored and are designed to discredit those who stood against the war."
Ha! An obvious fabrication Sir! A barrel of oil is 42 gallons.
Again, Ha!
Who is George Galloway? George Galloway is a British MP who speaks out harshly against U.K. foreign policy on Iraq. He has carried out several unique actions to bring worldwide public attention to the toll sanctions are taking on the people of Iraq. About two years ago Galloway, with a few colleagues, drove a red double-decker bus from Big Ben to Baghdad, stopping for speaking engagements in 11 countries en route. About a year later, he challenged the flight embargo on Iraq by commissioning a plane to fly from England to Baghdad - the only peaceful plane to fly to Iraq from England since sanctions were imposed. This made daily newspapers in many countries around the world. George is also founder of the "Mariam Appeal", an organisation that seeks to illegally provide medicine for children in Iraq. Galloway resides in the U.K. with his Palestinian wife and their two children.
On the other hand, it is possible that the reporter has an Iraqi contact who knew where certain files were kept. Stranger things have happened.
Galloway's finances should be easy for the UK to trace, and either prove or disprove this story.
A reporter forging something like this would take a terrific risk, since there are ways to ascertain the truth. I don't know the libel laws in the UK, but it seems to me unlikely that a newspaper would print something this bad without having the basic facts checked.
Perfect description of the kool aid drinkers.
part of his sentence for treason should be an immediate and mandatory speaking tour on his red bus, to the countries comprising the "Axis of Weasels". His theme:
LIFT THE SANCTIONS NOW!!!!!
After that, he and his wife can spend the next ten to twenty years scrubbing BLOOD from the walls of soddom's torture chambers.
The ultimate in Poetic Justice.
A Jordanian businessman? I'm shocked! Shocked!
It is a fitting tribute to a true friend of America.
Gonna be better than the best spy novel ever written.
In organized crime they call it "a piece of the action..."
It's "He'd be a fool", dumbass.
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