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 Saddam's most important palaces in Baghdad.[Well, duh, that's what the $650 million was for! And, as an MP, he probably wouldn't have been subject to security searches while carrying all that cash.]
The two earliest payments, in July, 1992 and October, 1993, are noted down on green stationary [in Qusay's house!] 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.
Can you just picture him preening as he discusses this with his Iraqi "friends"? You can bet it was made clear this was why he was getting well-paid.
And the cash is most interesting. Say, I think I'll ping Miss Marple as she's following the cash story. I wonder if he got paid in U.S. $100 bills?