Posted on 05/13/2005 6:26:07 AM PDT by Pikamax
US senators will get 'good hiding' pledges Galloway
By Ben Russell and Andrew Buncombe in Washington
13 May 2005 George Galloway pledged that he would give a "bloody good hiding" to a US Senate committee over accusations that he was granted allocations for millions of barrels of oil from Saddam Hussein's regime.
Mr Galloway said he would fly to Washington next week to defend himself in person against allegations about the UN's oil-for-food programme published by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
The anti-war Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow denied claims in the committee's report that Iraqi documents and interviews with senior figures in Saddam's regime showed he was granted allocations of oil under the programme.
He denounced the committee for publishing the claims without giving him the opportunity to answer the allegations. He said: "Even in Kafka there was a trial of sorts."
Mr Galloway will face the committee next week after its Republican chairman, Norm Coleman, issued an invitation for him to appear on Tuesday. The firebrand left-winger will clash with Mr Coleman, the ambitious freshman senator for Minnesota whose website says that "full-throated debate on the issues of the day" were always on the menu at his childhood kitchen table.
A spokesman for Senator Coleman said Mr Galloway would be invited to appear at a meeting entitled "Oil For Influence: How Saddam Used Oil to Reward Politicians and Terrorist Entities Under the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme." He said: "The hearing will begin promptly at 9.30am and there will be a witness chair and microphone available for Mr Galloway's use."
Mr Galloway said he would accuse the committee of producing a "travesty" of natural justice.
He said: "I'm going to call them a bunch of liars.
"I'll be there to give them both barrels - verbal guns, of course, not oil - assuming we get the visas. I welcome the opportunity to clear my name. My first words will be 'Senator, it's a pity that we are having this interview after you have found me guilty.'
"This is a right-wing committee with an agenda that reached its conclusion before even considering the facts. Joseph McCarthy must be smiling admiringly in Hades."
The committee's report said Mr Galloway was named in documents from Iraq's ministry of oil.
A spokesman for the committee confirmed it had no evidence Mr Galloway benefited financially from the alleged allocation of 20 million barrels of oil.
"We have presented the evidence that the allocations were granted," Tom Steward, a spokesman for Senator Coleman, told The Independent.
"That was confirmed by the senior Iraqi government officials we spoke to. They knew he was being rewarded for his support for the regime. [But] we don't have the paperwork to confirm the final element of the transaction."
Mr Galloway said: "I have no problem with anybody investigating the oil-for-food programme because I had nothing to do with the oil-for-food programme in any shape or form.
"I have never traded in anything with Iraq and neither has anybody on my behalf. I have never profited a single penny piece from my work in Iraq."
He added: "The point is, who knows who wrote my name on that piece of paper and when they wrote it."
Mr Galloway said he contacted the US Senate to put his point of view, but had not been contacted by the committee to give evidence. But a spokesman claimed that "at no time did Mr Galloway contact the [committee] by any means, including but not limited to telephone, fax, e-mail, letter, Morse code or carrier pigeon."
The committee said it had sought to inform Mr Galloway of the allegations.
When I read the headline I thought it meant that Galloway will give the Democrats good tips on hiding illegal money. LOL
Coleman will be in top form, hopefully.
Hey Gallaway, bring it on you preening little sissyboy. You want to give a good bloody hiding? Well, our Lady Senator from Texas can kick your metrosexual arse back across the pond.
Anyone care to speculate on the over/under for the number of apologies issued/implied to Galloway by the Democratic members of the Commitee?
There's nothing wrong with George Galloway that a good old-fashioned American Louisville Slugger couldn't straighten out in five minutes.
Joe McCarthy wasn't all that wrong..IMHO
Ignore the facts McCarthy was right.
Just watch the Democrats on the committee circle the wagons around their fellow socialist/traitor from across the sea.
I'll bet Galloway never shows up.
Typical fargin' liberal bastage.
Rather than say "I welcome the opportunity to clear my name" or something similarly civilised, he runs right away to paint himself as a victim and to try to paint Republicans as evil, bigoted and conniving.
Stalin is probably smiling about his European legacy somewhere down in Hades.
Please feel free. I certainly don't want him back here polluting our House of Commons. If you have a strong stomach and want to see what he stands for -
Regards, Ivan
Galloway tried to blame his extramarital affairs, or rather, news of them reaching his wife's ears, on the Prime Minister and President Bush.
He's a sick, twisted individual.
Regards, Ivan
To borrow a phrase, I think he's a classic "Girly-Man."
The John Batchelor Show last night claimed that The Coleman Committee has a paper trail on Calloway and will shred him.
I really hope you guys kick his butt.
"I'll bet Galloway never shows up."
My first reaction as well. If he were intending to show up, he wouldn't have threatened the committee. On the other hand, he might use the opportunity, in collusion with the Rats, to carry on about our faulty intelligence on WMD and then launch generally into a condemnation of the war. He might even go so far as to get himself thrown out of the hearing. The alphabet MSM will lead off their evening coverage with the leftist propaganda show.
Ivan,
What in hell is going on in Bethnal Green and Bow, where this waste of protoplasm was elected? And is that Salma Yaqoob someone to watch?
How did he get back into Parliament? (I know, I know, we bear the shame of the likes of Ted Kennedy, "Sheets" Byrd, "Depends" Leahy, Bill and Hillary Clinton, etc. etc.!!)
To be honest with you, I'm at a loss to explain the collective loss of cognitive function in Bethnal Green & Bow. One of the things I cannot explain is how the Lib Dem candidate fared so badly - not only was he anti-war, he actually was from the area. I would much rather have had him elected than give Galloway a seat in the Commons - it would be the difference between having someone who is merely wrong and someone who is wrong and a criminal. I can only suggest that the locals were not discerning and went for name recognition. They actually believed Galloway when he said he was there to help them and didn't mind he had no connection to the area. In short, George Galloway is the Hillary Clinton of British politics - the only difference being is that he has no help from Labour, and he's too tainted to be very dangerous.
I'm not worried about Salma Yaqoob. At least not yet.
Regards, Ivan
If he comes to our country, seize him for trial.
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