Galloway was in Saddam's pay, say secret Iraqi documents (PACIFISTS ON SADDAM PAYROLL)

The Daily Telegraph ^ | April 22, 2003 | David Blair

[MadIvan]

George Galloway, the Labour backbencher, received money from Saddam Hussein's regime, taking a slice of oil earnings worth at least £375,000 a year, according to Iraqi intelligence documents found by The Daily Telegraph in Baghdad.

A confidential memorandum sent to Saddam by his spy chief said that Mr Galloway asked an agent of the Mukhabarat secret service for a greater cut of Iraq's exports under the oil for food programme.

He also said that Mr Galloway was profiting from food contracts and sought "exceptional" business deals. Mr Galloway has always denied receiving any financial assistance from Baghdad.

Asked to explain the document, he said yesterday: "Maybe it is the product of the same forgers who forged so many other things in this whole Iraq picture. Maybe The Daily Telegraph forged it. Who knows?"

When the letter from the head of the Iraqi intelligence service was read to him, he said: "The truth is I have never met, to the best of my knowledge, any member of Iraqi intelligence. I have never in my life seen a barrel of oil, let alone owned, bought or sold one."

In the papers, which were found in the looted foreign ministry, Iraqi intelligence continually stresses the need for secrecy about Mr Galloway's alleged business links with the regime. One memo says that payments to him must be made under "commercial cover".

For more than a decade, Mr Galloway, MP for Glasgow Kelvin, has been the leading critic of Anglo-American policy towards Iraq, campaigning against sanctions and the war that toppled Saddam.

He led the Mariam Appeal, named after an Iraqi child he flew to Britain for leukaemia treatment. The campaign was the supposed beneficiary of his fund-raising.

But the papers say that, behind the scenes, Mr Galloway was conducting a relationship with Iraqi intelligence. Among documents found in the foreign ministry was a memorandum from the chief of the Mukhabarat to Saddam's office on Jan 3, 2000, marked "Confidential and Personal".

It purported to outline talks between Mr Galloway and an Iraqi spy. During the meeting on Boxing Day 1999, Mr Galloway detailed his campaign plans for the year ahead.

The spy chief wrote that Mr Galloway told the Mukhabarat agent: "He [Galloway] 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."

Iraq's oil sales, administered by the United Nations, were intended to pay for only essential humanitarian supplies. If the memo was accurate, Mr Galloway's share would have amounted to about £375,000 per year.

The documents say that Mr Galloway entered into partnership with a named Iraqi oil broker to sell the oil on the international market.

The memorandum continues: "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 Iraqi spy chief, whose illegible signature appears at the bottom of the memorandum, says that Mr Galloway asked for more money.

"He suggested to us the following: first, increase his share of oil; second, grant him exceptional commercial and contractual facilities." The spy chief, who is not named, recommends acceptance of the proposals.

Mr Galloway's intermediary in Iraq was Fawaz Zureikat, a Jordanian. In a letter found in one foreign ministry file, Mr Galloway wrote: "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 memorandum describes a meeting with Mr Zureikat in which he said that Mr Galloway's campaigning on behalf of Iraq was putting "his future as a British MP in a circle surrounded by many question marks and doubts".

Mr Zureikat is then quoted as saying: "His 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 under commercial cover, without being connected to him directly."

Mr Zureikat is said to have emphasised that the "name of Mr Galloway or his wife should not be mentioned".

[Madcelt]

I normally work when the dead zone is on. Got to pay those taxes for those Congressional 150 funds ya know.

[MEG33]

I emailed the Houston Chronicle about a column carried by Ritter,the pervert.He has been paid or blackmailed or both.

[Windcatcher]

Requirements for a Traitor

1. Willing to help Saddam.
2. Not independently wealthy (i.e. would "bite" at the bait Saddam dangled).
3. Not too high-profile, or at least has a means of hiding the payments.

A back-bencher fits the bill, but not someone like a Kennedy (he doesn't need the money). Bill or Hillary definitely fit that bill.

An actor/actress? Maybe not a Harrison Ford (for the reasons above), but...Sarandon? Basically a not-so-big fish.

Member(s) of the press? Surely not a Peter Jennings, he doesn't need the dough, but a NYT reporter? Hmmm....

[Windcatcher]

I mean the original movie.

[Madcelt]

No. He's not mad. Delusional maybe. He's one sneaky old cookie. He and his organization have created a web of finance that probably is a model for the Underworld on how to "hide" money,so as to avoid direct "attachments".

[Mister Baredog]

Ohpleasepleaseplease let it be McDermott pleasepleaseplease Idon'taskformuchnotevenaponyforChristmas pleaseletitbeMcDermottpleasepleaseplease

ROTFLMAO!!!

[Madcelt]

never got to see it. But I must admit I avoid anything with Martin Sheen in it. He made me mad along time ago with his "Ultra Liberal" views. Needless to say I started boycotting his work over 20 years ago.

[Mister Baredog]

Scott Ritter is different. His 180-degree turnaround was very strange.

Yea it probably came right after Scott inspected Saddam's children's prisons and saw so much potential.

[MEG33]

Me,too.

[tutstar]

ping

[maro]

There's always "shot while trying to escape."

[Only1choice____Freedom]

They still hang traitors, right?

[nopardons]

BTT

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

I wonder how many Americans were on Saddam's payroll. If so, I wonder when we'll find out.

All they had to give CNN was some office space at a good rate and maybe some underage boys.

[faithincowboys]

well, he would wouldn't he. Bobby Fisk's approval is the mother of all indictments.

[George W. Bush]

Not surprising really. Several months back, Saddam was hinting that he had a lot of information to upset various governments. This is the sort of corruption that we'll find went on with Chiraq and maybe with Schroeder and Putin.

[Grampa Dave]

You are right. I can remember several buildings burning in the background when Fox TV showed where the 3rdID was in Baghdad. It seemed like one was the Information Ministry and another one was some type of intel building.

[ccmay]

Oh Scott Ritter, David Blair is probably going to find out something about YOU next.

I expect it will have something to do with that children's prison they discovered. And videotape.

-ccm

[MJY1288]

Galloway was a big fan of Bill's

Birds of a feather

[UKCajun]

Let us not forget about Tony Benn!

As I have been saying all along, "Follow the Money!"