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Memo from Saddam: We can't afford to pay Galloway more
Daily Telegraph ^ | April 23, 2003 | David Blair

Posted on 04/22/2003 5:38:17 PM PDT by Shermy

Saddam Hussein rejected a request from George Galloway for more money, saying that the Labour backbencher's "exceptional" demands were not affordable, according to an official document found by The Daily Telegraph in Baghdad.

The letter from Saddam's most senior aide was sent in response to Mr Galloway's reported demand for additional funds. This was outlined in a memorandum from the Iraqi intelligence chief disclosed yesterday in The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Galloway denies receiving any money from the regime. He claims that any documents purporting to show this are forgeries planted by western intelligence agencies to try to discredit him.

The latest document purported to convey a personal decision from Saddam and was circulated to four of the most senior figures in the former regime, including Tariq Aziz, the deputy prime minister. It indicates that Mr Galloway's affairs were discussed at the highest level.

Its disclosure, if accurate, shows that there were limits to Mr Galloway's success in wresting commercial opportunities from Iraq. But it adds to the impression that he was working closely with the most senior apparatchiks of a regime that he repeatedly professed to oppose.

The letter, which was found in the files of the foreign ministry, was dated May 2, 2000, and marked "Confidential and Personal". It refers to the date and reference number of the intelligence chief's memo, which specifically asked for Saddam's decision on Mr Galloway's alleged requests.

The letter opens by saying that "Mr President, our leader, God bless him", was ordering a committee to look into the matter. The committee's members were the recipients of the letter and read like a who's who of the elite of the Saddam regime.

Taha Yassin Ramadan, the vice-president, Izzat Ibrahim, Saddam's deputy on the Ba'ath Party's Revolutionary Command Council, Ali Hassan al-Majid, a senior general who ordered gas attacks on Kurdish villages, and Mr Aziz were all included.

So was Mohammed Said al-Sahaf, then foreign minister, who was later nicknamed "Comical Ali" when he served as the ever-optimistic information minister.

But Saddam pre-empted any conclusions that the committee might have reached. Referring to Mr Galloway in the dictator's familiar idiom as the man "promoting the right path", the letter says: "The belief is that . . . even using western methods [he] needs exceptional support which we cannot afford and I do not think we can promise to do that if we consider it according to our policy. Please act and let us be informed."

The letter is signed by Gen Abid Hamid al-Khattab, of the president's secretariat. Gen al-Khattab ran Saddam's private office and was included in the handful of officials who had constant access to him.

He was widely viewed as one of themost powerful figures in Iraq. A copy of the letter was sent to the foreign minister, Mr Sahaf, hence its presence in the foreign ministry files. It was found in the same pale blue folder, stamped with the Iraqi eagle, as the intelligence chief's memorandum.

Saddam was rejecting two specific requests allegedly made by Mr Galloway, as recorded in the intelligence chief's memorandum. The first was for a greater share of the profits from oil exports.

The memorandum said that Mr Galloway was already receiving between 10 and 15 cents per barrel of three million barrels exported every six months: an annual sum of at least £375,000.

Mr Galloway's second reported request was for "exceptional commercial and contractual" opportunities with three ministries and the state electricity commission. These requests for more sources of income fell on deaf ears, but Saddam's decision not to allow them did not apply to Mr Galloway's existing deals.

Before Saddam issued his rejection, Mr Galloway sent his "work programme" for 2000 to Mr Aziz. Saddam's office had approved it and Mr Aziz passed the document to four cabinet ministers and the intelligence chief.

• George Galloway was in Baghdad in the weeks before Iraqi foreign ministry papers say he met one of Saddam Hussein's representatives and discussed money.

Mr Galloway arrived in Baghdad in November 1999 with a red London double- decker bus on a high-profile visit to deliver medical supplies for those suffering in Iraq under sanctions.

Among documents found in Iraq's foreign ministry this week was a memo from the country's secret service to Saddam's office outlining talks between the MP and an agent on Boxing Day 1999, during which Mr Galloway is alleged to have said he needed "continuous support from Iraq".

The MP has told this newspaper that the meeting did not take place but said he did spend one Christmas in Iraq, but could not be sure which one.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: blackshirts; communistsubversion; conspiracy; energy; espionage; galloway; georgegalloway; glasgow; iraq; iraqifreedom; labour; letters; mariamappeal; mukhabarat; oilforfood; peaceniks; scotland; tariqaziz; traitor; un
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1 posted on 04/22/2003 5:38:17 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: Shermy
Can this get any worse?
2 posted on 04/22/2003 5:40:29 PM PDT by MEG33
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To: MEG33
Well, we don't know what else was in the box that Galloway's info was found in....
3 posted on 04/22/2003 5:42:10 PM PDT by mewzilla
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To: Shermy
Locator ^
4 posted on 04/22/2003 5:42:42 PM PDT by backhoe
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To: Shermy
"an annual sum of at least £375,000..." ($500K)

To a frigging backbencher.

Imagine how much our own Criminal Class in D.C. must pull down from assorted brigands and knaves.
5 posted on 04/22/2003 5:44:17 PM PDT by John Beresford Tipton
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To: Shermy
Well, it was only about half a million buckadingdongs a year - I'm sure the rest of the money went straight into the fund for food and medicine for starving sick kiddies as it was supposed to...right, Mr. Galloway?
6 posted on 04/22/2003 5:44:42 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Grampa Dave; mewzilla; MadIvan; GailA; alnitak; marron; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Dog; Dog Gone; ...
Ping.
7 posted on 04/22/2003 5:47:26 PM PDT by Shermy (Full disclosure of Food For Oil books...No Compromise!!!)
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To: Shermy
The dirty scoundrel bump.
8 posted on 04/22/2003 5:47:26 PM PDT by aculeus
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To: Shermy
". He claims that any documents purporting to show this are forgeries planted by western intelligence agencies to try to discredit him."

The Clinton legacy at work!

9 posted on 04/22/2003 5:47:44 PM PDT by Falcon4.0
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To: Shermy
...a memo from the country's secret service to Saddam's office outlining talks between the MP and an agent on Boxing Day 1999, during which Mr Galloway is alleged to have said he needed "continuous support from Iraq".

The MP has told this newspaper that the meeting did not take place but said he did spend one Christmas in Iraq, but could not be sure which one.

From the "I did not know that" file:


10 posted on 04/22/2003 5:50:45 PM PDT by Nick Danger (The liberals are slaughtering themselves at the gates of the newsroom)
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To: MEG33
Yes it can. And I think it will. Let's face it. The amount of money that Galloway was pulling in is chump change to Saddam... unless it is a drop in a bigger payoff budget.

I wonder how many other boxes are going to be found and how many more names are going to be splashed on the headlines.

I have a personal suspect list myself. It will be interesting to see what happens.
11 posted on 04/22/2003 5:55:15 PM PDT by Ronin
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To: Nick Danger
"Boxing Day is a national holiday..."

That is the day on which gifts were given to household staff.
12 posted on 04/22/2003 5:56:29 PM PDT by John Beresford Tipton
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To: John Beresford Tipton
Ironic, isn't it? A member of one of the Houses of Parliament serving the House of Saddamn. Guess we know what George wanted for Boxing Day, don't we?
13 posted on 04/22/2003 5:59:02 PM PDT by mewzilla
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To: John Beresford Tipton
John Beresford Tipton

Where's my million dollars? I want my million dollars.

14 posted on 04/22/2003 6:00:27 PM PDT by Nick Danger (The liberals are slaughtering themselves at the gates of the newsroom)
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To: Nick Danger
Master list link master link
15 posted on 04/22/2003 6:01:27 PM PDT by GailA (Millington Rally for America after action http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/872519/posts)
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To: Shermy
How is this guy not in Jail?
16 posted on 04/22/2003 6:02:03 PM PDT by vpintheak (Our Liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain!)
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To: Shermy
This fellow seems to get around. Turns out this guy spent a good while in Baghdad and actually ended up on Iraqi TV pulling an Arnett.

Anyway I found these on google:

I really love this one! It reminds me of that song "They're coming to take me away"


Here he is in a press conference in Gaza of all places

17 posted on 04/22/2003 6:05:31 PM PDT by Live free or die
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To: Nick Danger

"I want my million dollars."

A million dollars?
You can't handle a million dollars!

18 posted on 04/22/2003 6:16:29 PM PDT by John Beresford Tipton
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To: Shermy
LOL, I can't wait for the live speech on the BBC:

"I did not have sexual or financial relations with that dictator"

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA
19 posted on 04/22/2003 6:22:13 PM PDT by Beck_isright ("We created underarm deodorant, and the French turned that down too."-Mitch Daniels, Budget Director)
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To: Falcon4.0
"The Clinton legacy at work!"

The "I did not have sex with that dictator!" defense.

20 posted on 04/22/2003 6:22:16 PM PDT by hometoroost
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