. . . and it would be nicer still if Mr. Hogarth were around to memorialize Galloway's Awful End.
Posted on 04/26/2003 4:54:01 PM PDT by Pokey78
George Galloway, the anti-war Labour MP who is suing over allegations he secretly took money from Saddam Hussein, faces the prospect of a criminal prosecution for treachery. The Observer can reveal that the Director of Public Prosecutions is considering pursuing the Glasgow politician for comments during the Iraq war when he called on British troops not to fight.
In an interview with Abu Dhabi TV during the Iraq conflict, Galloway said: 'The best thing British troops can do is to refuse to obey illegal orders.' Lawyers for service personnel claim his call for soldiers to dis obey what he called 'illegal orders' amount to a breach of the Incitement to Disaffection Act 1934. The maximum penalty is two years in jail.
The relevant part of the Act is Section 1, which states: 'If any person maliciously and advisedly endeavours to seduce any member of His Majesty's forces from his duty or allegiance to His Majesty, he shall be guilty of an offence.' Under the terms of the Act, the word 'maliciously' means wilfully and intentionally.
Galloway dismissed attempts to prosecute him, but said: 'I hope to have chiselled on my gravestone: "He incited them to disaffect."'
The lawyer spearheading the action is Justin Hugheston-Roberts, chairman of Forces Law, a nationwide group of 22 law firms which acts for service personnel and their families.
The case is being handled by Hugheston-Roberts's law firm in Wolverhampton, Rose Williams and Partners.
The last time a prosecution was brought under this law was in 1974, when a protester was charged after distributing leaflets outside Army camps urging soldiers not to accept postings to Northern Ireland.
Galloway's calls for British troops to disobey orders came during the TV interview in which he described Tony Blair and George Bush as 'wolves' for embarking on military action.
When accused of treachery, Galloway said: 'The people who have betrayed this country are those who have sold it to a foreign power and who have been the miserable surrogates of a bigger power for reasons very few people in Britain can understand.'
After Galloway made the comments on Abu Dhabi TV, Hugheston-Roberts wrote to the DPP asking him to prosecute or allow a private prosecution to be brought.
Last week the Crown Prosecution Service wrote to the lawyers requesting more information and details of the comments Galloway made.
Hugheston-Roberts has refused to reveal the identity of his clients, but said they were meeting this week to decide on the best course of action.
Hugheston-Roberts said if the CPS decided not to prosecute but gave consent for a private action, then his clients would be happy to pursue that avenue.
Human rights lawyers said last night it would be an extremely difficult case to pursue. Roger Bingham of the civil rights group Liberty said: 'Galloway's statement is an expression of opinion. We live in a free-speech, democratic society and elect MPs to speak out on national issues.'
Andrew Burgin, of the Stop the War Coalition denounced the move. He said: 'This war was immoral and illegal and should never have been fought. This proposal to prosecute is part of an ever-expanding witch-hunt against George Galloway because he was the most vocal anti-war voice.'
This latest twist comes as The Observer reveals details of a secret trip Galloway made to Morocco for the British-based Saudi dissident Saad al-Fagih, an Islamic fundamentalist who purchased a satellite phone used by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
In February 1996 Galloway flew to Morocco for a secret meeting with the then Crown Prince of Morocco to explore a deal between the Islamic Saudi dissidents in the UK and the Saudi royal family.
I prefer "Gallowsway".
Hang em high...
Let the chiselling commence ASAP...
It's odd that the Guardian doesn't mention the money Galloway was allegedly paid by the Iraqis in this story, since they've written about it recently (albeit reluctantly, given their lean to the left) -- this quote from Galloway was begging for the connection:
'The people who have betrayed this country are those who have sold it to a foreign power and who have been the miserable surrogates of a bigger power for reasons very few people in Britain can understand.'
I suspect the law they are talking about is for treachery.
Very poorly written newspaper article.
Right all around. A poor article in a terrible newspaper.
FEBRUARY 1996 : (UK LABOUR MP GALLOWAY FLIES TO MOROCCO ON BEHALF OF AL-FAGIH TO MEET CROWN PRINCE OF MOROCCO) In February 1996, UK Labour MP George Galloway flew to Morocco for a secret meeting with the then Crown Prince of Morocco to explore a deal between the Islamic Saudi dissidents [such as British-based Saudi dissident Saad al-Fagih, an Islamic fundamentalist who purchased a satellite phone used by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan] and the Saudi royal family. [Galloway would later be involved in a scandal involving him being paid by Iraq and his opposition to the Coalition war on Iraq of 2003] - "MP may be tried as traitor (Galloway)," by Antony Barnett and Martin Bright, The Observer (U.K.) , 04/27/03
FEBRUARY 1996 : (CLINTON GETS MEMO FROM JOHN HUANG) Clinton receives a memo from John Huang stating the top Asia-Pacific American priority was to keep sibling preference in place. A month later Clinton would withdraw his support from an immigration reform bill which would have eliminated sibling automatic entry preferences.
FEBRUARY 1996 : (CHARLIE TRIE, PRESIDENT CLINTON MEETS WITH WANG JUNG, CEO OF POLY TECHNOLOGIES) President Clinton met with the Wang Jun, the CEO of Poly Technologies in February 1996, prior to the arms bust (Of the PRC COSCO ship Princess Bride carrying 2000 AK-47s destined for US street gangs, a bust carried out in August 1996 in LA harbor) by U.S. Customs agents. Clinton's close Arkansas friend Charlie Trie brought Wang to the White House. Bill Clinton also took a $50,000 donation from Charlie "Yah Lin" Trie at that same meeting. Clinton, Trie and Wang then shared coffee inside the White House. None of the three ever explained where the $50,000 came from. - "Red General and the First Lady," Charles R. Smith, Newsmax.com, Monday, Dec. 9, 2002
FEBRUARY 1996 : (HUANG ORGANIZES AN ASIAN FUNDRAISER FOR THE DNC THAT RAISED $1.1 MILLION) This would be reported in the Boston Globe on January 16, 1997.
FEBRUARY 1996 : (CHINA PROVIDES IRAN WITH DUAL USE PRECURSORS & EQUIPMENT FOR WMD PROGRAM) China: Dual-use chemical precursors and equipment to aid Iran's chemical weapons program. Violation: AECA, EAR.
FEBRUARY 1996 : (TRIE ARRANGES WHITE HOUSE COFFEE FOR WANG JUN OF POLYTECHNOLOGIES) Trie arranged for Wang Jun, the chairman of the board of Polytechnologies, China's most prominent arms company, to attend a White House coffee.
FEBRUARY 2, 1996 : (CLINTON APROVAL OF CHINESE ARMS IMPORT PERMITS LATER USED IN AN ATTMEPT TO SMUGGLE WEAPONS INTO DETROIT FOR SALE TO GANGS IN CALIFORNIA) The Clinton administration granted Wang Jun's Poly Technologies import permits to flood America with over 100,000 semi-automatic weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition. The Clinton administration had been delaying other arms importers because the president was opposed. The abrupt turnaround in U.S. import policy was "highly suspicious". The destination for Wang's 100,000 guns was Detroit firm linked to the Chinese Armed Police. The massive gun shipment would have gone through, but the deal was suspended in the wake of the COSCO connected smuggling operation - which was short-circuited by federal agents just weeks after Wang Jun's import waivers were granted. Jun, the head of a Chinese weapons trading company, was being investigated by the Justice Department and the FBI at the same time and was eventually charged with smuggling at least $4 million worth of 2,000 illegal AK-47 assault weapons into the U.S. from China, destined for gang members in California.
FEBRUARY 6, 1996 : (WANG ATTENDS WHITE HOUSE COFFEE) Just four days after the assault weapon waivers were issued, Ron Brown met with Wang Jun, chairman of the state-owned China International Trust & Investment Corp, Wang attended a White House coffee with President Clinton and Charlie Trie, a suspected conduit for political donations to the Democratic Party from China. President Clinton approved the launch of four U.S. satellites on China Aerospace- owned rockets. Nolanda Hill said that Wang and Brown discussed lowering export controls. China International Trade and Investment Corp. (Wang Ju chair) had multibillion dollar stakes in getting access to American satellites.
* Ernie Green's wife donated $50,000 to the DNC. Charlie Trie had worked with Ernest Green, a longtime friend of Bill Clinton's, to get Wang a U.S. visa. Wang conveniently forgot to mention that he was a Communist arms dealer on the visa application. Had he disclosed that fact, Wang Jun would never have been let in the country, let alone the White House.
* Clinton signed waivers for four new American satellite launches in China despite evidence that China was still exporting nuclear and missile technology to Pakistan and Iran.
FEBRUARY 1996 : (HILLARY CLINTON HOSTS MUSLIM EID-AL-FITR DINNER AT WHITE HOUSE) First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton hosted an Eid-al-Fitr White House dinner which she proclaimed "an American event" both "historic and overdue." Two-hundred Muslim men, women, and children attended the dinner to mark the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan. The Eid dinner represented the first time in American history that a First Lady played hostess to a Muslim celebration, and Muslims considered the event a significant public relations victory. "We have asked [other administrations] before for recognition of the Eid, but our request always went unanswered," said Khaled Saffuri of the American Muslim Council which sponsored an iftar (daily breaking of the fast) dinner with four U.S. congressmen during the month of fasting. Mrs. Clinton's widely publicized trips to the Muslim world, including Pakistan, Turkey and Bosnia, have also won approval from American Muslims. "Regardless of whether you agree with Clinton or not, you have to admit he has given Muslims more respect than they have ever received from a president," states Saffuri. The recognition American Muslims have received from the Clinton administration stands in stark contrast to the Bush and Reagan administrations' condemnations of Islamic fundamentalism, which Muslims say triggered an anti-Muslim backlash.
Couldn't happen to a nicer man. A firing squad would be merciful.
. . . and it would be nicer still if Mr. Hogarth were around to memorialize Galloway's Awful End.
The King of Cuba (GALLOWAY!)*** Judy, 26, said: "He met Fidel three times for dinner that I was aware of. I know one was in a restaurant and the others at official buildings." Judy added that the dinners were business rather than pleasure, though she did not know the exact nature of that business.
"Fidel even gave him a painting by a Latin American artist as a present," she added. "It was very important to George and he had it sent back to England, he was delighted with his present and told me it was very special."
Galloway's association with both the Iraqi and Cuban regimes goes back to the early 90s. In 1994, a year before he met Judy, the MP was photographed in Baghdad presenting Saddam with a pennant.***
Wouldn't that be exciting?!
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