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Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington

By Jeralyn, Section Other Politics
Posted on Wed May 18, 2005 at 05:42:10 PM EST
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British Parliament member George Galloway has had enough and he's not going to take it anymore. This week, he blasted a Senate sub-committee for alleging he improperly profited in the Iraqi-food-for-oil scandal.

Stockphrase at Daily Kos has posted the text of his remarks (full version here):

I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims did not have weapons of mass destruction.
I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al-Qaeda.
I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001.
I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.
Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000 people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies.

As always, Crooks and Liars has the video.

The Guardian has more, including Galloway's shot at pro-war writer Christopher Hitchens:

Before the hearing began, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow even had some scorn left over to bestow generously upon the pro-war writer Christopher Hitchens. "You're a drink-soaked former Trotskyist popinjay," Mr Galloway in formed him. "Your hands are shaking. You badly need another drink," he added later, ignoring Mr Hitchens's questions and staring intently ahead. "And you're a drink-soaked ..." Eventually Mr Hitchens gave up. "You're a real thug, aren't you?" he hissed, stalking away.

He got a shot in at Sen. Norm Coleman:

I know that standards have slipped in Washington in recent years, but for a lawyer, you're remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice," he told Norm Coleman, the Minnesota Republican who chairs the senate investigations committe.

The Guardian sums up:

It was an exercise in giving Norm Coleman, and, by extension, the Bush administration, a black eye - mere days after the bloody nose that the Respect MP took credit for having given Tony Blair. And it went as well as Mr Galloway could have wished.

[hat tip MaxSpeak]

< The Compromise Senators: A Bad Sign | Owen and Rogers Brown: From the Archives >

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    Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington | 19 comments (19 topical)
    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:09 PM EST
    "Galloway not only defended himself robustly but also threw the charges back in the face of the American administration," it added. "The jibe which must have stung them was when (Galloway) pointed out that their own Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had twice met Saddam to sell him arms," said the Mirror. "But of proof of wrongdoing on his own part, there was none," The Guardian said. I will wait for the dust to settle before I say with any certainty just exactly which people were corrupted in their dealings with Saddam.

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#1)
    by jarober on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    Yes, Galloway stayed paid off. I suppose that makes him an "honest crook".

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    If you have a sincere concern about the possibility that money corrupts our politicians and political processes, please, let's discuss that. To bring it up in this matter is obscene and ludicrous.

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    deleted. TalkLeft does not allow name-calling labeling people rascists. All similar comments will be deleted

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#4)
    by jarober on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    Conscious Angel: Which part of the oil for food scandals do you need explained? You do realize that Galloway was paid with oil vouchers from the former Iraqi regime?

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#6)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    James Robertson...be careful, lest ye end up a little light in the wallet as well.

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#7)
    by Andreas on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    Galloway had insisted on his right to appear before the committee after it issued a report citing documents and testimony from sources within the Baathist regime naming him as a beneficiary of oil allocations under the UN programme. The allegations, which differ in no fundamental respect from those made earlier by the Daily Telegraph and the Christian Science Monitor, came just days after Galloway had been elected on an anti-war ticket in London’s Bethnal Green and Bow constituency for the Respect party. The Christian Science Monitor had withdrawn its allegations after the documents they were based on were proved to be forgeries, while Galloway mounted a successful libel action against the Telegraph that the paper is contesting.
    British MP Galloway blasts US Senate on Iraqi oil probe By Chris Marsden, 19 May 2005

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    I'm no fan of George Galloway. He behaved rather shamefully during the recent election campaign, ousting a well-respected and hard-working MP, Oona King, using some unsavoury campaigning tactics. But having said that, I hope to see the same people who so loyally defend the US administration whenever allegations arise regarding (to name but three of a growing list of crimes) the torture of inmates, the falsification of intelligence or the rendition of suspects for torture abroad, to leap to his defence and acknowledge that these allegations have no documentary proof whatsoever. Jim? The entire investigation of Oil For Food is a scandalous diversionary tactic based on the tried-and-tested method so beloved of both the Administration and some posters on this blog. Namely: "We might be liars, torturers and cynical war profiteers, but at least there are some other people in the world who are as bad or worse than us, so that makes it OK. Why do you hate freedom?" One day, and I pray it will be soon, these cynical, evil people will be exposed as what they are. They'd better hope that those who eventually try them and pass sentence are not cut from the same vicious, brutal cloth as they are. PS. Galloway's dead right about Hitchens too. The guy is a boorish, slimy, traitorous slug.

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#9)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    Galloway may well be corrupt, what politician isn't, but that doesn't make his statements in front of the committee any less true. It has been documented that US companies were the biggest profiteers in the scandal, so the condemnation of the foreign profiteers by the right wing seems a little hypocritical. Condemn all the cheats and crooks...or pipe down, you only look foolishly partisan.

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#10)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    52% of the illegal sales went to the US. More than all other countries COMBINED.

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#11)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    Exactly Che....the way the right goes on and on about the scandal, you would think our hands were clean. Hardly...in fact they are the dirtiest. There is a saying in poker..."sometimes the target shoots back". Galloway shot back.

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#12)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    Anyone, after a few minutes of watching parliament and then the walking dead on the senate floor, could have seen this coming; like letting a feral cat in the house. Exactly how did these senators expect it to go? “52% of the illegal sales went to the US. More than all other countries COMBINED.” So you may have ended up with some of Galloway’s vouchered oil in your engine; I’ll cut you a break, it was Galloway who knew where it came from. I couldn’t care less if he took the oil quid pro quo; that’s the business of UK voters. Iraqi oil sales should only have been a concern of the Iraqi people and the folks buying the stuff. TL- “TalkLeft does not allow name-calling labeling people rascists.” If this were true ‘R is for Racist’ Paul in LA would only have one or two posts in the archives.

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    Galloway made my day, calling a spade a spade. Imagine our founding fathers mouths haning open as a member of British parliament brings American government to task for hypocrisy and corruption lol...

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#14)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    “…calling a spade a spade …” Let’s add ‘ … calling the kettle black’ to the list of metaphors.

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    LOL, PW... point taken! If we stretched it out to "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" they'd rob us blind and walk away. Don't worry, though. Those teenage criminals and drug addicts are getting locked up for life so everythings okay...

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#16)
    by nolo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    I just wanted to point out that the phrase "calling a spade a spade" doesn't actually have any racial connotations. Go here and scroll to the bottom for an explanation.

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#17)
    by Jlvngstn on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    Why is the US investigating this matter? Shouldn't the UN be handling it? I thought we were not the world police?

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#18)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    One day, and I pray it will be soon, these cynical, evil people will be exposed as what they are.
    Ian, the Neocons have already been exposed and discredited, same as the witch-hunting McCarthyites were half a century ago. Their star began descending as soon as the looting of Iraq began in April 2003. They have written a particularly nasty chapter in history, but not one that we haven't seen the likes of before. What I wish is that this will be the last time we see it. But somehow I doubt that. Pigwiggle...Galloway has been smeared by a campaign of lies and forged documents, orchestrated by the Bush and Blair crew. This has already been shown in previous court proceedings. As he said, if they had hard evidence against him they would have produced it. They have not and he called their bluff. Look for them to pick on an easier target next time.

    Re: Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington (none / 0) (#19)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:14 PM EST
    Good point J. Galloway, or any member of a foreign legislature for that matter, does not answer to the American people. Frankly, the corrupt actions of a foreign government do not concern me as much as the corrupt actions of my government. To me, it looks like the US Senate was trying to make themselves look good, only Galloway didn't cooperate and take his scolding like a good little boy.

    Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington | 19 comments (19 topical)