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I'm going to give Senate both barrels, says defiant Galloway
What're the bets up to on whether he'll show or not?GEORGE GALLOWAY will confront a US Senate committee in Washington next week over its charge that he received an allocation of 20 million barrels of oil from Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The MP, who won the Bethnal Green & Bow seat as an antiwar candidate in the general election, accepted an invitation to testify next Tuesday before the Senate permanent sub-committee on investigations to answer its allegations. "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," Mr Galloway said. "My first words will be, 'Senator, it's a pity that we are having this interview after you have found me guilty. Even in Kafka there was the semblance of a trial.'" "Assuming we get the visas", Georgie? Planning your out already? Mr Galloway dismissed what the Senate committee described as "substantial evidence" that he had oil dealings with Iraq. "The hearing will begin promptly at 9.30am and there will be a witness chair and microphone available for Mr Galloway's use," a committee spokesman said. Come early for good seats. Get close enough to watch the sweat drip off his face. If he shows... The committee also denied Mr Galloway's accusation that it refused to let him testify before issuing its findings. "Contrary to his assertions, 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," said a spokesman. Oh, it was the United States Senate? I thought it was the Somalian Senate! Damn! Norm Coleman, the committee's Republican chairman, said that Mr Galloway had benefited from doing business with Iraq. When he was asked yesterday if he was saying that Mr Galloway received money, he replied: "Yes, we are saying it is very, very clear, very clear. There's absolutely no doubt in our mind that the individuals who received these allocations, received commissions. There is absolutely no doubt." Damn! Look's like those "visa problems" should be propping up any minute now, right, Georgie? But he said he had not seen Mr Galloway's bank statements and refused to say whether he thought the MP should face any legal action in Britain. "I'm not going to make any judgment about what happens in Britain. All I'm going to say is that the evidence is clear," Senator Coleman said. "It's incontrovertible that George Galloway received allocations from Saddam Hussein, that he financially benefited from it, that he did it over a period of time, and I believe in the Galloway case about 20 million barrels is the figure . . . so clearly he benefited from doing business with Saddam Hussein." Sorry, chaps. It appears the dog has eaten my visa! The committee based its case on documents from the Iraqi Oil Ministry and the testimony of officials, including Taha Yassin Ramadan, then the Iraqi Vice-President. The committee traced four of the six transactions in which Mr Galloway allegedly received allocations of oil and concluded that he may have used his Mariam Appeal charity to conceal payments. Well doesn't that answer one of my questions. Scumbag. One transaction in 2001 was listed in Iraqi documents as being with "Mr Fawaz Zuraiqat/George Galloway/Aredio Petroleum" and with "Aredio Petroleum Company (Fawaz Zuraiqat — Mariam's Appeal)". Mr Galloway founded the Mariam Appeal to help Mariam Hamze, a four-year-old Iraqi leukaemia victim, to receive treatment in Britain. It later began lobbying against UN sanctions on Iraq. Mr Zuraiqat, also spelt Zureikat, a pro-Saddam businessman in Jordan, was one of the charity's main financial backers. Two weeks after the 2001 contract, Aredio Petroleum lifted 1,1014,403 barrels of oil. Iraq demanded a bribe of about $300,000 (£160,000), which was allegedly paid in violation of UN sanctions. "According to the senior Hussein-regime officials interviewed by the sub-committee, every individual who received oil allocations throughout the surcharge period (from September 2000 to late 2002) knew of and were responsible for paying the illegal surcharges," the Senate panel said. "These officials further stated that, although the allocation recipient knew of the surcharges, the actual oil purchasers may have facilitated or made the illegal payments. "According to the senior Hussein regime officials interviewed by the sub-committee, George Galloway would have known of — and perhaps facilitated — the illegal, under-the-table payment of $304,320.90." Oh, yeah. He'll be there Tuesday. Sure he will. Mr Galloway said: "I will repeat this for the 500th time — I have never seen a barrel of oil, I have never seen a voucher for a barrel of oil, I have never bought one, sold one, traded in one and neither has anyone on my behalf." Now, on little Mariam's "behalf"... Posted by: tu3031 2005-05-13 |
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