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2003-04-22 Britain

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Posted by Bulldog 2003-04-22 05:55 am|| || Front Page|| [6 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Galloway's rebuttal on Radio 4 (audio). Telegraph reporter's account of the files' discovery.

Posted by Bulldog 2003-04-22 06:22:04|| 2003-04-22 06:22:04|| Front Page Top

#2 Awesome - now when do we find Ritter's little girlfriends?

Posted by Frank G 2003-04-22 07:09:17|| 2003-04-22 07:09:17|| Front Page Top

#3 this is just an amazing scoop. unbelievable.

this deserves (if true) to be trumpeted far and wide. It deserves to go round the world in email chains. It deserves front page coverage for at least a week, documentary specials to be filmed...

Posted by anon1 2003-04-22 07:29:10|| 2003-04-22 07:29:10|| Front Page Top

#4 Notice the Clinton-like slipperiness in the phrases, ""I have never solicited nor received money from Iraq.." - probably solicited and received money through middlemen. Or the phrase, "I have never seen a barrel of oil, never owned one, never bought one, never sold one." - you don't need to physically own oil to get money. Or this one, "...I would have absolutely no reason to be meeting with an official of Iraqi intelligence." - a classis non denial.

Posted by mhw 2003-04-22 07:52:58|| 2003-04-22 07:52:58|| Front Page Top

#5 Couple of flaws in the story.
First off, the previous (joy!) Iraqi government didn't make money off the UN OFFP; it made money off smuggling oil past the UN.
Secondly, I'm afraid Galloway is one of those people who is so full of himself he doesn't need to be bribed; his price is to have his ego stroked, that's all (horrid little man).
I'm afraid the Telegraph bungled this one.

Posted by Jurjen 2003-04-22 07:55:54|| [www.blarg.net/~minsq/nocameras.htm] 2003-04-22 07:55:54|| Front Page Top

#6 Jurjen: u r right. TOo good to be true...

Posted by anon1 2003-04-22 08:08:31|| 2003-04-22 08:08:31|| Front Page Top

#7 We'll find out if it's true or not. I think it's too big to sweep under the rug. If Galloway doesn't sue at all, it's true. If he sues and loses, it's true. Given the description of the documents, I don't think he'll sue and win.

Posted by Fred 2003-04-22 09:23:41|| 2003-04-22 09:23:41|| Front Page Top

#8 via Command Post/Al-Guardian He's filed suit:
Labour MP George Galloway has instructed his solicitors to sue the Daily Telegraph for libel over allegations that he was in the pay of Saddam Hussein.
The MP for Glasgow Kelvin has strongly denied the Telegraph's claim, based on documents found in the office of the Iraqi foreign minister by its correspondent David Blair, that Mr Galloway received oil shares worth Â£375,000 a year from the former dictator's regime.

"Not only do I deny it, I've just instructed my solicitors this very morning to begin legal proceedings for libel against the Daily Telegraph on the strength of this story," Mr Galloway told the ITV News Channel at around 12.30pm today, speaking from Portugal.

Posted by Frank G 2003-04-22 09:29:00|| 2003-04-22 09:29:00|| Front Page Top

#9 Well, British libel law is such that it's particularly easy to sue someone and win, compared to US law. It is a very interesting story, though. We'll have to wait and see.

The Telegraph is a respectable paper, though they're obviously betting a lot here on their correspondent in Iraq.

Posted by John Thacker 2003-04-22 09:36:59|| 2003-04-22 09:36:59|| Front Page Top

#10 As much as i think galloway is a bit of a fucking prick, this is a bit far fetched. A reporter goes into a building that has been looted and burned and has millions of documents just happens to find a letter written in arabic that incriminates the annoying shit. Wishfull

Posted by rg117 2003-04-22 09:43:19|| 2003-04-22 09:43:19|| Front Page Top

#11 Fantastic though this story might seem (in the unreal sense, though the other applies too), its much harder to believe the Telegraph would so jeopardise its reputation by being complicit in a fraud of this magnitude.

The Telegraph's called Galloway's bluff, and he's going to go down spectacularly. From today's Telegraph editorial, Saddam's Little Helper:

""Gorgeous George" has plenty of form, including allegations that he had misused funds as director of War on Want in the mid-1980s (he was later cleared after paying back Â£1,720). But, like Jeffrey Archer, his energy, combined with a readiness to litigate, saw him through many incidents that might have done for other politicians. Many, from all wings of the Labour Party, have nursed their doubts about the Glasgow MP, peering suspiciously at his natty suits and winter suntan."

Eagerly awaiting further developments. According to the Telegraph reporter (link in comment above): "Two more box files were labelled "Britain". Others were labelled "United States", "Security Council" and "France". Each appeared to contain all the appropriate documents that had crossed the desk of an Iraqi foreign minister." There may be many more goodies to follow...

Posted by Bulldog 2003-04-22 09:45:22|| 2003-04-22 09:45:22|| Front Page Top

#12 Mr Galloway said he had not seen the documents because he was out of the country writing a book about Iraq.

Writing a book about Iraq. Part of the deal, perhaps?

Posted by Raj 2003-04-22 10:03:51|| [angrycyclist.blogspot.com] 2003-04-22 10:03:51|| Front Page Top

#13 whats troubling is that the reporter from the Telegraph could just walk into the Foreign Ministry and grab files - how many files are there being grabbed by people who want to hide things rather than reveal them. There are reports that some of the looting was done by Baathists to cover up regime activities - I sure hope we dont miss WMD evidence cause of that.

Posted by liberalhawk 2003-04-22 10:31:18|| 2003-04-22 10:31:18|| Front Page Top

#14 Whatever shall we DO Mr Galloway?...
(The documents, with translations.)
http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/22/ndocs22.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/04/22/ixnewstop.html

Posted by mojo 2003-04-22 10:35:11|| 2003-04-22 10:35:11|| Front Page Top

#15 Fred, could you fix the formatting so a giant line like the non-hypertext link in the comment above won't render the entire page unreadable?

Posted by someone 2003-04-22 11:16:34|| 2003-04-22 11:16:34|| Front Page Top

#16 The UN will be caught in the fall-out. There have been rumours of skimming and pay-offs in the UN's food-for-program (and other UN activities). This will put pressure on them to come clean.

Also this looks a bribe which is illegal in the UK. I expect Galloway to be charged.

All the makings of a major scandal with lots of collateral damage on the Left and at the UN. I love it!

Posted by Phil B 2003-04-22 11:20:59|| 2003-04-22 11:20:59|| Front Page Top

#17 A reporter goes into a building that has been looted and burned and has millions of documents just happens to find a letter written in arabic that incriminates the annoying shit. Wishfull

Hmmm. Sounds like the Telegraph reporter is someone who can probably read and speak Arabic, otherwise, he'd never have been able to find anything. As for why a reporter can "just walk in and ... grab files", a friend of mine is over there. "John" is an Air Force intelligence specialist, and an Arabic linguist. He says that everybody in Saddam's government produced huge files about EVERYTHING to cover their butt, to keep from being introduced to one of Saddam's little fun palaces. He mentioned several BILLION files, going back 30 years, and many of them damaged by fire or explosion. We're talking about hundreds of TONS of paperwork. The US doesn't have the manpower to even exploit a small percentage of that. They may be allowing anyone not an Iraqi that can read or speak Arabic access to the files, just to glean as much information as possible, as quickly as possible, before those files really DO disappear.

Posted by Old Patriot 2003-04-22 12:27:39|| 2003-04-22 12:27:39|| Front Page Top

#18 An examination of Galloway's bank accounts, and a tracing of the income, will verify or refute this story. The Telegraph is a reliable outlet (plus, they run Mark Steyn's columns!), so I would give this story some weight. As they say, "Just follow the money." Galloway has been enough of a thorn in Blair's side that undoubtedly an investigation will follow, with repercussions to follow.

Posted by tbn 2003-04-22 14:55:56|| 2003-04-22 14:55:56|| Front Page Top

#19 These allegations are so explosive that Galloway has no choice but to sue for libel, whether they're true or not. If they're true, taking it to court will at least buy him some time to figure out how to muddy the charges against him.
I agree that this story seems too good to be true. But the Telegraph is a respectable paper, not a tabloid rag like the Sun or the Mirror (and they publish Sir John Keegan, as well as Steyn!). Plus, I'm sure they got good legal advice before going with the story, knowing that Galloway was very likely to sue them. They've got to feel that they're in a solid position even if Galloway tries to push them to the wall. This one will bear watching, to be sure.

Posted by DougS 2003-04-22 17:41:04|| 2003-04-22 17:41:04|| Front Page Top

#20 Weeeelllll, the "Bagman of Baghdad" (compliments of Iain Murray) thinks he actually might have been in Iraq Christmas 1999. Of course, those hot on his trail have already nexised same.

Posted by Anonymous 2003-04-23 00:15:36|| 2003-04-23 00:15:36|| Front Page Top

#21 The Sun is going to town on "The Bagman of Baghdad."

And I didn't know this!

"Galloway shares a Glasgow flat with wife Aminah Abu-Zayyhad, a niece of PLO chief Yasser Arafat."

Posted by Anonymous 2003-04-23 00:34:45|| 2003-04-23 00:34:45|| Front Page Top

07:54 raptor
07:50 raptor
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00:34 Anonymous
00:29 Anonon
00:15 Anonymous
21:17 Frank G
21:14 Tom
20:31 RW
20:25 Alaska Paul
20:24 john
20:13 Fred
19:59 Alaska Paul
19:55 Fred
19:42 Chuck
19:30 Frank G
19:21 anon1
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18:42 someone
17:54 Chris Smith
17:44 Fred
17:41 DougS
17:19 Cyber Sarge