I used to know GG reasonably well - I was a member of his constituency labour party.
There's no way they'll get anything to stick, and they know it. Galloway will continue to call their bluff. Loudly.
Other than forged documents,they've nothing. They can't have any credible witnesses - are they going to call Tariq Aziz?
Galloway is very adept at turning these situations round and replying with all guns blazing. They've picked the wrong guy to stitch up.
Originally posted by RedmikeI have to agree.
I used to know GG reasonably well - I was a member of his constituency labour party.
There's no way they'll get anything to stick, and they know it. Galloway will continue to call their bluff. Loudly.
Other than forged documents,they've nothing. They can't have any credible witnesses - are they going to call Tariq Aziz?
Galloway is very adept at ...[text shortened]... situations round and replying with all guns blazing. They've picked the wrong guy to stitch up.
Galloway is just gonna embarrass them even more than he did already.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4374534.stm
In a nutshell, Goerge Galloway was a labour MP (for a Glasgow constituency). He is a leftwinger, and is very forthright in his views on the middle east and imperialism generally (and I have to say I rarely disagree with him).
There have been allegations for many years about him being in the pay of Saddam, which are nonsense, and which have never been proven. Indeed, George has made a fair bit of money by succesfully suing various newspapers for making such allegations - most recently the Daily Telegraph.
He was expelled from the labour party over some particularly vociferous statements he made about the war - Bush and Blair are 'like wolves' descending on Iraq.
At the last election, he stood against a particularly sycophantic pro-Blair MP and won.
The allegations about receiving money from Saddam resurfaced in the US Senate (surprisingly, a couple of days after he got elected....). He got on a plane to Washington and put on and completely embarrased Sentator Coleman (I think).
Anyway, these allegations have come back again - I understand the US is saying they have testimony from that staunch supporter of freedom Tariq Aziz.
Originally posted by RedmikeThe best part obviously being that he was accused of visiting Saddam Hussein on two occasions, to which he replied: "Yes, the same amount of occasions as Donald Rumsfeld met Saddam. Only he was selling weapons and I was seeking a peaceful solution."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4374534.stm
In a nutshell, Goerge Galloway was a labour MP (for a Glasgow constituency). He is a leftwinger, and is very forthright in his views on the middle east and imperialism generally (and I have to say I rarely disagree with him).
There have been allegations for many years about him being in the pay of Sadd ...[text shortened]... derstand the US is saying they have testimony from that staunch supporter of freedom Tariq Aziz.
Get that Ramsbottom up there on the stand. I swear to God, if I was on Saddam's defence team, I'd have Donald up there so fast people would be shouting: "Where's yer trousers?"
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=818&id=540962005
"Despite a typically bombastic performance, Mr Galloway was repeatedly pinned down by questions he would not, or could not, answer.
...
Despite a typically barnstorming performance full of bluster and rhetorical flourishes, the former Glasgow Kelvin MP was pinned down by persistent questioning over his business relationship with Fawaz Zureikat, the chairman of the Mariam Appeal - set up to assist a four-year-old Iraqi girl suffering from leukaemia.
And it was a Democrat senator, Carl Levin, rather than the Republican committee chairman, Norm Coleman, who gave him the hardest time as Mr Galloway sought to turn the tables on his inquisitors, leaving him no closer to clearing his name than when he took his seat in front of the sub-committee of the Senate’s homeland security and government affairs committee in Washington.
Time and again, Mr Levin questioned him, requesting wearily that he deliver a straight answer to a straight question. But Mr Galloway could, or would not.
..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051025/pl_afp/usbritainpoliticsiraqoilungalloway_051025074933
British MP Galloway accused of lying to US Congress
"Besides Galloway, Coleman's committee has fingered senior officials at the United Nations, and top Russian and French politicians, of taking money or oil allocations from the program.
Two former high-ranking French diplomats -- including the representative to the United Nations between 1991 and 1995 -- have been placed under criminal investigation by a French judge looking into the matter.
In its newest report, the Coleman committee added new evidence for its earlier accusations that Galloway, an outspoken opponent of US policy in Iraq, worked with Jordanian businessman Fawaz Zureikat to obtain money from an oil-for-food program oil allocation.
Citing bank documents, records from the former Saddam regime, testimony from Saddam's former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, and information from two unidentified oil traders, the report said that Galloway's Mariam Appeal political campaign reaped at least 446,000 dollars from oil allocations.
It said his now-estranged wife Amineh Abu-Zayyad got about 150,000 dollars.
According to Aziz, Galloway visited Baghdad in November 1999 on a tour raising money for the Mariam Appeal.
"
Originally posted by zeeblebotDid you watch it?
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=818&id=540962005
"Despite a typically bombastic performance, Mr Galloway was repeatedly pinned down by questions he would not, or could not, answer.
...
Despite a typically barnstorming performance full of bluster and rhetorical flourishes, the former Glasgow Kelvin MP was pinned down by persistent questio ...[text shortened]... e deliver a straight answer to a straight question. But Mr Galloway could, or would not.
..."
I saw some of it. The Senate was shocked!
Originally posted by zeeblebotAah. The Scotsman. A paper which once had a shred of quality about it. Unfortunately, now that Andrew Neil is in charge, it is generally held to be a joke. The Scotsman is not Galloway, or anyone on the left's, biggest fan.
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=818&id=540962005
"Despite a typically bombastic performance, Mr Galloway was repeatedly pinned down by questions he would not, or could not, answer.
...
Despite a typically barnstorming performance full of bluster and rhetorical flourishes, the former Glasgow Kelvin MP was pinned down by persistent questio ...[text shortened]... e deliver a straight answer to a straight question. But Mr Galloway could, or would not.
..."
Originally posted by Redmikehow bout their assessment of G's performance? ...
Aah. The Scotsman. A paper which once had a shred of quality about it. Unfortunately, now that Andrew Neil is in charge, it is generally held to be a joke. The Scotsman is not Galloway, or anyone on the left's, biggest fan.
Originally posted by zeeblebotIts interesting that a lot of the allegations centre on the Mariam Appeal, which the Senator on TV last night kept referring to as 'Galloway's Political Organisation'.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051025/pl_afp/usbritainpoliticsiraqoilungalloway_051025074933
British MP Galloway accused of lying to US Congress
"Besides Galloway, Coleman's committee has fingered senior officials at the United Nations, and top Russian and French politicians, of taking money or oil allocations from the program.
Two former hi ...[text shortened]... iz, Galloway visited Baghdad in November 1999 on a tour raising money for the Mariam Appeal.
"
This is a charity, set up initially to bring a particular wee Iraqi girl (Mariam) to Glasgow for Leukemia treatment, and eventually to provide more general medical assistance to Iraqis in the face of sanctions. George's former wife was doing research into the incidence of leukemia in Iraq and the link to depleted Uranium - hence GG's involvement.
If the allegation is that some people donated money to this charity which they got from dodgy sources, then that's not the same as Galloway gaining financially.
I don't know about the money his former wife is supposed to have received.