UPDATED: George Galloway (aka Terror’s Lord Haw Haw) Accused Of Perjury, Bribery
Yes indeedy. It looks like the chief apologist for Saddam and Middle Eastern fascism took cash from Saddam.
A couple of months ago I dubbed Galloway “Terror’s Lord Haw Haw.” Lord Haw Haw was a Brit who made propaganda broadcasts for Hitler. Someday historians will cast Galloway into the same outer darkness.
Galloway denies the allegations. Here’s the lede (from Bloomberg):
British lawmaker George Galloway denied allegations in a U.S. Senate subcommittee report of lying under oath after he was accused of profiting from oil money during former President Saddam Hussein’s rule in Iraq.
Senator Norm Coleman, Republican of Minnesota and chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, yesterday said he had new evidence that showed an organization linked to Galloway and his wife received money from oil allocations under the United Nations Oil for Food Program. Galloway today dared the investigators to charge him with perjury so he can fight the claims in court.
“Charge me, please; prosecute me and I’ll be on the next plane to America,” Galloway said today. “Nobody has ever given me one thin dime from an oil deal or any other deal. And if they had you would have the evidence in front of you now.”
The inquiry led by Coleman says Galloway “knowingly made false or misleading statements under oath” during the U.K. lawmaker’s appearance in May at a subcommittee hearing in Washington, according to a document published on Coleman’s Web site. The report said Galloway sought and was given oil allocations from Iraq during Hussein’s reign and that Galloway’s wife, Dr. Amineh Abu-Zayyad, got $150,000 in connection with one of those oil allocations.
The BBC offers a a short-take on Galloway.
Get this graf:
The Daily Telegraph focuses on a claim that Mr Galloway’s Palestinian-born wife, Amineh Abu Zayyad, received £100,000 derived from the UN oil-for-food programme.
The paper cannot resist the opportunity to fill in a little background information about Mr Galloway’s relationship with his (now estranged) wife.
It describes how he once said that his idea of happiness was “a hilltop in Portugal with… a Havana cigar and a Palestinian scientist running her fingers through my hair”.
Ah yes, call it anti-American bliss. Viva Fidel meets Lord Haw Haw. Red and brown fascism coalesces in Galloway.
Here’s a Telegraph article on Galloway, though not the one the BBC quotes. Remember, Galloway won a libel suit against the Telegraph. Galloway won 150,000 pounds from the Telegraph. The Telegraph’s claim? The newspaper published an article (based on documents found in Iraq) that Galloway had received pay-offs from the UN’s “Oil for Food” program.
UPDATE: Christopher Hitchens adds another Galloway smackdown.
Hitchens’ lede:
Just before my last exchange with George Galloway, which occurred on the set of Bill Maher’s show in Los Angeles in mid-September, I was approached by a representative of the program and asked if I planned to repeat my challenge to Galloway on air. That challenge—would he sign an affidavit saying that he had never discussed Oil-for-Food monies with Tariq Aziz?—I had already made on a public stage in New York. Maher’s producers had been asked, obviously by a nervous Galloway, to find out whether I had brought such an affidavit along with me. I replied that this was not necessary, since his public denial to me was on the record and had been broadcast, and since it further confirmed the apparent perjury that he had committed in front of the U.S. Senate on May 17, 2005. I added that I wanted no further contact with Galloway until I could have the opportunity of reviewing his prison diaries.
That day has now been brought measurably closer by the publication of the report of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. This report, which comes with a vast archive of supporting material, was embargoed until 10 p.m. Monday and contains the “smoking gun” evidence that Galloway, along with his wife and his chief business associate, were consistent profiteers from Saddam Hussein’s regime and its criminal exploitation of the “Oil for Food” program. In particular:1) Between 1999 and 2003, Galloway personally solicited and received eight oil “allocations” totaling 23 million barrels, which went either to him or to a politicized “charity” of his named the Mariam Appeal.
2) In connection with just one of these allocations, Galloway’s wife, Amineh Abu-Zayyad, received about $150,000 directly.
3) A minimum of $446,000 was directed to the Mariam Appeal, which campaigned against the very sanctions from which it was secretly benefiting.
4) Through the connections established by the Galloway and “Mariam” allocations, the Saddam Hussein regime was enabled to reap $1,642,000 in kickbacks or “surcharge” payments.
Another fine Hitchens graf:
For George Galloway, however, the war would seem to be over. The evidence presented suggests that he lied in court when he sued the Daily Telegraph in London over similar allegations (and collected money for that, too). It suggests that he lied to the Senate under oath.
Here’s a link to the Senate Permanent Sub-Committee report Hitchens’ to which Hitchens refers.
And a link to Hitchens’ website.
Read the entire Hitchens essay. Laugh and weep.
UPDATE 2: Comment 1. Excellent comment. Thank you. Galloway must be challenged, exposed, and defeated.
Dear Austin, I look forward to your commentary on all of our most important topics. Last month George Galloway and Jane Fonda were scheduled to speak here in Madison, WI. Fonda said she was sick, or sickening, whatever and no-showed. Galloway was there and I weaseled into the press conference with home made credentials and got four questions with him. Worst thing is Galloway said to me “I’m beginning to think you’re an honest man” I’m asking you not to hold that against me, although I did get in a shot about disco dancing with Tariq Aziz. Story and video here: Mr. Galloway comes to Madison Cordially, Uncle J
Comment by Uncle Jimbo — 10/25/2005 @ 6:04 pm
How long before we can issue an arrest warrant?
Comment by E. T. — 10/25/2005 @ 8:03 pm
Does it make a difference? Galloway and his supporters will claim the documents were frauds. The NY Times will not mention the case. No one will ask how someone has Gallwoay’s lifestyle on an MP’s salary.
Comment by John Settembre — 10/25/2005 @ 8:11 pm
History records that William Joyce, aka Lord Haw-Haw, was hanged for treason by the British following the Second World War. Is it too much to ask for Britain to do the same to…oh, never mind. I know that Britain no longer has enough confidence in her own cause to execute traitors.
Comment by Charlie Eklund — 10/25/2005 @ 8:27 pm
“America and Britain are the two greatest rogue nations in the world today,” declared George Galloway, during a recent debate with Christopher Hitchens in New York. Galloway is and shall forever remain unrepentent and defiant.
Comment by California Conservative — 10/25/2005 @ 9:01 pm
One very small correction. Lord Haw Haw - William Joyce - was not a Brit. He was born in New York, his father was American and an Irish mother, so he had American citizenship. His family moved to Ireland when he was three, he remained there until he was 15. He lived in England, but during the war he was given German citizenship. The only way the English Government could claim him as a citizen is that he had falsely claimed British nationality in 1933 in order to obtain a British passport. There’s also considerable evidence that he went to Germany at the behest of MI5 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4132578.stm
Comment by Richard R — 10/25/2005 @ 9:09 pm
Can anyone else say “Ash heap of history’s bad ideas.” Poor Mr. Galloway doesn’t get it and he never will. Indeed even his punch drunk supporters will never admit or accept their laughable position in the pantheon of world history. History has no record for the chicken little’s of great moments. I believe the U.S. Senate can issue a some sort of arrest warrant or diplomatic summons based on their findings of fact regarding Galloways’s purjured statements during the “Oil for Food” hearings, but the UK would have agree for it to come to anything. Lying to Congress is a Crime, but on this note I think foreign political leaders and U.S. Presidents, get a pass on any form of culpability for lying under oath unless genocide is involved. Ultimately Mr. Galloway is more irrelevant than Michael Moore, and even more worthless than a rusty statute of Lenin. I wish Mr. Galloway god’s speed on his journey to oblivion — enjoy the flames Mr. Galloway they shall be your last impression of a world that soon forgets the existence of history’s losers.
Comment by The Marine — 10/25/2005 @ 10:51 pm
No doubt if Galloway is ever indicted (a consummation devoutly to be wished), the NY Times will focus its criticism on the prosecution, as it has so far in Saddam’s trial.
Comment by neo-neocon — 10/26/2005 @ 12:26 am
Solely in the interest of historical accuracy. Lord HawHaw was NOT a Brit. He was an Irishman. And since he was an Irishman and Ireland was neutral in the war, he could not be guilty of treason to Britian. Yet the Brits hung him for treason. One of history’s miscarriage of justice.
Comment by LaVallette — 10/26/2005 @ 2:29 am
At least he wasn’t doing Saddam’s work for free.
Comment by IcallMasICM — 10/26/2005 @ 6:33 am
Gorgeous George is a great big braying donkey. What is most unfortunate, however, is that the people trying to trip him up are frequently idiots and George is not an idiot and that doesn’t make it a fair fight. He has been accused of ‘enriching himself’ and he, in all likelihood, has not done so. His charity has received donations from an individual who cut all the corners and crossed out the lines - that’s not enough to prove perjury on George’s part. In order for Senator Lorne ‘one eyebrow’ Coleman not to look like the idiot he appeared last time they’re going to have to do their homework. They probably won’t. George will probably win the day again.
Comment by Robert W — 10/26/2005 @ 6:59 am
To compare Galloway to Joyce is harsh. Joyce was a fairly farcical Walter Mitty figure. According to a recent biography Joyce left Ireland because of a death threat from the IRA as he was alleged to be an informer to the British Police, which must have led to some interesting meetings with IRA men in Berlin during WW2. He was captured after calling to British troops from his hide-out and had to convince them that he was whom he said he was. Galloway knows to the cent exactly what he has sold his soul for & what has been done by those he has ‘championed’.
Comment by Mark Armstong — 10/26/2005 @ 8:45 am
Wondering how long it will take the Telegraph to ask for their libel money back.
Comment by john — 10/26/2005 @ 1:40 pm
Remember George Galloway did condemn Saddam Hussein in the mid-80s when Rumsfeld was shaking Saddam’s hand, and British companies were selling Saddam the weapons he required to oppress his people. He serves as a constant reminder of the hypocrisy of our own governments, and as a result we have to put up with his “braying” until then. Remember he is excerising his right to free speach, and if he is arrested for anything it will be corruption, not treason. Its a distinction that a lot of people here seem to overlook.
Comment by Robert — 10/26/2005 @ 2:19 pm