Galloway’s Brass
Austin Bay Blog
Filed under: General— site admin @ 5:26 pm
Give George Galloway credit for facing Norm Coleman’s Senate panel. Galloway has opted for guerrilla theater.
from Reuters
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Far from showing the usual deference of witnesses before Congress, British MP George Galloway defiantly told a Senate committee its evidence against him was false, condemned the investigation and demanded to know why it had not questioned him first before making the allegations.
The east London Member of Parliament appeared before the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is examining how Saddam used oil to reward politicians, particularly from Russia, France and Britain, under the U.N.’s oil-for-food program. As the sharp exchange unfolded, the mood in the packed room was electric with occasional snickers from the audience at Galloway’s jibes at the senators.
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After the theatrics, Reuters says:
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Coleman, who did not respond to Galloway’s criticism, stuck to questions over the MP’s dealings in Iraq and quizzed him over Iraqi Oil Ministry documents the senator said showed he received oil allocations.
“Senior Iraqi officials have confirmed that you, in fact, received oil allocations and that the documents that identify you as an allocation recipient are valid,” said Coleman, urging Galloway to provide evidence to the contrary.
The committee released documents it said showed Saddam gave Galloway the rights to export 20 million barrels of oil under the defunct humanitarian program.
Former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, now a French senator, also was named as getting vouchers for 11 million barrels. Pasqua, who also denied the allegations, was not at the hearing.
The U.N. oil-for-food program, which began in late 1996 and ended in 2003, was aimed at easing the impact of sanctions imposed after Saddam’s troops invaded Kuwait in 1990.
Mark Greenblatt, legal counsel on the committee, told senators Galloway had used his cancer charity “Mariam’s Appeal” to conceal these allocations and provided several Oil Ministry documents referring to the charity. Galloway denied this.
Greenblatt said a senior Iraqi official interviewed by the committee’s investigators again in Baghdad on Monday, had confirmed allegations against Galloway and authenticated Iraqi oil ministry documents.
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I missed tv coverage. (Will CSPAN do a repeat?)
This confrontation will continue.
I don’t see Coleman backing down because he believes he has solid legal evidence. Galloway will fight in the court of public opinion – and he’s opted for brazen and brassy. Brazen and brassy plays well on television. It won’t play well in front of a judge. Will this confrontation go to trial? If it does, the venue Galloway should fear is Iraq. If Galloway conspired with Saddam, it was the Iraqi people’s blood that paid for Galloway’s oil.
austinbay.net
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