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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (114261)	5/17/2005 12:56:54 PM
From: KLP	Respond to of 794048

Galloway angrily denies oil claim George Galloway has angrily dismissed allegations by US senators he profited from oil dealings with Saddam Hussein. The UK MP denied ever being involved in oil trading and accused senators of being "cavalier" with justice. "I am not now nor have I ever been an oil trader and neither has anyone on my behalf," Mr Galloway told senators. "l have never seen a barrel of oil, owned one, bought one sold one and neither has anybody on my behalf." 'Mother of all smokescreens' Mr Galloway went on the offensive as soon as he began to speak, saying he had met Saddam Hussein on two occasions - the same number of times as US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and maps - the better to target those guns. I met him to try to bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war," he said. The accusations levelled against him was the "mother of all smokescreens", he said. The biggest sanctions busters were American companies "with the connivance" of the US government. Mr Galloway denied being an apologist for the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. He said he had been a long-term opponent of Saddam, and had a much better record of opposition to the Iraqi leader than members of the American or British governments. 'Full of holes' Earlier, Mark Greenblatt, who is acting as counsel to the Committee, told the hearing a senior official in Saddam Hussein's regime confirmed that Fawaz Zureikat, who was chairman of the charity, the Mariam Appeal, which was set up by Mr Galloway, facilitated the MPs oil allocations. Mr Greenblatt said: "A senior regime official that was interviewed yesterday confirmed that Zureikat facilitated Galloway's oil transactions. "He told me (and I quote) - 'It's my understanding that Zureikat is oil lifter for Galloway'." Fawaz Zureikat has strongly denied making any arrangements linked to oil sales on behalf of Mr Galloway. He is not expecting a sympathetic hearing but hopefully the truth will out Mr Galloway's spokesman Ron McKay Earlier this month, Mr Galloway, who was expelled from the Labour Party for his views on Iraq, narrowly beat Labour's Oona King to win the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency, in East London, for the fledgling Respect party. Russia allegation The United Nations-backed oil for food scheme enabled Saddam Hussein to export oil to pay for essential humanitarian aid to help the Iraqi people cope with UN sanctions imposed in 1991. The options to buy barrels of Iraqi oil were alleged to have been given as rewards for supporting Saddam Hussein. All they have is a photocopy, handed over by an unnamed source Respect spokesman The former Iraqi leader sold the vouchers at below market prices to favoured parties, who were able to sell them on at profit. On Monday Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky denied the committee's accusations that he accepted millions of dollars in Iraqi oil allocations. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Mr Galloway's Respect party told a press conference the document used by the Senate hearing was a forgery. The spokesman said: "The actual first document, we don't know where it is, they don't know where it is and all they have is a photocopy handed over by an unnamed source." Typographical analysis showed Mr Galloway's name was in a different typeface, a lighter shade and at a different angle to the rest of the document, he said. The spokesman suggested Mr Galloway's name had been stuck to the bottom of the list, and the document photocopied. He also cited testimony from an Iraqi who claimed he forged lists of people who profited from the oil for food scheme. Vehement denial In December, Mr Galloway won £150,000 in libel damages from the Daily Telegraph over its separate claims he had received money from Saddam's regime. The MP had denied ever seeking or receiving money from Saddam's government, which he said he had long opposed. Last month the newspaper won permission to appeal against the ruling to pay the damages, plus £1.2m in costs. The Senate committee's report also accused Mr Pasqua of receiving oil rights from Iraq, something he has vehemently denied. The report claims both he and Mr Galloway were given potentially lucrative oil allocations as a reward for their support in calling for sanctions against the regime to be loosened. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk Published: 2005/05/17 16:11:40 GMT