Galloway addresses the Senate

by catastrophile, Tue May 17, 2005 at 08:06:57 PM EDT

See the video at Crooks and Liars--Chris

And boy is he pissed.

Now I know that standards have slipped in the last few years in Washington, but for a lawyer you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice. I am here today but last week you already found me guilty. You traduced my name around the world without ever having asked me a single question, without ever having contacted me, without ever written to me or telephoned me, without any attempt to contact me whatsoever. And you call that justice.

I have had two meetings with Saddam Hussein, once in 1994 and once in August of 2002. By no stretch of the English language can that be described as "many meetings" with Saddam Hussein.

As a matter of fact, I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps the better to target those guns. I met him to try and bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war, and on the second of the two occasions, I met him to try and persuade him to let Dr Hans Blix and the United Nations weapons inspectors back into the country - a rather better use of two meetings with Saddam Hussein than your own Secretary of State for Defence made of his.

I was an opponent of Saddam Hussein when British and Americans governments and businessmen were selling him guns and gas. I used to demonstrate outside the Iraqi embassy when British and American officials were going in and doing commerce.

You have my name on lists provided to you by the Duelfer inquiry, provided to him by the convicted bank robber, and fraudster and conman Ahmed Chalabi who many people to their credit in your country now realise played a decisive role in leading your country into the disaster in Iraq.

There were 270 names on that list originally. That's somehow been filleted down to the names you chose to deal with in this committee. Some of the names on that committee included the former secretary to his Holiness Pope John Paul II, the former head of the African National Congress Presidential office and many others who had one defining characteristic in common: they all stood against the policy of sanctions and war which you vociferously prosecuted and which has led us to this disaster.

Read and distribute.

I'm off to vote. Go Charter Amendment B!!! Woooo!

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28 Comments

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Who is he talking to?
Which Senator?
by craverguy 2005-05-17 02:13PM | 0 recs
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Other accounts:
This BBC article and others indicate he was addressing Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Coleman, who's been championing the Oil-for-Food distraction investigation. BBC has also posted a set of Galloway's best quotes from the statement.

Fox News, surprisingly, placed the quote about Rumsfeld in the second paragraph of its story.

by catastrophile 2005-05-17 02:51PM | 0 recs
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What is "Respect," anyway?
by craverguy 2005-05-17 02:52PM | 0 recs
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A totally unAmerican concept.
Just kidding.

Galloway was kicked out of the Labour Party for, I dunno, being honest about Iraq I guess, so he founded his own party (called Respect) and won back his old seat in Parliament.

by catastrophile 2005-05-17 03:10PM | 0 recs
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Re: A totally unAmerican concept.
Hi,

I hate to nit-pick, but there are a couple of things I would like to point out here - living as I do in the UK.

First, Galloway deserves some respect for going before the Senate Committee and delivering a few home truths ...

BUT he is no hero.  You are wrong about why he was kicked out of the Labour Party - a lot of people within that party disagreed with the Iraq War, but only he was kicked out ... and the reason was because he described coalition troops as "wolves" and praised insurgents inside Iraq.

Also, he didn't win his old seat back. Instead he found a seat with a large Muslim population, and went on to wage one of the most unpleasant campaigns I can remember against one of the UK's only two black women Labour MPs - a lady who was generally acknowledged to have been a good constituency MP and had delivered for her constituents.  Galloway chose her seat because it had a large Muslim population, and his campaign exploited the racial tensions within the area - by hinting at the sitting MP's Jewish history, for example.  

Add in the fact that he calls Tariq Aziz "a dear friend" and that he went to Iraq and praised Saddam's "strength, courage and indefatiguability", and I think it's pretty clear that this ain't a man to praise too highly.

by uktom 2005-05-17 03:23PM | 0 recs
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Thanks for the corrections.
Any links you have handy would also be appreciated.
by catastrophile 2005-05-17 03:50PM | 0 recs
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I second the motion for links
Sounds like a bunch of horse puckey to me. I don't trust unknown newcomers who don't provide links.
by Gary Boatwright 2005-05-17 08:25PM | 0 recs
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Re: I second the motion for links
Check the New Republic at www.tnr.com for one article that discusses Galloway's election campaign.

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w050418&s=forsyth042205

Here is the 1st paragraph

"To date in this election campaign, one candidate has received a death threat, the other has had her car tires slashed, and religious leaders are appealing for calm. Where is this happening? Not in Beirut, but in London. In the city's Bethnal Green and Bow district, George Galloway, who famously told Saddam Hussein in 1994, "I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability," is trying to defeat sitting Labour Party MP Oona King. The country's May 5 general election is likely to produce a comfortable victory for Tony Blair's Labour Party--which means that the Galloway-King race may be the day's most important vote. That's because the unseating of King, a black Jewish woman, in the second most Muslim district in the country--almost 50 percent of its voters are Muslim--could splinter British urban politics along ethnic and religious lines for years to come."

It requires a subscription for the rest.

I can get you more information if you like.

He defeated Oona King, a black jewish female. from Labour.  Galloway used her vote for the Iraq war as the basis of his campaign.

Kind of shame, really.
King seems to be the kind of diverse candidate that we need more of.

I'll vouch for the comment that you are questioning.  The essence is true
 

by v2aggie2 2005-05-17 08:46PM | 0 recs
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Is TNR making shit up?
TNR makes shit up. Here's the coverage from The Nation:

For instance, Galloway noted that he had met Saddam twice -- not the "many" times alleged by the report. "As a matter of fact I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times that (Secretary of Defense) Donald Rumsfeld met him," said the recently reelected British parliamentarian. "The difference is that Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns."

For good measure, Galloway used the forum Coleman had foolishly provided to deliver a blistering condemnation of Coleman's war."Now, Senator, I gave my heart and soul to oppose the policy that you promoted. I gave my political life's blood to try to stop the mass killing of Iraqis by the sanctions on Iraq which killed one million Iraqis, most of them children, most of them died before they even knew that they were Iraqis, but they died for no other reason other than that they were Iraqis with the misfortune to born at that time. I gave my heart and soul to stop you committing the disaster that you did commit in invading Iraq. And I told the world that your case for the war was a pack of lies," Galloway informed the fool on Capitol Hill.

I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims did not have weapons of mass destruction. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al-Qaeda. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.

"Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000 people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies.

I get the feeling that TNR and Galloway's critics are using the rough and tumble of British politics to make Galloway look worse than he is.

Like the best lies, there is some truth to them. I trust the Guardian and The Nation more than TNR.

by Gary Boatwright 2005-05-18 04:50AM | 0 recs
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Re: Is TNR making shit up?
Personally, I much prefer TNR to the Nation.

What are they making up?

by v2aggie2 2005-05-18 07:23PM | 0 recs
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I know he's right about
Galloway running in a mostly Muslim area; I had read that some time ago and forgot all about it, and assumed he had simply regained his old seat. Uh, v2 covered the Saddam compliment, and this LA Times article cites the Aziz comment, though it's in the context of what Coleman had to say about Galloway.

The rest of it sounds vaguely familiar. Their politics being generally more colorful than ours, I don't doubt the remarks UKTom attributes to Galloway about US troops.

Besides, I have to give him the benefit of the doubt, seeing as he's willing to give Galloway props for speaking truth to the Senators, which was my purpose in posting this diary anyway.

by catastrophile 2005-05-17 11:46PM | 0 recs
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It Also Overlooks the Real Point
The Galloway story is sort of unreal for the following reason: British elections have very low spending limits compared to the US. If it's true that the money to his election campaign was a "thank you" from Saddam it would be a small fraction of money compared to the hundreds of other players...from American to France to Britain, China, and even Russia who made money on oil-for-food.

Galloway was excellent in simply telling the Committee investigating him was a joke, and that he came to "call the bluff". That the Committee should investigate the American and British companies who made even more money off Oil for Food. The comment about Don Rumseld kissing the ring was also marvellous.

If you read the British media, this is front page stuff...that everyone from the Guardian to the BBC admit Coleman looked like a fool. Only the head-in-sand contigent downplay this.

by risenmessiah 2005-05-18 12:33AM | 0 recs
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Re: I know he's right about
Hi,

Cheers for the benefit of the doubt!  As I say, I'm not denying that Galloway put up a good show in front of the committee - I'm just trying to show that he's not a person to idolise too strongly.

The comment below is true - he ran against Oona King because she voted for the war.  But, as I say, the nature of the campaign was extrememly unpleasant and left a very nasty taste in most left-of-centre people's mouths over here.  If he'd really wanted to make a point about the war, why not go and stand against Tony Blair? That would have been the real brave thing to do. The answer is, that Tony Blair's seat didn't have the ethnic make-up that Galloway felt he could exploit to win.

I would also like to re-emphasise that people like Robin Cook (ex-Foreign Secretary), Frank Dobson (ex-Health Secretary) and Clare Short (ex-International Development Secretary) have all kept their place in the Labour Party, despite opposing the Iraq War... no-one got kicked out for disagreeing with Tony Blair.

by uktom 2005-05-18 02:54AM | 0 recs
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Re: I know he's right about
You are mixing British and American politics. I don't idolize any politician. If they weren't crooks and liars they would have chosen an honorable profession, like prostitution. At least protitutes are honest about who and what they are.

Anyone who makes Norm Coleman look like an Ass Hat is OK in my book:

Light the Ass Hat signal!

THEME MUSIC.....ASSHAT!.....ASSHAT!....ASSHAT!...ASSHAT!....ASSHAT, ASSHAT, ASSHAT...da da da da da ASSHAT!!!!!!!

by Gary Boatwright 2005-05-18 05:09AM | 0 recs
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Re: I know he's right about
Prostitutes are honest about who and what they are? Whatever, dude.

Is that why they call them 'escort services'?
Is that why they work out of 'massage parlors'?

by ModZero 2005-05-19 04:56AM | 0 recs
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Re: A totally unAmerican concept.
Oona King is a New Labourite who voted for the war.  It does not matter if she is black or jewish or female.

If she had not voted for the war then Galloway would not have run against her.

by outspan 2005-05-18 01:49AM | 0 recs
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Re: A totally unAmerican concept.
She basically put loyalty to Blair ahead of anything. Galloway might have his unperfect past, but as he says, so do the Rummys.
by Jerome Armstrong 2005-05-18 04:02AM | 0 recs
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Re: A totally unAmerican concept.
Even Rumsfeld, with his low standards, didn't go to Iraq AFTER Gulf War I and praise Saddam, as he did in 1994.

Not saying much, I know, seeing how Rummy was friendly with Saddam in the 1980's

by v2aggie2 2005-05-18 07:36PM | 0 recs
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Re: A totally unAmerican concept.
My point was a general one...that a diversity among candidates is a good thing, particularly here in the US for Democrats.  As an Indian-American, this topic is a priority to me.

You are correct, Galloway would not have run against her if she had not voted for the war.  

Having said that, apparently her Jewish religion did matter to Galloway, since he had no problem making the linkage between her religion and her vote.  I thought this was what Republicans do.  Why couldn't he just argue on the merits of the war?

Sorry but if a candidate in our party pulled such a stunt, he would definitely hear from me, and loudly.

Look, the guy wanted to bring attention to himself.  I will let him have his 15 minutes of fame.

by v2aggie2 2005-05-18 07:33PM | 0 recs
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Posted at dkos
Apparently he is primarily addressing Sen. Coleman and from what I can tell  uktom is full of shit.

This was a clear cut "have you no shame Senator" speech that ripped the heart out of the wingnuts "Oil for Food Scandal" bullshit.

From the Guardian, Galloway and the mother of all invective:

     Galloway and the mother of all invective

Oliver Burkeman on the Respect MP's Washington performance

Wednesday May 18, 2005
The Guardian

George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, testifies at the Senate subcommittee for homeland security and governmental affairs in Washington. Photograph: Dennis Cook/AP
George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, testifies at the Senate subcommittee for homeland security and governmental affairs in Washington. Photograph: Dennis Cook/AP

Whatever else you made of him, when it came to delivering sustained barrages of political invective, you had to salute his indefatigability.

George Galloway stormed up to Capitol Hill yesterday morning for the confrontation of his career, firing scatter-shot insults at the senators who had accused him of profiting illegally from Iraqi oil sales.

They were "neo-cons" and "Zionists" and a "pro-war lynch mob", he raged, who belonged to a "lickspittle Republican committee" that was engaged in creating "the mother of all smokescreens".

Article continues
Before the hearing began, the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow even had some scorn left over to bestow generously upon the pro-war writer Christopher Hitchens. "You're a drink-soaked former-Trotskyist popinjay," Mr Galloway informed him. "Your hands are shaking. You badly need another drink," he added later, ignoring Mr Hitchens's questions and staring intently ahead.

For these purposes, Senator Coleman served symbolically to represent all the evil in the world - the entire Republican party, the conscience of George Bush, the US government and the British government, too: no wonder his weak smile looked so nauseous.

"I gave my heart and soul to stop you committing the disaster that you did commit in invading Iraq," Mr Galloway told him. "Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong."

But Mr Galloway Goes To Washington had never really been an exercise in clarifying the facts. It was an exercise in giving Norm Coleman, and, by extension, the Bush administration, a black eye - mere days after the bloody nose that the Respect MP took credit for having given Tony Blair. And it went as well as Mr Galloway could have wished.

It looks to me like uktom is a troll.

by Gary Boatwright 2005-05-17 08:39PM | 0 recs
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Maybe he could loan the Dems his balls for a day
If one Democrat stood up like Galloway did, the filibuster is toast.

If it wasn't for fags and ovaries, the Democratic party wouldn't have any balls.

by Gary Boatwright 2005-05-17 08:42PM | 0 recs
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Re: Maybe...
We don't need him in the party
by v2aggie2 2005-05-17 08:48PM | 0 recs
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Galloway a Dem?
...only if he served in the Senate would they try and yank the filibuster.

Still...the British system allows much more confrontation between the Prime Minister and the backbenchers. Even if he ran in a largely Muslim district in the US his lack of seniority would minimize his chance to slap the Re-thugs around.

Still, can you imagine this guy on the stump with Dean? Though he might not make as many friends in the US using the term "Zionist", he rips neo-imperialism like few I have ever seen.

by risenmessiah 2005-05-18 12:41AM | 0 recs
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Re: Posted at dkos
Why is he a troll?

Everything that I have read about Galloway is in line with what uktom is saying.

I have a British friend (a Liberal Democrat) who echoes these same thoughts

by v2aggie2 2005-05-18 07:40PM | 0 recs
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I dont get it...
What exactly is a troll anyway?

Someone who constantly makes personal attacks? (in which case Gary is the troll)

Someone who misses the point and wastes bandwith? (again, Gary...)

Or is it someone who disagrees or even has moderate viewpoints?

uktom was merely pointing out that Galloway is a rather unsavory character - despite his apparently popular attack on Coleman.

Gary sneers "I dont trust noobs who don't link".

A link backing uktom appears from v2aggie2, and then Gary says some bizarre shit like "I don't believe TNR because they make things up." WTF? Does Dan Rather work for TNR now?

Then he posts a page of irrelevant text from dKos, and calls uktom a troll.

What the hell?

Is it because trolls get deleted and Gary wants uktom gone for some reason?

uktom seemed OK to me. If I had to choose between the two, Gary is the one that seems a little trollish.

by ModZero 2005-05-19 07:19AM | 0 recs
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Re: I dont get it...
A troll is supposed to be a Republican who poses as a Democrat and posts on this site, I believe.

Unless I'm missing something, uktom is no troll.
I agreed with his post, and thought it was insightful.

by v2aggie2 2005-05-19 08:14PM | 0 recs
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My Personal Favorite Galloway Quote
"There could possibly be no documents relating to Oil-for-Food matters in 1992, 1993, for the Oil-for-Food scheme did not exist at that time."

I wonder if this report of a new 'scandal'
in the UN, so well timed to be near that
"gruff but just what we need" Mr. John Bolton..

Is one of those reports that someone
bullied the intelligence reports on..?

I think, at minimum, our intelligence
agencies could at least determine when
an oil for food program had started.
Its just this thing called 'reading
the newspaper headlines'.

I can see Bolton chasing someone down
the hallway now..  Gee whillickers wally,
maybe the top 10 floors of the UN really
do need to be lopped off.

Being an independent (bona fide!) I have
perhaps the most unique perspective on
this problem. If these reports are
fabricated... there will be hell
to pay with the GOP that want to
send Bolton into the UN.

This happens to show up at the
moment that the British Government
turns up an intelligence memo that
showed Bush fabricated the evidence
for the war in Iraq. McCain stood
up and said he didn't.

But if this is the kind of thing happening
in Washington DC, bet your last thin
dime that they think they can get away
with murder.

And they're gambling LARGE that the american
people aren't going to figure it out in
Time.

Prediction: The Bolton Nomination will get
hustled to the floor as rapidly as possible.

Its not democrat or republican
to give the American people time to
learn the truth. The truth, to me
at least, is fairly clear and
easy to spot - you have to be looking
for it.

But the truth that
takes so much time... ? Lord almighty
how long did it take to make this
report? 270 names on a list? Where
are they now?

And he's right about Chalabi too.

by turnerbroadcasting 2005-05-18 04:01AM | 0 recs
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Re: My Personal Favorite Galloway Quote
Right on turnerbroadcasting! Why aren't the Demwits making more out of the fact that the 270 names on the list are from the same source that gave us mythical WMD?

Have you heard the speculation that Curveball may have been Chalabi himself?

by Gary Boatwright 2005-05-18 05:12AM | 0 recs

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