Galloway opens door to expose U.S. crimes

By Tony Murphy
Published May 28, 2005 9:14 AM

British Member of Parliament George Galloway’s stinging anti-war testimony before a U.S. Senate committee in Washington May 17 electrified progressives. Galloway stunned the U.S. media—which are unaccustomed to seeing anyone, and certainly not members of the timid Democratic Party “opposition” to the Bush administration, match the right wing blow for blow.



The Senate committee, chaired by Republican ideologue Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, is part of a Bush admini stration campaign targeting British, French and Russian politicians as people to whom Saddam Hussein supposedly “allocated oil” for “political favors.” It is a witch hunt designed to discredit opposition to the war as the United States becomes increasingly embroiled in Iraq and isolated in the world.

Behind the committee’s bogus allegations is the long war U.S. corporate interests have waged in order to seize Iraqi oil. The devastated state of Iraq today is not only due to the aftermath of 2003’s shock-and-awe campaign. It’s the result of decades of U.S. intervention, war and CIA operations against the Iraqi people. It’s long past time for the United States to get out.

Before 2003, more than a million Iraqis had already been killed by U.S.-imposed sanctions. After Washington’s 1991 bombing campaign against Iraq—which wiped out its electrical grid and water-purification system, as well as schools, roads, hospitals and bridges—the United States used the United Nations to prevent Iraq from rebuilding. It accomplished this by preventing it from selling oil, virtually its only commodity, or from buying anything on the world market.

The previously wiped-out diseases typhoid and cholera made a stunning comeback among Iraqi children, because water was contaminated and hospitals were deprived of medicine by sanctions. By 1996, UN agencies reported that over half a million Iraqis had died.



The 2001 declassification of 1991 Defense Intelligence Agency documents showed that the Pentagon’s conscious goal was to cause widespread illness throughout the Iraqi population, through water-borne disease. “Conditions are favorable for communicable disease outbreaks, particularly in major urban areas affected by coalition bombing,” is a chillingly typical quote.

This genocidal campaign, waged to get control of Iraq’s oil resources, is the true crime behind the oil-for-food “scandal” now making headlines.

www.workers.org...



Galloway delivered blistering blows to coleman's and levine's smoke screens at his senate audition.

Quotes from his hearing:

The existence of forged documents implicating me in commercial activities with the Iraqi regime is a proven fact. It's a proven fact that these forged documents existed and were being circulated amongst right-wing newspapers in Baghdad and around the world in the immediate aftermath of the fall of the Iraqi regime.

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.

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.

If the world had listened to Kofi Annan, whose dismissal you demanded, if the world had listened to President Chirac who you want to paint as some kind of corrupt traitor, if the world had listened to me and the anti-war movement in Britain, we would not be in the disaster that we are in today. Senator, this is the mother of all smokescreens. You are trying to divert attention from the crimes that you supported, from the theft of billions of dollars of Iraq's wealth.

Have a look at the real Oil-for-Food scandal. Have a look at the 14 months you were in charge of Baghdad, the first 14 months when $8.8 billion of Iraq's wealth went missing on your watch. Have a look at Halliburton and other American corporations that stole not only Iraq's money, but the money of the American taxpayer.

Have a look at the oil that you didn't even meter, that you were shipping out of the country and selling, the proceeds of which went who knows where? Have a look at the $800 million you gave to American military commanders to hand out around the country without even counting it or weighing it.

Have a look at the real scandal breaking in the newspapers today, revealed in the earlier testimony in this committee. That the biggest sanctions busters were not me or Russian politicians or French politicians. The real sanctions busters were your own companies with the connivance of your own Government.

and:

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 realize 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.

Sounds like he kicked some arse there. Not my favourite politician in the world, but he hit the nail on the head there!

George, stick it to the Neo-cons!

link to video

if anyone wants to watch some high lights

I like this guy. He really had them by the short hairs so to speak. It was like a bunch of children getting lectured by father after he got home from work and found them with their hands in the cookie jar.

BTW, nice Winston-esque picture with the stogie.

Galloway, as yes the man i was called "scum" on ATS. I called him a traitor too, plus i accused him of playing the race cards in the elections to gain a seat in the house of parliament. But, and a big but this, im starting to take it all back. He has shown character and intelligence when dealing with the Neo-cons, you got to give it to Galloway, he has some balls and a lot of guts aswell.

I take all the flaming comments back Galloway, you are a good man

more politicians need to make what they really feel, heard. AMERICIANS don't believe anything that hasn't come from 'the most trusted source in news' ...the govt. too bad galloways words are falling on deaf ears. i guess you have to look outside of the u.s. to find people who actually stand up for their beliefs.......

The two lead senators (Coleman and Levin) of the Senate Subcommittee for Permanent Investigations are NOT neocons. Not even close.

Second, the subcommitte is an informal, fact-gathering investigation. All they wanted are information from Galloway's own words in person. Galloway had his day and his 15 minutes fame. His words will be scrutinized and compared with other informations pertaining to the UN Oil-for-Food and oil bribery cases. That investigation is still ongoing.

But soon, he'll wish he sticks his foot in his mouth. He made some contradicting statements: Not so fast, Mr. Galloway

Originally posted by the_oleneo

The two lead senators (Coleman and Levin) of the Senate Subcommittee for Permanent Investigations are NOT neocons. Not even close.

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Lol

Coleman may be just your standard peon, but Levine not a neocon ?? did you hear the guy ? He wants to know "which part of Mr. Zureikat's fortune his donations came from" "Would it trouble you if you knew that?" That guy, Carl Levin, is so foul, and you'll tell me he's not a neocon ? What is he then, a neocon mole inside the democratic party ? A gulag capo sympathizing with anti-war people but in fact supporting the war emotionally more than any republican ? After Galloway answers Levin's kindergarten question, Levin goes on to repeat a few times for the journalists : "Ok, so you're not going to answer" elevating his voice like an ideological overseer who fears the journalist crowd may begin to trust his opponent. Levine is a neocon, and a upper-graded one. Can anyone believe him when he's playing innocent saying "Now if one of our companies was involved, that would trouble me a great deal". How does so bad a liar become senator (?)

Now if the democratic party has neocon moles who voted against the war, that would also explain their inability to beat Bush at the presidential elections (which was in fact, objectively, an easy task, given the thousands of errors and scandals commited by him).




[edit on 29-5-2005 by Moretti]

i wish there were more politicians like him around, i watched the whole thing and it is excellent....




ps: i did get a feeling that this might've been a setup for something bigger, surely the senat knew of his reputation?

Before 2003, more than a million Iraqis had already been killed by U.S.-imposed sanctions. After Washington’s 1991 bombing campaign against Iraq—which wiped out its electrical grid and water-purification system, as well as schools, roads, hospitals and bridges—the United States used the United Nations to prevent Iraq from rebuilding. It accomplished this by preventing it from selling oil, virtually its only commodity, or from buying anything on the world market.

The previously wiped-out diseases typhoid and cholera made a stunning comeback among Iraqi children, because water was contaminated and hospitals were deprived of medicine by sanctions. By 1996, UN agencies reported that over half a million Iraqis had died.

The 2001 declassification of 1991 Defense Intelligence Agency documents showed that the Pentagon’s conscious goal was to cause widespread illness throughout the Iraqi population, through water-borne disease. “Conditions are favorable for communicable disease outbreaks, particularly in major urban areas affected by coalition bombing,” is a chillingly typical quote.

My God, if this is true we're the most despicable, evil nation on earth.

Who cares who's a neo-con? The entire country is out of control and if we continue to just sit back and watch it on tv, we're all guilty of letting it happen.

And this is just the stuff that gets de-classified, imagine what dirty tricks are going on that we'll never know about. :shk:

He was very good. Yes hes was. Hes still toast. I cant believe were still going on about WMD. If you really think that Saddam was not developing WMD with the intent of attack and or distribution then you are an idiot. Well see what happens but it does for now look like Mr.Galloway did indeed profit from the oil for food program as did most of the UN. What I want to see are all the American Businessmen that profited from get flamed too. People like Ken Lay still on the loose is a downright sin. If washington doesnt do something about these super rich a-holes running off with everybodys retirement funds then the American people will. Im very surprised that nobody has taken out Lay and co. themselves.
The oil for food thing is just another rich robbing the poor. Again. There are Americans that profited. Plenty of American companies that just walked off with millions of tax money and nothings happening to them. I do believe that Annan himself profited. Hes very crooked. And the UN is a joke. Rwanda anyone? It seems that the UNs entire purpose now is to bog down the US while the rest of the world tries to rob us. Oh well...just more tax money down the toilet.

Originally posted by SonofSpy
He was very good. Yes hes was. Hes still toast. I cant believe were still going on about WMD. If you really think that Saddam was not developing WMD with the intent of attack and or distribution then you are an idiot. Well see what happens but it does for now look like Mr.Galloway did indeed profit from the oil for food program as did most of the UN. What I want to see are all the American Businessmen that profited from get flamed too. People like Ken Lay still on the loose is a downright sin. If washington doesnt do something about these super rich a-holes running off with everybodys retirement funds then the American people will. Im very surprised that nobody has taken out Lay and co. themselves.
The oil for food thing is just another rich robbing the poor. Again. There are Americans that profited. Plenty of American companies that just walked off with millions of tax money and nothings happening to them. I do believe that Annan himself profited. Hes very crooked. And the UN is a joke. Rwanda anyone? It seems that the UNs entire purpose now is to bog down the US while the rest of the world tries to rob us. Oh well...just more tax money down the toilet.

this was already clearly articulated, but it still seems to be (purposefully?) misunderstood :

The 8.8bn theft scandal Mr. Galloway pointed out is not the oil-for-food "scandal" colported by the us governement. It happened after the invasion, hence after the effective US sanctions. Mr Levin is purposefully misunderstanding this as part of his smoke-screen.

The other scandal referred to by Galloway is the purposeful starvation of over 1 million iraqis, mostly children, by the Bush I and Clinton administrations. IMO, companies breaking the US-imposed sanctions on Iraq should be hailed for their humanitarian engagement, effectively preventing more people to starve. What is Levine concluding instead ? He wants to punish them.


[edit on 29-5-2005 by Moretti]

Saddam wiped out a people and the migratory fly way of millions of birds. What used to be the home of a million people is now a desert and the birds have died. This was the 2nd Genocide on Kofi Annan's watch. A United Nations definition of Genocide is in comments. Article with pictures of the area in National Geographic'.
The basic outline of the scandal is simple: Saddam Hussein used the Oil-for-Food program to circumvent U.N. sanctions imposed after the Gulf war and to enrich himself and his allies. He did this by bribing leading journalists and diplomats and demanding kickbacks from those who profited from selling Iraqi oil. That he was able to do so indicates at least that the U.N. badly mismanaged the program it set up in December 1996. None of this is particularly astonishing. No one is surprised to learn that Saddam Hussein cheats, that politicians take bribes, and that the competence level of the U.N. bureaucracy is, well, suboptimal."Galloway appeared after the Senate committee released documents it claimed showed he and other international figures received valuable oil allocations from Saddam Hussein as a reward for opposing U.N. sanctions on Iraq. Galloway allegedly received 20 million barrels' worth between 2000 and 2003.

I believe that George Galloway is innocent.
He makes alot of good points, however he has extreme veiws.
One thing I'm sure of is he is not a liar, he speaks his mind which is something that's been missing from politics for a long time.
He is yet to be proven guilty despite what anyone says.

I'm not saying hes guilty, they are only allegations. I don't agree with what he has to say. I don't think we will ever know the truth about what really happend with the oil for food screw up. so no one can actually he's innocent or guilty. I'm just adding different views to this thread. I'm not an expert on ecerything pertaining to this subject. just adding what I read here in the states. its always good to get more than one side to a story.

watched the video clip that was provided, it didn't show much of anthing but a lot of editing. his answer to the questions, were very defiant, and he changed the subject of the questions to promote his view on the war in Iraq why not just answer the questions without the other crap. its not a witch hunt. just an investigation.

[edit on 29-5-2005 by finnman68]

Originally posted by finnman68
Saddam wiped out a people and the migratory fly way of millions of birds. What used to be the home of a million people is now a desert and the birds have died.

You have no proof for your children-targeting military propaganda. In the reverse, there IS proof that the UN sanctions were instilled at demand and pressure by the USA. there IS proof the USA purposefully destroyed civilian infrastructure during it's reckless bombing raids. there IS proof the USA refused to alleviate the hardships for the iraqi people when the genocidal scale of the silent massacre became known.

This was the 2nd Genocide on Kofi Annan's watch.

Poor Kofi Annan ? Victimize him further ? The guy who is every day scroupulously complaining about human rights violations worldwide and nobody chooses to listen to because he has uncomfortable messages for everyone ?

The basic outline of the scandal is simple: Saddam Hussein used the Oil-for-Food program to circumvent U.N. sanctions imposed after the Gulf war and to enrich himself and his allies.

Why is this a scandal ? Given that his population is starving, what would be more humane and heroic than to circumvent the infernally designed conditions that lead to such starvation ?

He did this by bribing leading journalists and diplomats and demanding kickbacks from those who profited from selling Iraqi oil. That he was able to do so indicates at least that the U.N. badly mismanaged the program it set up in December 1996. None of this is particularly astonishing. No one is surprised to learn that Saddam Hussein cheats, that politicians take bribes, and that the competence level of the U.N. bureaucracy is, well, suboptimal."Galloway appeared after the Senate committee released documents it claimed showed he and other international figures received valuable oil allocations from Saddam Hussein as a reward for opposing U.N. sanctions on Iraq. Galloway allegedly received 20 million barrels' worth between 2000 and 2003.

All kinds of accusations against Galloway or Saddam Hussein have now been consistently unmasked as lies for the last three years. Everyday. The purely agitationnist so-called "oil-for-food scandal" has long been debunked as a fraud designed to smoke-screen the real extent of criminal enterprise behind the genocidal US sanctions against the Iraqi population, as well as to embarass oppositionals. The authors of the lies, forgeries, and incommensurate agitation leading to the "oil-for-food hoax" are the very same media conglomerates and governements that authored the "war-on-terror" hoax. AND THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE BELIEVING THEM ?



[edit on 29-5-2005 by Moretti]

were can I find these declassified 1991 defence intellegence documents.
please pass a link on subject. not a news paper story thats biased . show the documents. I would like to read the contents

how are you such an expert on this subject? were you there in all cases. and for all of the people starving in Iraq, why don't you ask the question why was Saddam building palaces, come on how many did the man need, statues of himself every were you look. saddam cuased his own people to suffer while he lived it up. look at both sides of a story. look at all the facts before jummping to conlusions

I loved the video of him being so defiant. Absolutely excellent. Now senators...how about the crooked Americans that profited from this fiasco? Im so sick of seing so much American white collar crime go unpunished.