Tuesday, May 17, 2005
George Galloway, MP
George Galloway, Minister of Parliament, defended himself today against allegations he took kickbacks from Iraq as part of the oil-for-food program. Galloway, speaking in front of Senator Norm Coleman's (R-Minn.) sub-committee of the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, told the senators "I am not now nor have I ever been an oil trader and neither has anyone on my behalf. I was an opponent of Saddam Hussein when British and American governments and businessmen were selling him guns and gas."
Link
Galloway tore Coleman two new rectal orifices, blasting the United States' rationale for the war as "a pack of lies" and terming Coleman's accusations against him "schoolboy howlers."
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 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 Defense 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 will see from the official parliamentary record, Hansard, from the 15th March 1990 onwards, voluminous evidence that I have a rather better record of opposition to Saddam Hussein than you do and than any other member of the British or American governments do.
Galloway's testimony in front of Coleman's sub-committee was such a breath of fresh air after years of horseshit, propaganda, and groupthink in Washington. The sweet irony is that Galloway told the truth about the war, the lies used to launch it, and how many American companies have profiteering from it on the same day that the White House and the right-wing propaganda machine at FOX News and The New York Post are hammering Newsweek for an "erroneous report" in which the magazine stated that a copy of the Quran was flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo Bay Prison by American interrogators. The White House claims the report sparked anti-American riots in Afghanistan that killed 17 people and damaged the United States' reputation abroad.
Huh? The U.S.'s reputation was "damaged" by the Newsweek report? After the pyramid photos from Abu Ghraib? After the Duelfer Report undermined Bush's rationale for war and proved there were no WMD's in Iraq? After the Rycroft memo proved that the Bush and Blair governments cooked up the pre-war intelligence to fit their decision to go to war? After the various reports of extraordinary renditions where "terrorist suspects" are flown across the world and delivered into the hands of Muslim allies for torture and abuse? After the multitude of reports that Muslim men have been abused at Guantanamo Bay prison by American interrogators, including one report where an American woman smeared "fake menstrual blood" on a prisoner in order to humiliate him?
And Newsweek's causing all of the problems for us in the Muslim world?
We need more George Galloways in this country to tell the Norm Colemans, the Donald Rumsfelds and the George Bush's that they are lying, thieving, conniving bullshit artists and war criminals who shoud burn in hell for all of the harm they have done to the world in the name of oil profits and "democracy".
PS: I loved it when Galloway told Norm that Rumsfeld was a better friend to Sadaam than Galloway himself. People have conveniently forgotten, or Americans are just that stupid, but back in the 80's Sadaam was our guy in the Persian Gulf. We traded with him, we armed him, we made pipeline deals with him. And Rumsfeld was often the point man on many of these deals (check out the handshake picture from the late 80's!) If only we had a true and free press in this country, the run-up to the war would have been a true discussion instead of the pom-pom, rah-rah cheerleading we got from Tim Russert, Judith Miller and Chris Mathews.
Link
Galloway tore Coleman two new rectal orifices, blasting the United States' rationale for the war as "a pack of lies" and terming Coleman's accusations against him "schoolboy howlers."
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.
***
"Now I want to deal with the pages that relate to me in this dossier and I want to point out areas where there are - let's be charitable and say errors. Then I want to put this in the context where I believe it ought to be. On the very first page of your document about me you assert that I have had 'many meetings' with Saddam Hussein. This is false.
"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 Defense 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 will see from the official parliamentary record, Hansard, from the 15th March 1990 onwards, voluminous evidence that I have a rather better record of opposition to Saddam Hussein than you do and than any other member of the British or American governments do.
Galloway's testimony in front of Coleman's sub-committee was such a breath of fresh air after years of horseshit, propaganda, and groupthink in Washington. The sweet irony is that Galloway told the truth about the war, the lies used to launch it, and how many American companies have profiteering from it on the same day that the White House and the right-wing propaganda machine at FOX News and The New York Post are hammering Newsweek for an "erroneous report" in which the magazine stated that a copy of the Quran was flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo Bay Prison by American interrogators. The White House claims the report sparked anti-American riots in Afghanistan that killed 17 people and damaged the United States' reputation abroad.
Huh? The U.S.'s reputation was "damaged" by the Newsweek report? After the pyramid photos from Abu Ghraib? After the Duelfer Report undermined Bush's rationale for war and proved there were no WMD's in Iraq? After the Rycroft memo proved that the Bush and Blair governments cooked up the pre-war intelligence to fit their decision to go to war? After the various reports of extraordinary renditions where "terrorist suspects" are flown across the world and delivered into the hands of Muslim allies for torture and abuse? After the multitude of reports that Muslim men have been abused at Guantanamo Bay prison by American interrogators, including one report where an American woman smeared "fake menstrual blood" on a prisoner in order to humiliate him?
And Newsweek's causing all of the problems for us in the Muslim world?
We need more George Galloways in this country to tell the Norm Colemans, the Donald Rumsfelds and the George Bush's that they are lying, thieving, conniving bullshit artists and war criminals who shoud burn in hell for all of the harm they have done to the world in the name of oil profits and "democracy".
PS: I loved it when Galloway told Norm that Rumsfeld was a better friend to Sadaam than Galloway himself. People have conveniently forgotten, or Americans are just that stupid, but back in the 80's Sadaam was our guy in the Persian Gulf. We traded with him, we armed him, we made pipeline deals with him. And Rumsfeld was often the point man on many of these deals (check out the handshake picture from the late 80's!) If only we had a true and free press in this country, the run-up to the war would have been a true discussion instead of the pom-pom, rah-rah cheerleading we got from Tim Russert, Judith Miller and Chris Mathews.
