Submit Response is a weblog by Jack Mottram, a Gorgeous George
Can my MP, George Galloway, really have been in the employ of Saddam Hussein? The Telegraph purportedly found documents on the floor of the Iraqi Foregn Ministry that reveal his collusion:
He [Galloway] needs continuous financial support from Iraq. He obtained through Mr Tariq Aziz [deputy prime minister] three million barrels of oil every six months, according to the oil for food programme. His share would be only between 10 and 15 cents per barrel… He [Galloway] also obtained a limited number of food contracts with the ministry of trade. The percentage of its profits does not go above one per cent.
Galloway intends to sue; The Telegraph remains adamant that the documents are genuine.
If this is a smear, it’s a sophisticated one. If true, I’m stunned. Galloway’s overly chummy relationship with Hussein has always been suspect, but it’s hard to believe he would take backhanders. We shall see.
Updates (in chronological order)
- Galloway on Today [RealAudio]
- Galloway’s statement on Telegraph claims
- Guardian - Labour holds fire on Galloway inquiry
- Telegraph - Memo From Saddam: We Can’t Afford to Pay Galloway More
- Guardian - Galloway: others may have taken money
- This is getting silly: The Christian Science Monitor claim evidence of $10 million paid to Galloway by Saddam Hussein.
i find it rather fishy that this journalist chap was freely rummaging around iraqi intelligence documents, don’t you?
Posted by Donna at 5pm on 22.04.03
I’m finding it rather interesting that they’re prepared to accept the veracity of Iraqi ministers’ documents when it comes to George Galloway, but not when it comes to, oh, say, weapons of mass destruction.
Posted by Leon at 6pm on 22.04.03
I’m sitting on the fence for this one: I cannot believe that Galloway, for all his faults, would do this. And, let’s face it, Galloway must be under pretty heavy surveillance from the authorities, and you’d think that they’d spot hundreds of thousands of pounds flowing out of Iraq into his bank accounts. But then the Telegraph must be pretty certain that their case will stand up in court and if, as they claim, the paper came across the documents by chance in a bombed-out building, you wonder why they would have been placed there if faked… after that you get into wild speculation - the Iraqis generating the docs for future blackmail purposes to keep George on side? MI6 smear in collusion with The Telegraph? Aliens?
Posted by Jack at 2pm on 23.04.03
he makes me laugh when he says IN-DEF-AT-IG-ABILITY…
Posted by brat at 11pm on 24.04.03
Think the most likely explanation is that someone in Iraq has been using George’s name to scam this money and he know’s nothing about it. One of the Guardian’s sources in Baghdad said as much the other day, and claimed to have known this has been going on for years.
Posted by pabulum at 12pm on 26.04.03
I guess that must be it, that or a full-on MI6 stitch-up - even The Sun’s editorial on this cast doubt on The Telegraph’s sources, and they’ve been calling George a commie scumbag traitor for years now…
Posted by Jack at 4pm on 26.04.03
Congratulations George!
Well done in America. They deserve everything you have thrown at them. How dare they accuse you in public without the right to reply.
THEY must think you are too dangerous to deal with in a proper court so they will attempt to discredit you with any means at all.
You were very impressive. YOU remind me of what a Labour MP used to stand for before Tony Blair.
Posted by colette at 9pm on 18.05.05
George Galloway may have escaped this time but he will be caught out in the end, I don’t trust him one little bit, he’s a nasty piece of work, I think all the violence, threats and vandals etc stired up by him and his so called ‘Respect’ party (ironic name considering it was the one thing his party did not show throughout the entire Election) was completley disgusting. There are alot of constituencys in the country that have strong muslim populations and no violence or vandalism was reported there. George is bad news through and through, the sooner he disappears the better!
Posted by Galloway hater at 11am on 14.10.05