i wished i could have seen this live. its about time somebody kicked some neo-con ass around washington.
source
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A maverick British lawmaker angrily rejected on Tuesday as "utterly preposterous" charges by the U.S. Congress that he profited from the Iraq oil-for-food program and used the hearing as a platform to attack the U.S.-led invasion.
Far from showing the usual deference of witnesses before Congress, British MP George Galloway defiantly told a Senate committee its evidence against him was false, condemned the investigation and demanded to know why it had not questioned him first before making the allegations.
The east London Member of Parliament appeared before the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is examining how Saddam used oil to reward politicians, particularly from Russia, France and Britain, under the U.N.'s oil-for-food program. As the sharp exchange unfolded, the mood in the packed room was electric with occasional snickers from the audience at Galloway's jibes at the senators.
Galloway bluntly confronted the Republican chairman of the committee, Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, and challenged the attorney to back up claims the British MP profited handsomely from the now defunct program. Some of his harshest remarks concerned Coleman's support for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that ousted President Saddam Hussein.
"Now I know that standards have slipped over the last few years in Washington, but for a lawyer, you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice," Galloway said.
Galloway accused Coleman of sullying his reputation and falsely asserting that he gave money to Saddam. "You call that justice?" he asked, adding later: "This is utterly preposterous."
The MP told reporters later he felt Coleman had failed in his cross-examination. "He's not much of a lyncher," he said.
Coleman, in turn, said afterward he did not think Galloway was a "credible witness" and that if he lied to the committee there would be consequences.
A maverick kicked out of the British Labour Party for his fervent opposition to the Iraq war and for personal attacks on Prime Minister Tony Blair, Galloway used the opportunity to criticize the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
"Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong, and 100,000 people have paid with their lives -- 1,600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies," he said.
DOCUMENTS
Coleman, who did not respond to Galloway's criticism, stuck to questions over the MP's dealings in Iraq and quizzed him over Iraqi Oil Ministry documents the senator said showed he received oil allocations.
"Senior Iraqi officials have confirmed that you, in fact, received oil allocations and that the documents that identify you as an allocation recipient are valid," said Coleman, urging Galloway to provide evidence to the contrary.
The committee released documents it said showed Saddam gave Galloway the rights to export 20 million barrels of oil under the defunct humanitarian program.
Former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, now a French senator, also was named as getting vouchers for 11 million barrels. Pasqua, who also denied the allegations, was not at the hearing.
The U.N. oil-for-food program, which began in late 1996 and ended in 2003, was aimed at easing the impact of sanctions imposed after Saddam's troops invaded Kuwait in 1990.
Mark Greenblatt, legal counsel on the committee, told senators Galloway had used his cancer charity "Mariam's Appeal" to conceal these allocations and provided several Oil Ministry documents referring to the charity. Galloway denied this.
Greenblatt said a senior Iraqi official interviewed by the committee's investigators again in Baghdad on Monday, had confirmed allegations against Galloway and authenticated Iraqi oil ministry documents.
Baghdad was allowed to sell oil to buy basic goods and could negotiate its own contracts, but the program has been dogged by allegations of massive fraud and charges Saddam used it to buy influence in the West.
Coleman's panel also gave details about Iraqi oil allocations to Russia's presidential council, which advises President Vladimir Putin. Senate investigators said there was no evidence Putin knew of the payments.
A report released on Monday said Saddam's government provided Putin's former chief of staff, Alexander Voloshin, and the council with oil rights worth nearly $3 million in exchange for support to lift U.N. sanctions against Iraq imposed in August 1990 after the invasion of Kuwait.
The committee also said 75 million barrels of oil were allocated to Vladimir Zhirinovsky, an ultranationalist Russian parliamentarian who made frequent visits to Iraq, or his political party.
