quote:

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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.

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If you're interested in watching video of his testimony (under oath, mind you) go here. The section with Gorgeous George is about 2 hours into the Real Player file linked to towards the bottom of that page. It's really pretty awesome.
 

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Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
 
It was absolutely fantastic. Galloway is certainly crooked in some form or other, but it was a great performance from him all the same. The cracks about Rumsfeld meeting Saddam, and Coleman's own campaign contributors, were brilliant. No wonder only two members of the subcommittee stayed around to hear his testimony.

Of course, it's all a sideshow really. The main targets of this investigation are Russian and French officials involved in the Oil For Food programme, as well as the UN in general and Kofi Annan in particular. It's just sanctioned UN-bashing. Bit odd that one of the opening broadsides in the campaign would be to accuse Gorgeous George of - surreally - giving money TO Iraq!

(I also saw a bit of Fox News' coverage of the hearing, they seemed determined to report as little of what Galloway actually said and just pass it off to ranting on his behalf!)
 

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
Wow. I don't know if I've ever seen a person so civilly tear someone a new one like that.

Though, he could have rivalled some of our best politicians in term of evasiveness during Levin's questioning.
 

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Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
I cant imagine this actually reaching Kofi Annan directly- though it happened on his watch, he's said he wont consider stepping down over this.

I'm actually suprised that this investigation has gotten to this stage at all- it moved with glacial slowness for months.

Good show though on Galloway's part- good use of "utterly preposterous". I dont think I've ever heard anyone actually say that aloud.

I really wish I'd seen Fox's "coverage" of this.
It must not have been nore than a recap with no video footage.

I dont know how they plan on "going after" the Russian and French suspects- at best the investigation will show that Saddam used money to bribe those officials into opposing the US's (flimsy) case for invasion.

It'd be a laugh if they call Saddam to testify- what would he say?
 

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
"Hello! I'm Saddam Hussein. You may remember me from such wars as Iran-Iraq and Persian Gulf I..."
 

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Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
 
I've heard that the US press is giving the Rumsfeld gag a lot less coverage that one would think it'd be due, is this correct?
 

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
Probably. What's the Rumsfeld gag?
 

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Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
 
The bit where Coleman mentions that Galloway has met Saddam Hussein, and George ripostes that he's met Saddam the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld - twice, and he at least was there to discuss humanitarian matters while Rumsfeld was there to sell guns, and maps to target those guns.
 

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
Oh, that. I don't know how much coverage it's actually getting, but I wouldn't have expected any, anyway, knowing what our media are like.
 

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Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
 
Curse that liberal media elite!
 

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
Our local big paper (the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) is often accused (by conservatives, I'm sure) of being too liberal. So, of course, when Rick Santorum, on the Senate floor, compared Democrats to Hitler, the headline was "Both Sides Invoke Racial Politics in Fight over Filibuster in Senate".
 

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Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
Niiie.

Here.
Brighten your day.
 

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Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
 
Senate debates should be governed by Godwin's Law, and whoever breaks it dragged outside and shot. Most aren't that long anyway.
 

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Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
How about basing them on Occam's Razor instead to expidite things?
 

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