Galloway hits back on US 'lies'

2005-05-17 20:32

Washington - Fiery British politician George Galloway vehemently denied on Tuesday ever receiving Iraqi oil kickbacks from Saddam Hussein's regime, as he faced down his accusers in the United States congress.

"I am not now, nor have I ever been an oil trader," Galloway told a congressional panel investigating the scandal-plagued United Nations oil-for-food programme, in a withering refutation of charges that he personally profited to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Galloway insisted the allegations against him were "utterly unsubstantiated and false".

"You have nothing on me... other than my name on lists... many of which have been drawn up after the installation of your puppet government in Baghdad," said the politician.

And, far from being an avid supporter of Saddam as his congressional accusers have alleged, he said he has been an active opponent of the regime.

'Mother of all smokescreens'

"I have a rather better record of opposition to Saddam Hussein than you do, and than any member of the British or American governments."

Galloway, 50, also dismissed the hearing by a subcommittee of US senate homeland security and government affairs as "the mother of all smokescreens", saying it deflected attention from US mis-steps in Iraq and that the US-led invasion was based on "a pack of lies".

The US committee said last week it had "detailed evidence" that, under the Saddam-era oil-for-food programme, Iraq gave 20 million barrels of oil in allocations to Galloway - charges he derisively swept aside on Tuesday.

Galloway made a special appearance before the panel to confront his congressional accusers.

Galloway said allegations against him were riddled with errors of fact. He said he has been targeted for his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war.

"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," he said.

The US congress has launched several simultaneous probes into alleged scandals at the UN-run programme, which is said to have paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to European politicians and lined Saddam's pockets.

Won damages from British newspaper

The senate panel said almost one-third of the oil allocations granted under the $64bn programme, which ran from 1996 to 2003, went to Russian parties or individuals, rather than for humanitarian relief.

Galloway won libel damages from a British newspaper last year after it made similar claims against him.

His scathing denunciation of the entire Iraq venture left some US congressmen squirming in their seats on Tuesday, particularly when he urged them to turn their investigations on US-led operations in Iraq.

"Have a look at the real oil for food scandal. Have a look at the 14 months you were in charge of Baghdad when $8.8bn of Iraq's wealth went missing on your watch," said Galloway.

- AFP