Galloway to face US critics on their home turf

[cal04]

Key points
• Galloway off to the USA to face accusers
• Fresh accusations and allegations have been levelled at the MP
• Lawyer of former Iraqi foreign minister is said to deny truth of allegations
Key quote
"...Mr Galloway will be brought to justice" - Senator Norm Coleman

GEORGE Galloway will mount a crusade to clear his name in the United States after American prosecutors confirmed they were considering a criminal investigation into allegations over his role in Iraq's oil-for-food scandal. Yesterday the US Justice Department appeared to have taken up the Respect MP's call to "bring on" a legal battle after reports that Mr Galloway had been referred to state, federal, and local prosecutors.

This follows the submission of a dossier from Senator Norm Coleman, the senior Republican, who was publicly humiliated when Mr Galloway gave him a verbal drubbing before his own committee in May. The documents purported to show funds being transferred from the Iraqi oil-for-food scheme through Fawaz Zureikat, a Jordanian businessman, into the account of Mr Galloway's estranged wife, Dr Amineh Abu-Zayyad, and the Marian Appeal, Mr Galloway's charity.

Also included are separate documents from the United Nations which identify additional payments to Dr Abu-Zayyad. Senator Coleman said at the weekend that he was "fairly confident Mr Galloway will be brought to justice" and that this would be the "final nail in the coffin". A US Justice Department spokesman confirmed the six allegations would be considered, saying: "We're obligated to investigate any potentially criminal matter brought to our attention, review it and take it from there." However, the prospect of a jury trial and prison sentence, if the perjury charges are proven, did not appear to faze Mr Galloway's supporters.

Ron McKay, his spokesman, insisted the former Glasgow MP would head to the United States in any case to face his critics directly. "We will be going to the States in the next few weeks, charges or not, to answer any questions head-on," Mr McKay told The Scotsman. The press officer, who was also implicated in the UN report, added the "evidence" against his boss centred around claims that his wife had benefited from the Iraqi regime, rather than Mr Galloway - a fact acknowledged by Senator Coleman, who still insists the MP would have known that his wife was in receipt of cheques from Mr Zureikat. This, Mr McKay claimed, was double standards.

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=2170662005

[henslee]

1. Galloway is nuts. Even if he has nothing to hide... they might ge t him

on some double secret probation technicality. They want his ass... they'd love to send a message to other rabble rousers.

[LiberalVoice]

5. They cant prove any of their lies.

So if he comes over here and tears a new one into our joke of a government then mor epower to him.

[merwin]

8. If they could have, they would have taken Galloway down long ago.

The Labour Party kicked him out, but he formed his own party and got voted right back in. He's an amazing man.

Also, to note, the same thing was tried against him in 1998 with another Iraq related corruption allegation... which flopped.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Galloway

[NanceGreggs]

2. Coleman -v- Galloway?

So Coleman is comin' back for MORE!!! What a masochist!!!!

:rofl:

[hlthe2b]

10. Now what was that "defiition of Insanity?""

repeating the same actions iver and over and expecting a different result? (or something to that effect)...

LOL

GOD, I so want Franken to burn Coleman's butt in his reelection bid. And, I want it to be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO humiliating!

[stillcool]

3. I certainly look forward to a repeat...

performance of his thrashing of Coleman. Perhaps he'll serve as an inspiration to others.

[daleo]

4. I look forward to some creative putdowns from Galloway

Coleman will be crying for his mommy.

[seasat]

6. They've been trying to frame Galloway since the war began

I'm not saying that Galloway is innocent because there is always the chance that he may have been corrupted but the last mud they slung against him turned out to be based on forged papers.

CS Monitor Story

On April 25, 2003, this newspaper ran a story about documents obtained in Iraq that alleged Saddam Hussein's regime had paid a British member of Parliament, George Galloway, $10 million over 11 years to promote its interests in the West.

An extensive Monitor investigation has subsequently determined that the six papers detailed in the April 25 piece are, in fact, almost certainly forgeries.

The Arabic text of the papers is inconsistent with known examples of Baghdad bureaucratic writing, and is replete with problematic language, says a leading US-based expert on Iraqi government documents. Signature lines and other format elements differ from genuine procedure.

The two "oldest" documents - dated 1992 and 1993 - were actually written within the past few months, according to a chemical analysis of their ink. The newest document - dated 2003 - appears to have been written at approximately the same time.

It seems awful fishy that they tried this before with forged documents and fortunately the CS Monitor had them authenicated. It seems that a lot of former Iraqi officials were selling forged documents to scam some money. However, I think these sounded like more of a plant.Now Normie wouldn't have dug up these same documents in his report to attack Galloway, would he?

[yellowcanine]

7. Coleman STILL doesn't have the cojones to repeat his slander of Galloway

off the Senate floor where he would be open to a civil suit.

[howmad1]

9. Tell Coleman to start packing.

Courtesy of Senator Al Franken. :kick:

[Democat]

11. The U.S. media will always side with Republicans

Galloway will come out looking bad because Coleman and his party control the U.S. media.

[Up2Late]

12. When did Norm Coleman become a "...senior Republican...?"

Isn't this his first term?

I can't wait, I can't believe Colman wants another trashing like he got before. What an idiot.