The Hindu : International : Galloway turns the tables on U.S. Senators

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Thursday, May 19, 2005

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International

Galloway turns the tables on U.S. Senators

Julian Borger

I am putting my inquisitors on trial, says British MP

George Galloway

WASHINGTON: The British MP confronted his accusers in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, denying he had traded Iraqi oil before the war and using his testimony to unleash an indictment of the invasion in one of the most heated exchanges Congress has witnessed in many years.

Mr. Galloway, the newly-elected MP for the east London constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow, was appearing before the Senate investigations sub-committee examining sanctions-busting oil deals in Iraq before the war.

Indictment

Senator Norm Coleman, the committee chairman has taken the lead in making allegations against Mr. Galloway. He read out an indictment of Mr. Galloway, recalling praise the Scottish politician had addressed to Saddam Hussein in the 1990s, saluting ``your courage, your strength, your indefatigability''.

Then it was Mr. Galloway's turn and any sense of judicial propriety was instantly shattered. The courtroom became a vaudeville theatre, as the MP lampooned his interrogators, particularly Mr. Coleman.

Mr. Galloway insisted that he was entirely innocent. He entered the hearing room with guns blazing, telling journalists his inquisitors were ``crazed'', ``pro-war'', ``lickspittles'' of the President, and predicting he would turn the tables on them.

``I want to put these people on trial. This group of neo-cons is involved in the mother of smokescreens,'' he said.

He said that 100,000 people had paid with their lives for the mistaken intelligence on Iraq.In their cross-examination, the senators focused on Mr. Galloway's relationship with Fawaz Zureikat, the chairman of Mr. Galloway's charity, Mariam's Appeal, and one of its biggest contributors, arguing that the MP must have known about Mr. Zureikat's oil trading in his name. Once more, the accused tried to turn the tables on his accusers. When Mr. Coleman asked how he could have failed to be aware of Mr. Zureikat's oil deals, Mr. Galloway turned the attention to Mr Coleman's campaign fundraising.

``I've checked your website. There are lots of contributors to your political campaign funds, I don't suppose you ask any of them how they made the money they give you,'' Mr. Galloway said. The interrogation continued another few minutes before the Senators gave up, frustrated.

They had come equipped for a trial and found themselves in the role of stooges for a man accustomed to playing to the gallery. —

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