The MP did it, in the kitchen, with the Iraqi Intelligence Agent

[Sirotnikov]

So, do you believe the Daily Telegraph's claims about Britains' most colorful and pro-Iraqi MP?


(I know I do.)

[The Emperor Fabulous]

...ummm..........sorry?

[Sirotnikov]

To quote the sources:

Galloway was in Saddam's pay, say secret Iraqi documents
By David Blair in Baghdad
(Filed: 22/04/2003)

George Galloway, the Labour backbencher, received money from Saddam Hussein's regime, taking a slice of oil earnings worth at least £375,000 a year, according to Iraqi intelligence documents found by The Daily Telegraph in Baghdad.

A confidential memorandum sent to Saddam by his spy chief said that Mr Galloway asked an agent of the Mukhabarat secret service for a greater cut of Iraq's exports under the oil for food programme.


George Galloway: 'I have never in my life seen a barrel of oil, let alone owned, bought or sold one'
He also said that Mr Galloway was profiting from food contracts and sought "exceptional" business deals. Mr Galloway has always denied receiving any financial assistance from Baghdad.

Asked to explain the document, he said yesterday: "Maybe it is the product of the same forgers who forged so many other things in this whole Iraq picture. Maybe The Daily Telegraph forged it. Who knows?"

When the letter from the head of the Iraqi intelligence service was read to him, he said: "The truth is I have never met, to the best of my knowledge, any member of Iraqi intelligence. I have never in my life seen a barrel of oil, let alone owned, bought or sold one."

In the papers, which were found in the looted foreign ministry, Iraqi intelligence continually stresses the need for secrecy about Mr Galloway's alleged business links with the regime. One memo says that payments to him must be made under "commercial cover".

For more than a decade, Mr Galloway, MP for Glasgow Kelvin, has been the leading critic of Anglo-American policy towards Iraq, campaigning against sanctions and the war that toppled Saddam.

He led the Mariam Appeal, named after an Iraqi child he flew to Britain for leukaemia treatment. The campaign was the supposed beneficiary of his fund-raising.

But the papers say that, behind the scenes, Mr Galloway was conducting a relationship with Iraqi intelligence. Among documents found in the foreign ministry was a memorandum from the chief of the Mukhabarat to Saddam's office on Jan 3, 2000, marked "Confidential and Personal".

It purported to outline talks between Mr Galloway and an Iraqi spy. During the meeting on Boxing Day 1999, Mr Galloway detailed his campaign plans for the year ahead.

The spy chief wrote that Mr Galloway told the Mukhabarat agent: "He [Galloway] needs continuous financial support from Iraq. He obtained through Mr Tariq Aziz [deputy prime minister] three million barrels of oil every six months, according to the oil for food programme. His share would be only between 10 and 15 cents per barrel."

Iraq's oil sales, administered by the United Nations, were intended to pay for only essential humanitarian supplies. If the memo was accurate, Mr Galloway's share would have amounted to about £375,000 per year.

The documents say that Mr Galloway entered into partnership with a named Iraqi oil broker to sell the oil on the international market.

The memorandum continues: "He [Galloway] also obtained a limited number of food contracts with the ministry of trade. The percentage of its profits does not go above one per cent."

The Iraqi spy chief, whose illegible signature appears at the bottom of the memorandum, says that Mr Galloway asked for more money.

"He suggested to us the following: first, increase his share of oil; second, grant him exceptional commercial and contractual facilities." The spy chief, who is not named, recommends acceptance of the proposals.

Mr Galloway's intermediary in Iraq was Fawaz Zureikat, a Jordanian. In a letter found in one foreign ministry file, Mr Galloway wrote: "This is to certify that Mr Fawaz A Zureikat is my representative in Baghdad on all matters concerning my work with the Mariam Appeal or the Emergency Committee in Iraq."

The intelligence chief's memorandum describes a meeting with Mr Zureikat in which he said that Mr Galloway's campaigning on behalf of Iraq was putting "his future as a British MP in a circle surrounded by many question marks and doubts".

Mr Zureikat is then quoted as saying: "His projects and future plans for the benefit of the country need financial support to become a motive for him to do more work and, because of the sensitivity of getting money directly from Iraq, it is necessary to grant him oil contracts and special and exceptional commercial opportunities to provide him with an income under commercial cover, without being connected to him directly."

Mr Zureikat is said to have emphasised that the "name of Mr Galloway or his wife should not be mentioned".

Memo from Saddam: We can't afford to pay Galloway more
By David Blair in Baghdad
(Filed: 23/04/2003)

Saddam Hussein rejected a request from George Galloway for more money, saying that the Labour backbencher's "exceptional" demands were not affordable, according to an official document found by The Daily Telegraph in Baghdad.

The letter from Saddam's most senior aide was sent in response to Mr Galloway's reported demand for additional funds. This was outlined in a memorandum from the Iraqi intelligence chief disclosed yesterday in The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Galloway denies receiving any money from the regime. He claims that any documents purporting to show this are forgeries planted by western intelligence agencies to try to discredit him.

The latest document purported to convey a personal decision from Saddam and was circulated to four of the most senior figures in the former regime, including Tariq Aziz, the deputy prime minister. It indicates that Mr Galloway's affairs were discussed at the highest level.

Its disclosure, if accurate, shows that there were limits to Mr Galloway's success in wresting commercial opportunities from Iraq. But it adds to the impression that he was working closely with the most senior apparatchiks of a regime that he repeatedly professed to oppose.

The letter, which was found in the files of the foreign ministry, was dated May 2, 2000, and marked "Confidential and Personal". It refers to the date and reference number of the intelligence chief's memo, which specifically asked for Saddam's decision on Mr Galloway's alleged requests.

The letter opens by saying that "Mr President, our leader, God bless him", was ordering a committee to look into the matter. The committee's members were the recipients of the letter and read like a who's who of the elite of the Saddam regime.

Taha Yassin Ramadan, the vice-president, Izzat Ibrahim, Saddam's deputy on the Ba'ath Party's Revolutionary Command Council, Ali Hassan al-Majid, a senior general who ordered gas attacks on Kurdish villages, and Mr Aziz were all included.

So was Mohammed Said al-Sahaf, then foreign minister, who was later nicknamed "Comical Ali" when he served as the ever-optimistic information minister.

But Saddam pre-empted any conclusions that the committee might have reached. Referring to Mr Galloway in the dictator's familiar idiom as the man "promoting the right path", the letter says: "The belief is that . . . even using western methods [he] needs exceptional support which we cannot afford and I do not think we can promise to do that if we consider it according to our policy. Please act and let us be informed."

The letter is signed by Gen Abid Hamid al-Khattab, of the president's secretariat. Gen al-Khattab ran Saddam's private office and was included in the handful of officials who had constant access to him.

He was widely viewed as one of the most powerful figures in Iraq. A copy of the letter was sent to the foreign minister, Mr Sahaf, hence its presence in the foreign ministry files. It was found in the same pale blue folder, stamped with the Iraqi eagle, as the intelligence chief's memorandum.

Saddam was rejecting two specific requests allegedly made by Mr Galloway, as recorded in the intelligence chief's memorandum. The first was for a greater share of the profits from oil exports.

The memorandum said that Mr Galloway was already receiving between 10 and 15 cents per barrel of three million barrels exported every six months: an annual sum of at least £375,000.

Mr Galloway's second reported request was for "exceptional commercial and contractual" opportunities with three ministries and the state electricity commission. These requests for more sources of income fell on deaf ears, but Saddam's decision not to allow them did not apply to Mr Galloway's existing deals.

Before Saddam issued his rejection, Mr Galloway sent his "work programme" for 2000 to Mr Aziz. Saddam's office had approved it and Mr Aziz passed the document to four cabinet ministers and the intelligence chief.

• George Galloway was in Baghdad in the weeks before Iraqi foreign ministry papers say he met one of Saddam Hussein's representatives and discussed money.

Mr Galloway arrived in Baghdad in November 1999 with a red London double- decker bus on a high-profile visit to deliver medical supplies for those suffering in Iraq under sanctions.

Among documents found in Iraq's foreign ministry this week was a memo from the country's secret service to Saddam's office outlining talks between the MP and an agent on Boxing Day 1999, during which Mr Galloway is alleged to have said he needed "continuous support from Iraq".

The MP has told this newspaper that the meeting did not take place but said he did spend one Christmas in Iraq, but could not be sure which one

How Saddam tried to cover up Galloway's links with regime
By David Blair in Baghdad
(Filed: 24/04/2003)

Saddam Hussein sought to protect George Galloway by severing the Iraqi intelligence service's contacts with the Labour backbencher, according to an official document found by The Daily Telegraph in Baghdad.

This letter, found in the files of the Iraqi foreign ministry, explained that any disclosure of Mr Galloway's "relationship" with the Mukhabarat, which operated as both secret police and intelligence service, would do great harm to his political career.

A letter from Izzat Ibrahim, Saddam's deputy on the Ba'ath Party's Revolutionary Command Council, dated May 6, 2000 stated that: "It is better not to engage the Mukhabarat in the relationship with George Galloway, as he has been a well known politician since 1990, and discovery of his relationship with the Mukhabarat would damage him very much."

The Ibrahim memorandum emerged from a high-level committee established to examine Mr Galloway's alleged request for more money, conveyed in the Mukhabarat chief's memorandum disclosed in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.

That suggested that the MP was receiving an annual sum of not less than £375,000 from the regime.

Mr Galloway denies taking money from Saddam's regime and says that any documents purporting to show this are forgeries planted by Western intelligence agencies with the aim of discrediting him.

The latest disclosure appears to confirm that Mr Galloway was working closely with powerful figures at the apex of Saddam's regime.

Four other senior Iraqis sat on the Galloway committee - Taha Yassin Ramadan, the vice-president, Ali Hassan al-Majid, a notorious general widely known as "Chemical Ali" for ordering gas attacks on Kurdish villages, Tariq Aziz, the deputy prime minister, and Mohammed Said al-Sahaf, then foreign minister, later the remorselessly optimistic information minister during the recent war.

In a letter, disclosed in The Daily Telegraph yesterday, Saddam ordered this group to reject Mr Galloway's alleged request for further funds.

But the committee agreed that "cooperation with George Galloway about the oil contracts and other commercial contracts" should continue "according to the rules as they stand now".

According to the Mukhabarat chief's memorandum, on Boxing Day, 1999, Mr Galloway met an Iraqi intelligence agent in Baghdad and laid out his demands for a larger slice of the revenue from the sale of three million barrels of oil every six months.

Mr Galloway's share reportedly stood at between 10 and 15 cents a barrel.

Mr Galloway was also recorded as asking for "exceptional" commercial opportunities with three Iraqi government ministries and the State Electricity Commission.

Saddam rejected these alleged requests for more money, explaining that they were unaffordable.

But apparently mindful of the risks that Mr Galloway would have been running by dealing so closely with his regime, agreed that the Mukhabarat was no longer the best point of contact with the British MP.

Saddam endorsed the suggestion to cut the Mukhabarat out of the circle on May 9, 2000, three days after Mr Ibrahim's report.

A letter from Gen Abid Hamid al-Khattab, the head of the President's Secretariat, conveyed Saddam's endorsement of everything in Mr Ibrahim's earlier message. This letter was copied to Mr Sahaf and filed in the foreign ministry.

It was also copied to the chief of the Mukhabarat, presumably to inform him that his alleged dealings with Mr Galloway would have to end.

The picture given by these documents is of Mr Galloway's affairs being sufficiently important to merit consideration by men at the very pinnacle of Saddam's regime.

[Lord Merciless]

If this is true, it will destroy the Labor party's anti-war wing.

[Frozzy]

I'll believe Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf before I believe the Daily Telegraph.

[Urban Ranger]

This is precious:

according to an official document found by The Daily Telegraph in Baghdad.

Like wow, man!

[FrustratedPoet]

The building they found it in had been incinerated too.

Galloway's an *******, but I don't trust the Torygraph at all.

[Dauphin]

I don't trust the source (burnt Baghdad building), and I don't trust the Telegraph that much. The Telegraph must *know* something though - they have refused to pull the story rather choosing to stand by it. Galloway, who was very vocal when the news broke, has retreated from interview. He appears guilty of something, but of what is the question.

The media piece on the BBC didn't help him. They showed a clip of him in 1994 praising Saddam for his "courage, strength and indefatigability", and then showed the rally earlier this year where he condemned Blair and Bush as "murderers". Unfair really.

[Tolls]

"If this is true, it will destroy the Labor party's anti-war wing."

I doubt it. Galloway may have been vocal, but most people tried to keep him at a distance since he's also a nut.

"Galloway, who was very vocal when the news broke, has retreated from interview."

I don't know about that...he was on the radio this morning (Today Program?) saying he will release his financial documents for the court to decide, and saying that the Telegraph were stalling in handing over copies of the documents they say show his guilt.

I doubt he's done anything quite so stupid, but as I said above, he's a nut, so anything's possible.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Tolls
I don't know about that...he was on the radio this morning (Today Program?)

He's spoken out again? OK, I checked three news websites this morning and they had said he was unavailable for comment.

[Tolls]

He was definitely on the radio this morning when I got into work.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Big Crunch
and then showed the rally earlier this year where he condemned Blair and Bush as "murderers". Unfair really.

Starting a war to *cough* disarm *cough* Iraq, when no NBC weapons have been found so far, with lots of dead Iraqi civilians.

[*End Is Forever*]

I think he's guilty. More keeps coming out day by day, and even the Guardian praised the Telegraph's report as "quite a scoop" or something similar.

It's such a serious accusation, and it's been followed up for three days now; there's no way they'd keep going if they weren't confident of their sources.

Anyway, guilty or not, Galloway sure looks like a fool. He's had to answer accusations of all sorts... a supposedly hard-left socialist saying that his house is worth "only half a million" hardly enhances his credibility to his "supporters". He also denied he owned an expensive home in Glasgow... by admitting that he didn't actually own a house within 500 miles of the constituency he's supposed to be representing!

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by *End Is Forever*
He also denied he owned an expensive home in Glasgow... by admitting that he didn't actually own a house within 500 miles of the constituency he's supposed to be representing!

Also, it's election time in his constituency soon and he's spent several weeks in a Portuguese villa writing some book to further his own ego. What a ****.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


Starting a war to *cough* disarm *cough* Iraq, when no NBC weapons have been found so far, with lots of dead Iraqi civilians.

Splitting a comparative statement loses its point.