Respect MP George Galloway is in Washington today to confront a Senate committee accusing him of profiting illicitly from Iraq’s oil-for-food program.
from Reuters: Pursued by a crowd of British journalists, Galloway arrived at the hearing just minutes before it began reviewing testimony aimed at exposing corruption in the now-defunct U.N. scheme.
“This group of neocons is involved in the mother of all smokescreens,” he said of the committee. “I want to turn the tables on this neo-con, pro-Israel, pro-war, Republican lynch mob.”
Galloway was the last witness at the hearing of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that is examining how ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein used oil to reward politicians, particularly from Russia, France and Britain, under the humanitarian oil-for-food program.
Galloway, a maverick kicked out of the Labour Party for his fervent opposition to the Iraq war and for personal attacks on Prime Minister Tony Blair, has dismissed allegations by the committee that he benefited from the program.
To summarize, Republicans in the U.S. Senate are accusing one of Britain’s most liberal and outspoken anti-war voices of “insider trading” with Iraq. Hmmm…this sounds an awful lot like accusing John Kerry of dishonoring his country, when in fact he served his country during the Vietnam debacle, unlike the sitting President and V.P.
I’m sure this story will lead the 6:00 “news” this evening, and all will be understood. Yeah, right.