May 17, 2005
British Lawmaker Denies That He Diverted Oil-for-Food Money
By BRIAN KNOWLTON International Herald Tribune
WASHINGTON, May 17 - In an unusual appearance today before a Senate subcommittee, a British lawmaker vehemently denied any role in diverting money from the United Nations oil-for-food program and bitterly condemned the Iraq war, saying that the Bush administration built it around "a pack of lies" and now sought to divert attention with "the mother of all smokescreens."
The member of Parliament, George Galloway, seemed to catch the panel off guard with his intensely delivered denials of accusations that Iraqi officials had given him the right to export 20 million barrels of oil as part of a secret Baghdad initiative to enlist international politicians to support Iraq before the Security Council....
The vitriolic tone used by Mr. Galloway was rare for a witness in a Senate hearing. ...
The subcommittee's chairman, Senator Norm Coleman, Republican of Minnesota, seemed a bit taken aback by the intensity of Mr. Galloway's remarks, stumbling over some questions, or demanding "yes" or "no" answers, which the British lawmaker refused to give. ...
Mr. Coleman later told reporters he did not consider Mr. Galloway "a credible witness." ...
The unapologetic Mr. Galloway put a dramatic face on a scandal that has been largely bogged down in the arcane details of diverted oil shipments, translated documents, shadowy go-betweens and questionable payments.
"The biggest sanctions busters were not me or Russian politicians or French politicians," he said, "the real sanctions busters were your own companies with the connivance of your own government."
Mr. Galloway denied having received any money from the scheme.
"What counts is, where's the money, senator?" he said. "Who paid me hundreds of thousands of dollars? The answer to that is nobody."
As he spoke he fixed an unwavering glare in Mr. Coleman's direction.
One Republican senator, Robert F. Bennett of Utah, defended the philosophy behind the oil-for-food program, and the United States' participation in it.
"The efforts on behalf of the United States to help the people of Iraq have been well placed and should be applauded rather than attacked," he said.
But Mr. Galloway said the accusations seemed politically driven. Those linked by the report to the scandal, Mr. Galloway said, had one thing in common: "They all stood against the policies of sanctions and war which you vociferously prosecuted and which has led us to this disaster."
His own position on the war, he said, was clear.
"I gave my heart and soul to oppose the policy that you promoted," he said, still looking at Mr. Coleman. "I gave my political life's blood to try to stop the mass killing of Iraqis by the sanctions on Iraq, which killed a million Iraqis, most of them children." ...
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/17/international/europe/17cnd-food.html?hp>
Carl