all over the news here; your opinions?

C

chewie_nz

Banned
George Galloway had vowed to give US senators "both barrels" and after sitting - coiled - through an hour-and-half of testimony against him, he unloaded all his ammunition.

Far from displaying the forelock-tugging deference to which senators are accustomed, Mr Galloway went on the attack.

He rubbished committee chairman Norm Coleman's dossier of evidence and stared him in the eye.

"Now I know that standards have slipped over the last few years in Washington, but for a lawyer, you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice," the MP declared.

The whole room scanned Mr Coleman's face for a reaction. The senator shifted in his seat - nervously it seemed.

It was the first time a British politician had been interrogated as a hostile witness at the US Senate - but Mr Galloway cast himself not as the accused, but the accuser.

On stage at the heart of American power, he attacked the US-led war on Iraq and accused Washington of installing a "puppet" regime there.

'Lions' den'

The Scotsman launched into his opening statement with relish.

He had never received any money or any allocations of oil from Iraq. He was not, as the committee alleged, a supporter of Saddam Hussein.

"I have a rather better record of opposition to Saddam Hussein than you do, and than any member of the British or American governments do," he told the committee.

Mr Galloway had expected to testify before a panel of 13 senators in what he termed their "lions' den".

But he faced off against just two, Mr Coleman and Democratic counterpart Carl Levin.

It was Republican Mr Coleman who bore the brunt of the attack in one of the Senate's most flamboyant confrontations.

"Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong," he told the chairman, whom he labelled a "neo-con, pro-war hawk".

Mr Coleman tried desperately to take it without emotion, but at one point could not resist breaking in to a smile.

'He's no lyncher'

In the face of Mr Galloway's refusal to accept anything the senators were claiming might be true, they tried to establish a link between a Jordanian businessman who they believe received oil allocations from Saddam Hussein, and Mr Galloway's children's charity.

Mr Galloway said the businessman had given money to the charity but he, Mr Galloway, had never known where it came from.

The senators believe that it came from Iraq, but they could come up with no proof and their questions ended.

Senator Levin later said he was "deeply troubled" that Mr Galloway had "ducked the question".

But it was Mr Galloway who looked most satisfied as he left the vast, wood-panelled committee room.

Outside in a corridor he told reporters he thought he had put the committee on the ropes, saying of Mr Coleman: "He's not much of a lyncher."

The senators, however, were playing down the confrontation.

'A knockout'

"This was not a wrestling match," Mr Coleman protested. "It wasn't a contest."

Asked his reaction to the "unusual" manner of the witness, he replied: "I was not offended by what he had to say, it was not relevant.

"The theatre, the dramatics - I was not looking at that. I had one goal and it was to make a record."

The pundits disagreed. One observer of Capitol Hill politics declared the result: "Galloway by a knockout - before round five."

Others cast the confrontation as Braveheart on Capitol Hill.

But though he left the building professing himself satisfied with his trip to Washington, only time will tell whether Mr Galloway has blown away the allegations he described as the "mother of all smokescreens".

Mr Coleman said he didn't think Mr Galloway had been a "credible witness". If it was found he had lied under oath, there would be "consequences", he said.
Click to expand...


i gotta say it was some of the most impressive formation of anger into coherant words i have ever seen....and i loved every minute of it!
 
Hehe I have read a little about this guy, he seems well liked and a little ecentric but I think he chose the right option in attacking first.

I like how some reports are comparing this sort of thing to McCathyism.
 
Britain's Galloway Turns Into Media Hero

Thursday May 19, 2005 8:31 PM


AP Photo LLP117

By JILL LAWLESS

Associated Press Writer

LONDON (AP) - There is usually no love lost between George Galloway and the British press.

But after the maverick lawmaker's blistering performance before a U.S. Senate committee this week in which he excoriated the Bush administration over Iraq, not even his biggest critics could contain their grudging admiration.

``Galloway: the man who took on America,'' ran a headline in The Independent newspaper on Thursday.

Galloway's combative appearance Tuesday before senators who accused him of taking kickbacks from Saddam Hussein enhanced his status as folk hero among his supporters.

The lawmaker is known, even in the highly articulate world of British politics, for his memorable turns of phrase. On Tuesday, he called the panel of senators a ``lickspittle Republican committee'' and accused them of ``the mother of all smoke screens.''

Upon his return Wednesday, he was given a standing ovation by hundreds of people at a rally in London.

``He blasted the whole of the U.S. Senate,'' said Abdul Khaliq Mian, a member of Respect, the anti-war party founded by Galloway.

Galloway's no-holds-barred testimony won widespread praise in a country where many accuse Prime Minister Tony Blair's government of taking a supine approach to relations with the United States.

``In one hour, George Galloway has shown how to do what a succession of British ministers ... have conspicuously failed to do: to stand up to American bullying and mendacity,'' reader Andy Bailey wrote in a letter to the editor of the Guardian.

Last week, the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs investigation subcommittee released documents that it said showed that Galloway and other international figures received valuable oil allocations - in Galloway's case, allegedly 20 million barrels' worth between 2000 and 2003 - from Saddam as a reward for opposition to U.N. sanctions on Iraq.

In his testimony in Washington, Galloway vehemently denied the accusations and accused the committee of maligning him before giving him a chance to defend himself.

``Now I know that standards have slipped over the last few years in Washington, but for a lawyer, you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice,'' Galloway told committee chairman Sen. Norm Coleman.

Even observers skeptical of Galloway's belligerent manner and talent for self-promotion acknowledged the skill of his hard-hitting attack.

The Times marveled at Galloway's ``gift of the Glasgow gab, a love of the stage and an inexhaustible fund of self-belief.''

Galloway's testimony was also picked up by the Arab press, with Egypt's pro-government Al-Ahram newspaper giving front-page treatment to his declaration that he had met Saddam ``exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld.''

A former factory worker and amateur boxer, the pugnacious Glaswegian nicknamed ``Gorgeous George'' has spent decades honing his man-of-the-people image.

In 1994 he told Saddam: ``Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability.'' Galloway later said he had been referring to the Iraqi people, not their leader.

As a left-leaning Labour legislator, he opposed sanctions and then military action against Iraq. He was expelled from the party in 2003 after urging British soldiers not to fight.

He responded by launching his anti-war party and running again for Parliament, unseating Labour lawmaker Oona King in the London constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow on May 5.

``I think I won the battle of public opinion and I am going to continue my work,'' Galloway told The Associated Press on Wednesday. ``My battle continues to try and force the British government to withdraw our soldiers from Iraq, where they should never have been, where too many have been killed and where they are in grave danger.''


http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5017516,00.html

here's a stream of the senate interview

http://flow.mediavac.com/ramgen/sinkers/2005/dirksen_bldgMay1705.rm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Galloway
 
god i hate this guy, but credit to him he gave them a good seeing to, when he`s in full flight he`s a very good orator
 
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