Galloway versus Coleman

For people who have requested a way to listen to George Galloway's remarks before Senator Norm Coleman's Subcommittee on Investigations, I am temporarily posting this mp3 file recorded from Air America:

George Galloway/Al Franken clip (mp3 audio, 9 min, 4.3MB)

Update (17:10): Crooks & Liars has audio and video posted

A partial transcript of George Galloway's remarks follows...

GEORGE GALLOWAY: Now, Senator, I gave my heart and soul to oppose the policy that you promoted. I gave my political life's blood to try to stop the mass killing of Iraqis by the sanctions on Iraq which killed one million Iraqis, most of them children, most of them died before they even knew that they were Iraqis, but they died for no other reason other than that they were Iraqis with the misfortune to born at that time.

I gave my heart and soul to stop you committing the disaster that you did commit in invading Iraq. And I told the world that your case for war was a pack of lies. I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims, that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al Qaeda. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11, 2001. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist an American invasion of their country, and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.

Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right, and you turned out to be wrong. And a hundred thousand people have paid with their lives. Sixteen hundred of them American soldiers -- sent to their deaths on a pack of lies. Fifteen thousand of them wounded, many of them disabled forever -- on a pack of lies.

If the world had listened to Kofi Annan, whose dismissal you demanded, if the world had listened to President Chirac, who you want to paint as some kind of corrupt traitor, if the world had listened to me and the anti-war movement in Britain, we would not be in the disaster we are in today.

Senator, this is the mother of all smokescreens. You are trying to divert attention from the crimes that you supported, from the theft of billions of dollars of Iraq's wealth. Have a look at the real Oil-for-Food scandal. Have a look at the 14 months you were in charge of Baghdad -- the first 14 months -- when 8.8 billion dollars of Iraq's wealth went missing -- on your watch. Have a look at Halliburton and the other American corporations, that stole not only Iraq's money, but the money of the American taxpayer. Have a look at the oil that you didn't even meter, that you were shipping out of the country and selling, the proceeds of which went, who knows where. Have a look at the 800 million dollars that you gave to military commanders to hand out around the country without even counting it, or weighing it. Have a look at the real scandal, breaking in the newspapers today, revealed in the earlier testimony in this committee, that the biggest sanctions busters were not me, or Russian politicians, or French politicians -- the real sanctions busters were your own companies, with the connivance of your own government.

Right on. This is the meatiest portion of Galloway's appearance. Prior to what is printed here, he did a fine job of demolishing the allegations against him that he profited from oil allocations given him by Saddam Hussein. The ``new'' evidence Coleman has is shown to be recycled versions of documents already known to be forgeries, and uncorroborated statements by a US prisoner from the old Iraqi regime, Dahar Yassein Ramadan, whose treatment at Abu Ghraib Prison is shrouded in secrecy, and who faces a death sentence.

Meanwhile, here is a print reference to today's breaking story Galloway mentions:

US 'backed illegal Iraqi oil deals': Report claims blind eye was turned to sanctions busting by American firms

Julian Borger and Jamie Wilson in Washington
Tuesday May 17, 2005
The Guardian

The United States administration turned a blind eye to extensive sanctions-busting in the prewar sale of Iraqi oil, according to a new Senate investigation.

A report released last night by Democratic staff on a Senate investigations committee presents documentary evidence that the Bush administration was made aware of illegal oil sales and kickbacks paid to the Saddam Hussein regime but did nothing to stop them.

The audio file also includes some trenchant analysis from Air America host Al Franken, who may become a candidate in 2006 to replace Mark Dayton (Minnesota Democrat) in the US Senate.

If you listen to the clip, you'll note Franken's comments concerning Republican disinterest in investigating the real corruption of Iraq -- that of the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority). Franken reports the pathetic response of Republican Senator George Allen, who claimed not even to be aware of the Inspector General for Iraq's conclusion that nearly $9 billion of Iraq's oil money disappeared during the first 14 months of the US occupation. Franken continues,

AL FRANKEN: ...This administration, this Congress -- is so corrupt -- that they will not investigate this. And that is a sin. These guys have blood on their hands....It is a crime...

...The Oil-for-Food Program, even the accusation is, less than $2 billion of money came back to Saddam...that was administered...the Oil-for-Food program was administered in the Security Council, largely by the United States and Great Britain. And their main goal, from what I understand, was to make sure that Saddam did not use this kickback money to arm himself, and spend it on weapons of mass destruction. Evidently they did a damn good job of doing that, a damn good job. But it looks like we were the ones, more than the rest of the world combined, who were involved in the sanction breaking. And of course, ..., we had a no-fly zone,...how else were they shipping oil?... this was before food-for-oil...Oil-for-Food. They were shipping oil to Syria,..., Jordan, and Turkey. We were the only ones in the air, we were the only ones who could see it, we let it happen.

Right on again. Al nails it -- these Republican scoundrels are the ones who really have the crime and blood on their hands, the black ink facts of which the right wing flack machine will forget to mention.

Update (15:45): I added the partial transcripts you see above. See this BBC story. It supposedly has a video link, but I could not get that to play. I'll update this post [again] later, after I find a good video archive. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find out yet if C-SPAN will carry this hearing at all. They might replay it after the Senate adjourns for the day...

Update (16:40): I see in the news a post-hearing quote from the jackass. Coleman said, ``If in fact he lied to this committee, there will have to be consequences.''

Asked whether Galloway violated his oath to tell the truth before the committee, Coleman said, ``I don't know. We'll have to look over the record. I just don't think he was a credible witness.''

BBBBBppppppppp, do you see the water spraying from my mouth? What the hell is going to happen, Norm, if in fact you are the one who is telling lies? Just to remind, all the evidence from Iraq agrees that we in the anti-war movement have been right since day one, and you have been wrong.

But I know the wingnuts know how to read that code and talk about Galloway only before the backdrop of their scurrilous pointed fingers. But I'll be more inclined to accept the possibility that Norm Coleman has an ounce of integrity if he begins to address the large questions of US and CPA corruption in Iraq. But so far Coleman has chosen the path of blissful ignorance (purposeful deflection?) on these issues.