No, our friends at a UN sponsored website have not intimidated me about writing about the Oil-for-Food program – and they certainly haven’t intimidated Claudia whose latest article spells out better than I could the reason people like she and I are morally outraged at the behavior of our supposedly most idealistic international organization:
As evidence continues to bubble out of the great sinkhole that was once Oil-for-Food, there will no doubt be more scandal to come. It may be worth taking a moment to reflect on just how far the U.N. strayed in this program from its widely advertised humanitarian brief. The program, which ran from 1996-2003, was supposed to allow U.N.-sanctioned Saddam to export Iraq’s oil solely to buy humanitarian aid, such as milk and medicine, for the people of Iraq. The idea was that the U.N. would oversee the process, with the Secretariat collecting 2.2 percent of Saddam’s oil revenues to defray its costs for ensuring the integrity of the program. (That U.N. commission totaled $1.4 billion, from which U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan last year plucked $30 million in residual funds to cover the U.N.-authorized independent inquiry led by former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, who has yet to provide the kind of insight offered in this Senate report).
The U.N. let Saddam pick his own business partners, and kept the deals secret, and at Annan’s behest greatly expanded the program. That opened the way to Saddam for such scams as underpricing oil and allocating shipments as rewards to favored business partners, who could then make fat profits by reselling these allocations on the world market. The Senate report quotes a former Iraqi official saying that inside Saddam’s oil-marketing agency, this arrangement was known as the “Saddam Bribery System.”
And the author of the aforementioned website wonders why I am so concerned. I wonder why he is not. But no matter. I don’t really care. Textbook cases of reification abound. Meanwhile, as Claudia notes:
Somewhere in all this, the U.N.-authorized Volcker inquiry is engaged right now in a legal showdown, demanding that House investigators give back boxfuls of evidence that Rep. Hyde‚Äôs Committee on International Relations subpoenaed recently from an investigator who resigned last month from Volcker’s team, claiming Volcker’s most recent report had been too soft on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Sen. Coleman and Rep. Chris Shays, who heads yet another congressional panel investigating Oil-for-Food, have also issued subpoenas for this evidence. A restraining order, obtained by Volcker’s committee, expires next week. There is room to wonder who is most likely to enlighten us as to the true depths of Oil-for-Food’s dirty secrets: Congress, now pouring forth information to the public; or Volcker, already sitting on millions of still-secret U.N. documents, who wants his stray boxes of evidence back.
That investigator is, of course, Robert Parton whose resignation from the Volcker Committee was first revealed on this blog. As for what’s in Volcker’s box, well, you would think that in a situation of such international consequence, which involves the citizens of all nations, not to mention its taxpayers (mainly American) who support the UN, a little transparency would be in order. Transparency should be the watch word in all things regarding the UN. After all, the United Nations belongs, as the song goes, “to everyone,” doesn’t it, Mr. Volcker?
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62 Comments
1. Ron Wrght:Someone has to report this to the American people
Roger,
Great post!
Someone has to report this to the American people. Our MSM was a year late in reporting this story that originated with a new free Iraqi media outlet. They are the ones during the initial phase of the Iraq War got their hands on Saddam’s documents that laid out who were the recepients of the oil vouchers.
If I recall correctly in order of magnitude this was France, Russia, and China. Do I need mention all the members of the UN Security Council that were giving us a moral dressing down for seeking to enforce their order on Saddam? All the while raking in the money under the table from Saddam. This now leads to the inner circle of the current French PM.
Do I trust the UN? Hell no! And yet the EU3 are severely warning the Mad Mullahs of Iran they may send the issue of the Iranian nuclear problem to the UN Security Council! This all the while the Mad Mullahs are enriching uranium for their peaceful nuclear program. This is utter BS!
The Pajama Media now has the power to inform the free world directly. The MSM is no longer a relevant source of objective news/info of the day.
The strategic consequences in the GWOT of allowing the Iranian regime to go nuclear are unimaginable. There is no indication the US Administration will blink. It’s well known that there are three carrier tasks forces now steaming for the ME. Estimates of Iran achieving nuclear capability range from only a matter of months to a year or more.
[Ed note: Our blog is beset with beasties. Some of our previous trackback links are dead. Please bare with us while we deworm]
May 12, 2005 - 7:03 pm 2. Ray:Thank you Roger,
for sticking to this story. It may just be the biggest “mystery” you will ever have the oppportunity to report on.
You are doing all Americans (and the world) an enormous service, and we thank you.
May 12, 2005 - 7:17 pm 3. Luther McLeod:Claudia’s comment re: the onion, spot on. It does get larger and larger, as the layers peel away. Where is the ‘world court’ in all of this anyway, seems as if it would be right up their alley. Keep plugging away Roger, blogs are changing the world. I wonder if Al G. would like to take it all back, it sure as hell has disrupted his world.
May 12, 2005 - 7:33 pm 4. Fresh Air:I was cheered to hear that Volcker had been selected to head this important investigation. He had always seemed a pillar of integrity to me, one of the principal architects of the anti-inflation monetary policy of the Reagan years.
But what a disaster he has proven to be! Volcker, not–in Paul Galloway’s words–Coleman is the lickspittle here. And he should be ashamed of himself. He is covering for the most kleptocratic organization the world has ever devised. The future blood of thousands if not millions is on his hands.
May 12, 2005 - 7:33 pm 5. jedrury:Don’t you think things are getting a bit out out hand? Annan thought this thing was in the bag.
1.) Now he finds Volcker under severe ethical attack.
2.) A junior Senator from Minnesota releasing scathing document based reports accusing Chiraq’s buddies on consorting with the devil.
3.) A wild card investigator off the reservation and turning over documents to Congress and ready to testify.
4.) A blogoshere wholly unsympathetic to the
MSM and the UN having access to leaks and revelations.
It is scandal time.
May 12, 2005 - 7:51 pm 6. Barry Dauphin:Speaking of hidden motives, just who the hell is “Dispatcher” anyway and why don’t we know who he is? Transperancy is good for the UN, it should be good enough for “Dispatcher.” Come clean, buddy boy-no hiding under Galloway’s skirt.
May 12, 2005 - 8:20 pm 7. Marathon Pundit:I remember about ten years ago when the late Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko called the UN something along the lines of “nothing more than an expensive debating socitey.” The good old days.
May 12, 2005 - 8:45 pm 8. RBMN:About humans in general, and the UN in particular:
From:
Dennis Prager
December 31, 2002
“If you believe that people are basically good”
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/dp20021231.shtml
May 12, 2005 - 9:25 pm 9. chuck:Fresh Air,
I am inclined to wait before passing judgement on Volcker. Not, mind you, that I want the box returned — copies of the material, fine, the material itself, no way. But I still want to see Volcker finish up before I put him on the sh*t list.
May 12, 2005 - 9:48 pm 10. Kevin P:Roger:
The smell of this rot is becoming so rank that it is going to overwhelm the timid reporters that have been trying so hard to ignore this story. The very fact that the official/unofficial, affiliated/non-affiliated, volunteer/paid flack is going after you is a sign of how pathetic this organization has become. Even though they were corrupt you had to admire the skill that administrations like Nixon and Clinton that when they tried to hide their crimes by going after the reporters they were good at it. This whiney “Roger is such a meaney” was as effective as the UN peace keapers in Rawanda.It was as if their plan is to wear you down with a thousand slashes of a tissue.
May 12, 2005 - 10:18 pm 11. Frederick:jedrury: Scandal time? Yes. But not yet enough of the right kind of publicity. Now George Galloway, as sublimely ignorant of American ways as the Guardian readers who wrote letters to Clark County, Ohio, voters, wants to give America’s lickspittle senators a piece of what passes for his mind. It doubtless will be offered in full, photogenic, English sneer mode. A piece of mind is a terrible thing to waste.
May 12, 2005 - 10:26 pm 12. jedrury:Frederick:
Galloway can not be so stupid as to actually
present himself to the US Senate AND be placed under oath. And, then again, maybe, he possesses that unique quality of British arrogance bordering on imbecility. There is a tempting line in the SubCommittee’s report that invites His Silliness to come before the Committee and testify.
I am eager to watch the appearance of Robert Parton before the House Committee; that is when the scandal blooms. Leaks will abound since Lanny Davis is his lawyer and the WashPo should lead the pack with them.
The House should try to get him before August as that is the date of the release of Volcker third report.
May 13, 2005 - 2:03 am 13. Buddy Larsen:Perhaps Galloway is willing to testify because he’s figured out that the most damning thing Sen Coleman will have is the evidence of Saddam’s mass graves, torture chambers, and victim testimony, to which Galloway will simply assert that those evils are precisely what he was trying to ameliorate, in the best James Bond double-agent tradition. Prepare for full immersion into the alternate reality.
May 13, 2005 - 3:56 am 14. PeterUK:Frederick.
Galloway is not English he is one of those Scots-Irish that were so popular on this site a while back.
Galloway’s connection to the extreme left Socialist Workers Party might be a more appropriate subject for analysis.The same SWP that has links to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Jedjury.
“Galloway can not be so stupid as to actually
present himself to the US Senate AND be placed under oath.”
It is precisely what the man wants,he would not regard an oath as binding,he would use the opportunity to vilify your country and the war in Ira,the MSM would give him all the column inches he wanted.At some point he would claim as a British citizen ,or worse an EU citizen that the US had no jusidiction over him.It would turn into a diplomatic nightmare,perhaps human rights issue.
It is worthwhil remembering that Galloways constuency is a Muslim one,the man would play the martyr to the hilt.
“And, then again, maybe, he possesses that unique quality of British arrogance bordering on imbecility”
Amazing ,that’s just what we say about you,isn’t a common language wonderful?
May 13, 2005 - 4:11 am 15. ex-democrat:PeterUK — as an English-American (?), i had the same visceral reaction as you did to having the Scottish creature Galloway wrongly described as English.
i also had the same immediate reaction of dread regarding his possible testimony, but now i’m not so sure: the belief here in airing this kind of discord is often excrutiating. But in the end, it’s for the best.
May 13, 2005 - 4:37 am 16. jedrury:Peter:
Common language hopefully means mutual communication but in the case of Galloway
maybe not. I doubt he’ll come even tho
the BBC is reporting it.
But, it would be circus on Capitol Hill. Would it benefit the disclosure process? How would Galloway respond to a request to turn over the bank acocunts of Miriam’s Appeal?
May 13, 2005 - 6:09 am 17. bill:The story unwritten — what would have happened if the UN had maintained a solidified front with Iraq and stuck to the line that was spelled out in the intervening resolutions since the first Iraq war. Without the bribes the second war may never have happened. There surely is an ‘edge of the chair’ mystery in this plot line.
Clearly the world needs a U.N. of higher moral caliber than the one we currently have.
May 13, 2005 - 7:01 am 18. PeterUK:Whilst Galloway might have something to hide,he also has an agenda and he would use any inquiry to further that agenda.He is part of the revolutionary left which has decided to use Islamist as the stormtroopers to destroy capitalism.
This is a much deeper game than the alleged financial improprieties.You really don’t want to let Gorgeous George loose on your left wing media,he is a demagogue of the first water,capable of damaging quotes.He is also intent on inflaming Muslim sensibilities,better to leave him stewing rather than give him the publicity he craves.
May 13, 2005 - 7:10 am 19. Buddy Larsen:Hermann Goering did precisely what Peter fears, to an unprepared prosecutor at the Nuremburg Trials.
May 13, 2005 - 7:39 am 20. jedrury:Peter:
The American press does not rival the British press in its inventiveness, tenacity or willingness to fund stories but it is as eager for a circus on Capitol Hill as any sex scandal at White Hall. If Galloway comes, he will get airtime on the networks and cable but American interviewers are not as tenacious as the Brits.
Everyone talks about O’Reilly and Russert but they are pussycats compared to the Brits.
May 13, 2005 - 8:02 am 21. thibaud:IIRC, Volcker’s argument for demanding that Coleman return the documents was that people’s lives will be jeopardized by disclosure of details in the docs. Yet Volcker says he believes no criminal acts have been committed.
These two propositions are mutually exclusive. If the latter’s correct, then let Congress have all the documents. OTOH if (as seems much more likely) this is a criminal matter involving the prospect of violent, mafia-style retribution, then the FBI and Interpol need to be involved.
Which is it, Paul?
May 13, 2005 - 8:28 am 22. Robert Heller:If I recall correctly it was the Virgina patriot Patrick Henry that coined the phrase, one of many:
“No taxation without representation.”
I cannot think of a body that more accurately reflects the antithesis of this notion.
Europe seems to be very comfortable with the UN. Might I respectfully suggest that the UN transfer to The Hague ? At the very least this will reduce the number of terrorist targets in the US by 1.
May 13, 2005 - 8:31 am 23. thibaud:This is a much deeper game than the alleged financial improprieties.You really don’t want to let Gorgeous George loose on your left wing media,he is a demagogue of the first water,capable of damaging quotes.He is also intent on inflaming Muslim sensibilities,better to leave him stewing rather than give him the publicity he craves
Yes, this is indeed huge. But Galloway is a bit player, the fulminating buffoon who frets and struts and is disposed of midway through the first Act.
The real target here, the big fish, is the very structure of the UN Security Council itself. If it becomes clear to not just us but the world that the UNSC was undermining the, er, UNSC, then the structure will lose all credibility worldwide and will either be replaced with something truly transparent or else fade into obscurity.
May 13, 2005 - 8:40 am 24. Rick Ballard:PeterUK is absolutely correct. Putting a facile demagogue like Galloway in front of a Senate panel is an invitation to disaster. Half an hour after he finishes dodging questions and lying there would be a group picture of him with John Conyers holding up one hand and Cynthia McNinny holding up the other while the Drunk and Sheets looked on with big smiles and the French looking junior senator from MA lead a cheer by the other 50 members of the Socialist International who currently hold Congressional seats as Dems.
Old media will splash Galloway’s denucnciations all over with banner headlines and Don Kofi and Maurice Strong will giggle up their sleeves. Galloway is a very small, if very dirty, fish. He’s not worth it. Pasqua, with his links to Chirac, would be a much better bet but you won’t hear him offering to come over.
May 13, 2005 - 9:24 am 25. thibaud:Go after the bankers. They know where, when, between whom the money flowed. Subpoena Paribas/BNP.
May 13, 2005 - 9:41 am 26. thibaud:Galloway’s not a politician– he ranks dead last in Westminster for questions asked, motions introduced, and other measures of parliamentary achievement.
He’s essentially a one man global PR outfit for the jihadis. The best strategy is to treat him as the desperate clown he is, and ignore him. The big fish here in the Kremlin and the Elysee Palace. Forget Galloway and set your sights on Chirac and Putin.
May 13, 2005 - 9:49 am 27. jedrury:Rick:
I agree and disagree. Galloway is so slimy and toxic that the Senators from Massachusetts will not go near him. They will take their lead from Carl Levin who signed the Senate scathing report.
John Conyers knows slime when he smells it; he impeached Alcee Hastings when he was a Federal judge. The only fool who can not detect the Galloway stench is McKinney and I am not sure she is in Congress these days. My view is that it is disaster for the UN and Annan if he comes.
May 13, 2005 - 9:50 am 28. Kyda Sylvester:Galloway is not English he is one of those Scots-Irish that were so popular on this site a while back.
PeterUK — as an English-American (?), i had the same visceral reaction as you did to having the Scottish creature Galloway wrongly described as English.
Gee, fellas, you’re getting me, descended from Scots-Irish and English ancestors, all conflicted. Or, perhaps the mongrel derivation, so fashionable here in the Colonies, might actually be an improvement on the original versions? Yes, I think that’s it. Conflict over.
I hope he does come to Capitol Hill. I’d love to watch Galloway, no lickspittle (my new favorite word) he, mix it up with the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body. I’m always in the market for good theater.
May 13, 2005 - 9:52 am 29. Ron:http://acepilots.com/unscam Secret filming by Uday are coming out, some are really hilarious such as this one: “…in its exposÈ, Al Hurra showed new footage of a meeting between Naanaa and Uday that reveals her obsequiousness and sycophancy toward the dictator’s son. After Uday greets Naanaa, she gushes, “Hello to you, the dear son of the dear and the precious son of the precious. Hello, is kissing allowed?” Kissing was indeed allowed. [this is where if Uday would have pulled off his shoe she would have given the bottom of his feet a tongue massage and his toes a good sucking, hope she's married to one of the Moslem maniacs an when he espies this, cuts her head off.]
“During their conversation, Naanaa refers to a “beautiful and sweet letter” that Uday had written to her, telling him, “I was so always looking forward to seeing you.” Naanaa also expresses concern about the 1996 assassination attempt on Uday, saying, “We got worried about you, you know. . . . I just lost it when I heard the news.” Have you ever heard such an unctuous spiel, if she didn’t put horns on her old man that night it would be a surprise.
Little did she know that she was on candid camera. http://acepilots.com/unscam She’ll certainly get an Iraqi Oscar for this one.
May 13, 2005 - 9:53 am 30. Rick Ballard:Jedrury,
McKinney is back in Congress. You might be right about the others but I don’t see an advantage to putting a spotlight on Galloway. Levin and Coleman can handle him but there are other bloviators on the committee who can’t.
The question is: “What happens when he lies?” – he’s not going to be subject to American law and he can make claims that al Jazeera and its MSM counterparts will broadcast as gospel. I feel that it will detract from the investigation.
May 13, 2005 - 10:19 am 31. Ron:I haven’t seen in the MSM anything about the Iraqi information now coming out about Uday filming people he had and was bribing. There is a great article in the “Weekly Standard” that should bring shudders to those who took money. http://acepilots.com/unscam/archives/002031.html Didn’t we have someone at one of the major ‘news’ organizations fess up that he had been playing footsie with Saddam so that he would be on the preferred list for getting news. Wonder if he is on film getting something more than access. What was the man’s name? He resigned shortly after making his mea culpa.
May 13, 2005 - 10:27 am 32. thibaud:Rick,
Point taken but Coleman’s got the goods on him, and in any case the story will quickly move beyond Galloway. In the meantime, the MSM will find it impossible to avoid UNSCAM– indeed, will find the theatre irresistible– and will finally give this the prominence it deserves. May well be worth it.
May 13, 2005 - 10:36 am 33. jedrury:Rick:
I did not know that McKinney was re-elected. She is so bad, one must question her bearings.
Hastings was the Federal judge in Florida who
was impeached by the Senate on grounds of being complicit to bribery and then elected as a Democrat congressman from Florida. He now serves. One of the most despicable least publicized stories of the 90s.
Coleman and Levin are smart guys; Levin may be a partisan Democrat but he is tres cagey.
Galloway will not be allowed to make a statement to the Senate Comm without being under oath. The Senate is slightly disadvantaged not having Galloway’s Miriam Appeal bank records, or, even the live witnesses to authenticate the documents. But it will present its investigators who will testify that they interviewed Tariq Aziz and he said . . .
If Galloway lies then he can be prosecuted for perjury under American law – if there is evidence to prove the lie. But the evidence is sketchy without the bank records, or, the witness testimony showing that Galloway got the allotments.
The Senate report says that Galloway washed it through Miriam Appeal. It better have the bank records which may be in Switzerland or the Caymans – who can tell, who knows — George Galloway.
But whether this will go this far is anyone’s guess. I accept what Peter is saying about the publicity interest by Galloway but these appearances and congressional investigations lead to legal issues which can get complicated just like the Plame investigation spun out of control.
May 13, 2005 - 10:52 am 34. Kevin P:Roger;
Unless Coleman has undeniable proof of this anti-semitic slime criminal invovement I say do not give him a microphone for his propaganda. Every answer will include Abu Ghraib and he will deny everthing. This will just add to his “I am fighting the Tel Aviv terrorists in Washington” reputation amongst the suicide bombing rationalizers and since he will probably have imunity against perjury charges he will just lie. All we have to do is keep running the filfth he has already spewed and present ant evidence we already have and not give him the platform to become more of hero to the Al Jezera crowd then he already is. What most of us find shamefull he wears as a badge of honor.
May 13, 2005 - 10:52 am 35. thibaud:Galloway’s shtick will play well on Al Jazeera, but would it really play well for an American audience watching CNN and NBC?
Isn’t the pragmatic goal here to sway US opinion first and worry about international opinion, if at all, later?
May 13, 2005 - 11:03 am 36. Canucklehead:Bring on Galloway. He is simply a gopher on the road of life that will likely become steam-rolled flat within the context of your best cartoon character. Everyone will laugh at him.
Britain has become a backwater of world leadership. Presenting Galloway to the world will allow one to gauge the descent of the once powerful and mighty. He will not do Britain proud.
Galloway has nothing to gain and everything to lose. Let him become the pillor that the Democrats hang their hats on.
I dare you… I double dare you.
May 13, 2005 - 11:14 am 37. thibaud:Time for a Gorgeous George Futures Market. Current prices:
– Galloway fails to show: current futures price = 42
– Galloway shows but storms out of hearing within first 5 minutes, overturning table and water pitchers: 23
– Galloway shows but disrupts hearings with a performance-art routine by Cynthia McKinney, Michael Maroon and Orenthal James (As The Beaver): 10
– Dog eats George’s visa: 25
May 13, 2005 - 11:21 am 38. Canucklehead:This is the match-up:
You have George Galloway, whom is only known outside his local constituency as a crooked politician on the take. He will use the world stage to speak to his local constituency.
You have Mel Coleman who is using the world stage to showcase a provincial crooked politician who exemplifies the values professed by the UN elite.
Who’s going to win that one.
Bring it on! Git ‘er done!
May 13, 2005 - 11:42 am 39. PeterUK:Canucklehead
“Galloway has nothing to gain and everything to lose”
On the contrary Galloway has everything to play for,his constituency is the ant-war,leftist and Muslim groups.His words will be treated as gospel by that constituency and every thing that emanates from the US will be regarded as lies and persecution.It is in the play sheet.
He can’t be arrested,think of the ordure that will fly about if a British and EU citizen is arrested? Add to that a champion of Islam,staunch hard leftist and Member of Parliament, season with a generous dash of anti-semitism and you have a real witches brew.
US high handed unilateralism,fascist state,martyr for the cause, ad nauseum.
You have seen the machine in action during the presidential elections, do you really want to set it motion again,it will create more heat than light.
Men like Galloway thrive on publicity and are expert at its manipulation,leave him under his rock.
I ignore your comments on Britain above,making allowances for you being Canadian.
May 13, 2005 - 11:57 am 40. Rick Ballard:We really need an Ozlander if we’re going to play “Which anglospheric government contains the most cretins?”. I suppose we need to assign some sort of handicap number to Canada to compensate for the Gallic influence.
If Lord North had paid attention to Burke this would all be much easier.
May 13, 2005 - 12:23 pm 41. PeterUK:Rick,
Demographically speaking Britain is bound to have more cretins and I yield the superiority of the Great British cretin to none.Touble is a lot of them migrated to the colonies and left our cretins somewhat inbred.In Canada they mingled with French cretins and even had a Prime Minister after them.
Anyway,I’ll raise you one John Prescott and see your Teddy Kennedy
May 13, 2005 - 12:41 pm 42. Ron Wrght:The French PM’s associates have the smell of rotting fish!
Roger and All,
I rather like my mongrel status of Scotts-Irish linage. Having had and trained purebred man trailing bloodhounds, I will take a mutt of Heinz 57 variety anytime. The problem is old breeds that have been line bred for centuries develop nasty genetic defects that affect their performance. Bloodhounds with good eyes at the best are poor and require a lot of care. There is a need for crossbreeding to bring back genetic diversity. Need I say more?
Thibaud, you’re as they say here spot on again. Come on you’re teasing us again with your humble background!
I agree with you:
[Galloway] He’s essentially a one man global PR outfit for the jihadis. The best strategy is to treat him as the desperate clown he is, and ignore him. The big fish here in the Kremlin and the Elysee Palace. Forget Galloway and set your sights on Chirac and Putin.
From my earlier post where I commented it took the MSM a year to get on the UN Oil for Food scandal, I found the source of the original vouchers again. MEMRI has since picked it up and since translated it the list. Read for yourself who was on the receiving end. It would only take a simple link analysis to run the apparent French connection with Chirac’s cronies.
Again the UNSC stinks! The UN is permeated by Third World countries whose business culture supports corruption. It’s a cost of doing business. I’m sure you have received many Nigerian 419 scam emails. I guess we set our expectation too high. I suppose this is a little like, the pot calling the kettle black. At least we do rip a few off when they get totally out of control and cost us money e.g., ENRON.
Keep digging Roger! The Pajama Media has the power to break this open unlike the MSM. You’ll find more. These folks can’t cover their tracks as they need to keep records to ensure they are not in turn ripped off by those they deal with.
I’m with you on Chirac as being the big fish to fry. The French PM’s associates have the smell of rotting fish! The French unlike us give their government a wide berth and feel their government is doing the right thing. I guess it’s a cultural thing. Why should we bother listening to or responding to anything they say?
Thibaud how about using some of your talents on on little project Operation Blinding Light?
May 13, 2005 - 12:45 pm 43. Canucklehead:PeterUK, I doubt very much that Galloway will be giving any original thought or insight into his testimony. Let him preach to the choir.
He is a British MP, elected by a bunch of bigoted, bleary-eyed, blarney-stoned backwater rednecks who don’t know any better. Let the world see him operate and the veneer of sophisticated, erudite, tolerant EU respectability will be washed away as if one spent the night outdoors in a rain-soddomized scottish heather.
George has nothing to gain. He has everything to lose.
Britain needs to pick-up it’s socks. George is defining “British sensibilities”.
May 13, 2005 - 2:08 pm 44. Rick Ballard:Peter,
Today I would offer the Right Honorable Senator George V. Voinovich up for the Gov. William J. LePetomane Award for Meretricious Government Service. There are undoubtedly worse cretins roaming the halls of our Capitol but this week – he’s the man.
C’mon Canucklehead – who’s political twit of the week up in the Great White?
May 13, 2005 - 2:20 pm 45. PeterUK:“He is a British MP, elected by a bunch of bigoted, bleary-eyed, blarney-stoned backwater rednecks who don’t know any better”
His constituency is in inner London,one of the great capitals of the world,and his constituents are largely Asian.
I would add on the defining British sensibilities, that Tony Blair is not a Canadian,and that is coming from someone who isn’t a fan of Blairs.
Galloway,is a chancer and a troublemaker with absolutely nothing to lose.If you go to LGF you will note that Galloway is already lining up interviews,he will have his say well before he goes before the Senate panel,he’s like Bill Clinton and mushrooms,he thrives in shit.
May 13, 2005 - 3:07 pm 46. Frederick:PeterUK and ex-democrat. I can understand anyone’s sensitivity at a perceived suggestion that George Galloway is part of an ethnic group to which he or she belongs, but you misread my post. My reference to “full English sneer mode” was not to an supposed ethnic characteristic of Galloway but to a rhetorical pattern very alien to American usage, which even those from Dundee can learn if they spend enough time in London, and which can be used in public ranting as easily as in sly whispering. I also understand your concerns about how much the BBC might enjoy portraying him as a victorious or victimized Daniel in the Lion’s Den, but we have different perspectives. From my American perspective, what Americans, not the BBC or people in London, think is important. A cartoon figure like Galloway is a phenomenon that most Americans have never seen. Their reaction will be allergic. It is, by the way, not meaningful to associate Galloway with what earlier threads have discussed as the “Scots-Irish.” The posters were talking about the American “Scotch-Irish,” who have no memory of or traditions about living anywhere in Britain and little knowledge of, or interest in learning anything about, the Scottish lowlands or Ulster. I enjoy your posts.
May 13, 2005 - 3:33 pm 47. Kyda Sylvester:Rick, if I may, surely the entire Senate Foreign Relations Committee is worthy of consideration with perhaps a distinguished service ribbon for Mr. Voinovich and favorite daughter Barbara dumbasaBoxofhammers, who has put a hold on the Bolton nomination.
I hear the vote may be delayed for two weeks. Thank you, Republican leadership, for allowing Mr. Bolton the opportunity to further twist in the wind. The US Senate, you can’t live with them, you can’t live…with them (but I’m more than willing to give it a try).
Peter, bring Galloway on. If it’s sh*t he wants, we’ve got it to spare. Any particular preference? Chicken? Bull? Horse?
May 13, 2005 - 3:35 pm 48. PeterUK:Frederick,
As a matter of interest a native of Dundee and a native of London would, not so long ago have needed an interpreter.
Kyda,
Galloway is small beer, but he is going to be there to confuse the issue as much as he can.He may preach to the choir,but they are willing listeners and there are a lot of them.
You are already playing into his hands by giving him any credence,the only way to neutralise Gorgeous is to starve him of the oxygen of publicity.He has set himself up as David to the Goliath of the US,this will be featured in all the Arab press.
Best way to handle it is, let him come and state his evidence is unecessary.
It would be intersting to see who is financing this.
May 13, 2005 - 4:12 pm 49. Rick Ballard:Peter,
It’s even a bit worse than you suggest. Norm Coleman is a sharp first termer who thinks he has a deal with Levin. Levin is an old timer whose party loyalty will overridw any assurances of comity that he has given Coleman. If given a chance to make the administration look bad, Levin will toss the bi-partisan aspect of these hearings out the window and give Galloway the floor to make whatever remarks he wishes. I know that Levin will roll Coleman before these hearings are done, I just hate to see it happen this early.
May 13, 2005 - 4:33 pm 50. jedrury:Kyda:
The wonderful feature of this blog is way the conversation morphs from one topic to the next yet essentially the same.
I presume that presents an opening to comment about the great senator from Ohio – yes, another ass of a George – who looks like the real tail
of the ass today after his much publicized speech “for and against” Bolton and then having his witless colleague, Barbara Boxer, put a hold on the Bolton nomination for possibly two weeks. The greatest deliberative body in the free world has a desperate need for attention.
David Brooks, no newcomer to that illustrious cast of clowns on the Hill, described Voinovich on Lehrer tonight as a senator “whose opinion does not carry a lot of votes in the Senate.” Ouch !!!!
The Bolton nomination should have gone to the floor but Boxer energized by Voinovich’s speech comes out with a hold which is tantamount to sheer obstructionism. Don’t wait for the press
to play scold on her on that maneuver.
May 13, 2005 - 4:34 pm 51. thibaud:Not sure Galloway’s theatrics will get him very far. Levin won’t tolerate them, and I doubt any other Dems on the panel would, either.
Note also that Congressional hearings are almost always far rougher on defendants than courts of law or other democratic venues. Congresssional committee chairmen aren’t appear to be bound by rules of civil procedure as in an advocacy courtroom; they appear to have much wider leeway than judges when it comes to controlling the agenda, pace, and flow of the hearings and in halting the theatrics or tangents taken by witnesses and defendants. And remember that most of the Senators have backgrounds in law, many of them as former prosecutors. None of them will be sympathetic to Galloway.
There’s a reason they call it “Borking.” Think of all those whose public reputations have been shattered or nearly shattered in Capitol Hill hearings of one kind or another: Clinton and his crew. Ollie North. Clarence Thomas. Bud MacFarlane. John Bolton. Bork. Ginsburg. Does anyone really believe that Galloway can emerge from this unscathed? Bring him on.
May 13, 2005 - 4:37 pm 52. Rick Ballard:Thibaud,
What is the net gain of having a liar not subject to Contempt of Congress or perjury testify? It’s cheap political theater which will not advance the investigation. It doesn’t matter if they have documents – Galloway will claim forgery. I’d be for it if he were subject to American law but he isn’t. Hell, if they brought Tariq Aziz over and had him testify after Galloway, what difference would it make? Galloway would call a press conference and claim Aziz was trying to save his own neck.
Don’t put too much money on Levin. He’s sharp as a tack but he doesn’t have an ounce of bi-partnership in his whole body.
May 13, 2005 - 4:49 pm 53. thibaud:Rick B -
Levin’s not from the Jim McDermott school. There’s no sympathy in Michigan or anywhere west of Manhattan and east of Berkeley for the likes of Galloway.
Besides, Levin’s basically a shlep. He’s not so cunning as your scenario assumes.
May 13, 2005 - 4:51 pm 54. PeterUK:Rick,
That is just the point,you’re looking at the trial of OJ Simpson here,dung will be flung ,everywhere,it will morph into an attack on the administration’s war policy.
Galloway has already dubbed the US criminals,the more outrageous the fabrications, the more they will gain credence in some quarters.This isn’t for the US public it is for the denzins of the DU,Kosites and the like especialy the Muslim world.
I agree totally that the Democratic Party will see advantage in this.
It should be remembered that Galloway walked away from an outrageously sycophantic video of him with Saddam Hussein shown during the war,he is just one of those people to whom any publicity is good publicity.
If he comes out clean he will claim victory,if he doesn’t he will claim martyrdom.
May 13, 2005 - 5:09 pm 55. Frederick:PeterUK: “As a matter of interest a native of Dundee and a native of London would, not so long ago have needed an interpreter.”
There was, perhaps, some communication even before Galloway’s time. In his Liberal days, Winston Churchill was the Dundee M.P.
May 13, 2005 - 5:29 pm 56. Kevin P:Roger;
The best thing that Coleman could do would be to present any dirt they have on Galloway and then present some of his more racist comments to give Americans a clue as to what a racist pig this guy is. If you give him world wide coverage he will benifit. Any evidence that is shown to him will be called forged followed by a lecture from him about WMD. If they bring any witnesses against him he will call them zionists stooges paid by Sharon and the neocons to tarnish his heroic image followed by a screed about Abu Ghraib. Will he look like an idiot? Of course but not to the people who support him in London and the middle east. You would be taking a two bit racist hustler and turn him into a hero to the stooges who already but his line of crap. You will not get one bit of info that will help the investigation. Getting called by the senate to testify is this guys wet dream. He would get millions of dollars of free publicity and a megaphone to spread his filth.If you want to expose him to the American public there is plenty of his own words to get the idea that he is an idiot spread. Unless Coleman has motion picture quality tape of Galloway sleeping with Uday and getting paid for it he should not be allowed to stain the halls of congress.
May 13, 2005 - 5:34 pm 57. Kyda Sylvester:I doubt that Norm Coleman harbors any delusions about the loyal opposition. I think Coleman is one of the sharpest tacks in the Senate drawer (I know, I know) who is destined for bigger things. I personally would like to see how he handles a confrontation like this. Galloway is a buffoon and the more exposure he has the more clownish he becomes. He may cast himself as victor or martyr, but the rest of us will see him for his ludicrous, ridiculous self.
May 13, 2005 - 7:29 pm 58. Kyda Sylvester:And if the Democrats find advantage in the likes of George Galloway, it merely means that they’ve learned nothing from their ill-advised, ill-fated lovefest with Michael Moore.
May 13, 2005 - 7:34 pm 59. Billy Hank:Interesting positions on the potential impact of Galloway testimony. Arguments against testimony are persuasive. Still, I’d rather see the show. US is not yet wholly up to speed on OFF. Media circus would spread more info about OFF. Can’t help think that more light on this subject would throw more weight behind efforts to expose UN/EU corruption/hypocrisy.
May 13, 2005 - 10:06 pm 60. Wayne P:You know what bothers me? As a Canadian, you US blogs just don’t give us the respect we deserve. Volcker is tied to Power Corp (the Desmarais gang) out of Montreal. Power Corp has major interests in BNP Parabis bank as well as Totalfina that had huge oil interests in Iraq (till the fall of Saddam, that is). Power Corp is also closely connected to Maurice Strong, the architect of Kyoto and a major force behind the New World Government as envisioned by backers of the US. The last several Prime Ministers in Canada have suckled at the breast of Desmarais, taking their Apprenticeship at Power Corp, learning everything they needed to know about obfuscation and thievery. On the side and in their spare time, it appears they were taking money laundering and extortion lessons from the mob, who was able to place some of its ‘made men’ as close as the Liberal Government Cabinet for the past decade.
And you thought Canada was just 9 months of winter and 3 months of poor skiing!!
May 13, 2005 - 10:38 pm 61. Wayne P:Sorry about the typo. I meant to say Maurice Strong is a major force behind the New World Government as envisioned by backers of the UN..
May 13, 2005 - 10:40 pm 62. Canucklehead:Rick, I’d have to vote the “Twit of the Week” in Caanada as Ralph Goodale, the Minister of Finance and an MP from Saskatchewan. If you google this guy, you will find very little in his background that would suggest he would be a good Finance Minister in any sub-G20 country. He simply carries the water for Paul Martin, who was Finance Minister for many years. Paul’s infrastructure is still in place at Finance and runs the show. Goodale is simply the front man who deflects attention away from the powers that be. He does what he is told and he does it with a “George Galloway” style for the media.
PeterUK, my point is that George Galloway represents the left-wing of Labour. He will give us an indication of how the Labour party will look once Tony Blair is gone. This is our first glimpse at the pinheads in the left-wing of the party, who will shortly be calling the shots when they replace Tony. You may argue the personalities, but “George Galloway”-type people in Labour will rule Britain.
Let’s see the match-up with Norm Coleman. If Galloway preaches to the Choir, Britain loses international respect. If Galloway tries to be an international statesman, he goes down in flames.
100 years ago, Britain ruled the world. Today, the world rules Britain.
Galloway’s constituents likely refer to George as “My Kampffir”. George Galloway is no Tony Blair.
May 15, 2005 - 7:04 am