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George Galloway- idealist or Labour's Lord Haw-Haw?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:10 / 23.04.03

Was originally gonna link to the original Daily Telegraph coverage, but just couldn't bring myself to do it.

George Galloway, who I personally have always thought of as being a bit of a nob, but whose heart largely seems to be in the right place, and who has been notoriously outspoken in his criticism of the invasion of Iraq, stands accused in the grand old Western tradition of Trial by Media of being an Iraqi stooge.

What are everyone's feelings on this? I'm interested to know before the truth actually comes out (if indeed it does) whether I'm alone in thinking this seems a little convenient... and also given that even if the documents found are genuine, we've had the corrupt nature of the Iraqi regime jammed down our throats since God knows when. Isn't it just a teensy bit possible that this was one of those, apparently widespread, cases of Iraqi officials falsifying their own documents to cream off as much cash as possible? Both the UK and US governments have told us that their paperwork is unreliable as evidence when it comes to WMDs. But we trust their accountancy implicitly?

As I say, I never thought Galloway was that great a guy, but I never thought he was stupid enough to do something like that AND MAKE IT TRACEABLE.

Will we ever find out the truth on this one?

13:49 / 23.04.03

I agree that it does seem a convenient appearance of 'evidence' against one of the most outspoken anti war brigade.

My £0.02 is that it must be false. Surely no-one is stupid enough to do something that was so traceable. A quick shufti through his bank accounts should clear all this up.

I am assuming he is going to win the libel case - that or the Torygraph will issue an unconditional withdrawl of the allegations - but by then the mud has stuck...

Cynical, cynical (ab)use.

What I want to know is WTF is a Torygraph hack even doing wandering round sensitive sites?

Our Lady of The Two Towers

17:23 / 23.04.03

It's a bit like 3-D and the child porn stuff. You have to wonder don't you? Due to the incredibly 'lucky' way the Torygraph came across this information I tend towards it being some sort of smear. What's interesting is whether Labour use the excuse of a trial to force Galloway out before he's had a chance to try and have satisfaction through the courts.

18:20 / 23.04.03

Yeah, he's always come across as a bit of an arse - but not, particularly, a corrupt arse. It's one of those news items where I'm genuinely unsure which way to jump. I watch with interest...

19:27 / 23.04.03

yeah- not sure if my money's necessarily on the ex-boxer from Hillhead...it's a tough call. Both sides seem resolute and willing to answer any questions. I suppose he's won a libel case or two in his time, more or less living off the things since about 92 (according to summit I just read in the Glasg Herald)

20:16 / 23.04.03

I found a copy of the Telegraph on the train yesterday, and what's really great is that they have a little story about finding the files, where we're told that they were ina building completely sacked, and in a room that had been badly burnt and it was remarkable that all that was on them was soot. Afterwards, we find out the spy is unnamed and his signiture on the bottom is illegible.

I so trust this story now... And has anyone else noticed that the mopney he recieved from the regime owuld have been... profits from oil sales? Which, it seems, everyone's been doing for ever. The Telegraph did tell me that sometimes people give back some of the profits to the regime as a thank you for using them as middle men in the deals, as the regime can choose these themselves, but they couldn't even seem to be arsed to fake Galloway doing that.

Even if they're right about the oil deals, he's as much "in Saddam's pay" as Kuwait is because they receive reparation payments.

Coming up next: Galloway has been recieveing letters from Zinoviev for years about inciting the soliders of the British Empire to rise up and join the Red Army.

20:52 / 23.04.03

hurrumph

at the end of the day Galloway is a politician and the telegraph is a bunch of tory-bory journo's.

expecting anything resembling truth and decency from either is a bit of a stretch.

probably both true AND smear.

ONLY NICE THINGS

22:49 / 23.04.03

The other possibility is that it was a stroke of outrageous luck for Blair (both the Telegraph reporter and the Prime Minister), that the document is authentic, but that Galloway is innocent. If I was an Iraqi intelligence agent trying to gouge my boss for as much money as possible before disappearing with a false passport or seeking asylum, then this might be the sort of technique I might use.

13:06 / 24.04.03

I'm not sure anybody liked him before or after this story came out. I'm a peacenik but his vociferous opposition to war in Iraq always sat uncomfortably with me, but maybe that's just his spiteful demeanour.
It's clear from his history with the shady and deceitful Mariam Appeal (with which he duped donations for political activism under the heavy guise of an unregistered healthcare charity) that he's a political animal who pushes the moral boundaries, and who apparently had a habit of claiming excessive personal expenses from charitable organisations, money he was eventually forced to give back. So given that he already isn't cleaner than clean, I'm inclined to keep a very open mind despite the mysterious way the documents came to light.

And you know, he does have a moustache.

17:51 / 20.06.03

Christian Science Monitor retracts story, offers apology

The Christian Science Monitor said documents from Baghdad -- on which its April 25 report about left-wing legislator George Galloway were based -- were "almost certainly forgeries. We apologize to Mr. Galloway and to our readers," the Boston-based publication's editor Paul Van Slambrouck said in comments on the newspaper's Web Site.

But Galloway...said he would press on with a libel case against the Monitor. The Monitor quoted a U.S.-based expert on Iraqi government documents as saying the Arabic text of the papers it had was "inconsistent with known examples of Baghdad bureaucratic writing" and "replete with problematic language." Also, "the two 'oldest' documents -- dated 1992 and 1993 -- were actually written within the past few months, according to a chemical analysis of their ink," the Monitor said.

10:47 / 23.06.03

In my opinion, there's no great mystery about this: Galloway was set up because of his leading criticism of Anglo-US policy towards Iraq and Israel-Palestine.

I'm sure Galloway is as corrupt as any other politician who decides on a career in the mainstream, but - to be fair to him - he has consistently highlighted the humanitarian case for the nightmare that the Palestinian and Iraqi peoples are being subjected to by overwhelming 1st world weaponary.

There are a whole range of suspects who loath Galloway from anti-Saddam Iraqi exiles, Neocons, Blairites, Zionists, right-wing newspapers or the security service.

They would all like Galloway out of the picture, he is by far the chief vocal critic in the UK of US plans for the Middle East, based on the New American Century rant.

What's the mystery?

Our Lady of The Two Towers

11:54 / 23.06.03

What concerns me is that the Telegraph said last week that not only were they sticking by their story but that Galloway has not yet issued a writ against them for libel and as he doesn't appear to have come forward to confirm or deny this I'm beginning to wonder what's going on.

12:03 / 23.06.03

I don't think that means a lot. The forged documents are all from the same source apparently. I have no doubt that a writ from Galloway is on its way to Conrad Black, the Zionist owner of The Telegraph and The Spectator, but these legal things take time.

In the meantime, the absence of a writ is hyped up as "yet more evidence" of Galloway's "treachery" by the Telegraph, Mail, Express and Sun. I guess they are making the most of it, daming Galloway in the public eye as much as possible before they have to withdraw the lies and print apologies on page 12, bottom column 6 (the short paragraph in the corner).

Our Lady of The Two Towers

11:15 / 28.06.03

Galloway issues writ.