"The US Senate has tracked $150,000 of Iraqi oil cash to the bank account of George Galloway's estranged wife, Amineh Abu-Zayyad, and his Mariam Appeal fund", writes No brains.

er, no, the US Senate it has, which is a different matter.

George Galloway says "I did not lie under oath in front of the senate committee."

and "has always denied funds from the sale of Iraqi oil were funnelled through the Mariam Appeal" ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4373764.stm)

Since No brains can't independently verify either side's case, why does he come down so emphatically in favour of the US Senate?

You know I have to admit that I can't stand Gorgeous George, but we've yet to see this damning evidence the Americans claim to have. In fact in announcing it to the press before giving him a chance to respond, you have to wonder if George's comments at the original hearing about American justice might be spot on.

As long as it keeps Respect in the news I don't mind what they accuse him of.

You could not buy this sort of publicity.

Denouced by the most unpopular and murdeorus regime in history. What better endorsement is there? Thank you Norm C. Just keep it alive until the council elections next May.

Please!!!!!!

New Labour take "bribes" all the time - large Labour Party donors are rewarded with peerages, and Tonies cronies get government contracts - Greenwich Dome over budget and Millenium Bridge, and Tony Blair's legislation favours Labour Party donors - tobacco advertising in sport.

Well we all know the neo-con establishment will keep pouring out lies and smears against Galloway and Respect - after all we dare to defy them and that's not allowed!

The only slightly suprising thing is that Senator Coleman and friends really seem to think they can get away with just repeating the same lies they did last time!

I mean surely even the poorest quality con-artist would try adding something new?

 http://www.respectcoalition.org

No Respect's article is a best proof of why there should be no anonymous contributions on indymedia.. hey Editor - take that we out of the headline.

Those charges are put by USers - precisely the people who bombed Judi Bari, and electrocuted Sacco and Vanzetti. In the years that their Gauleiters and Quislings have been occupying Iraq do you not think there has been ample time for them to forge equivalents to the Zinovief letter? The highest technology and science is available to these dishonest perverters of the Chads and Diebolds.

And I bet they are friends with Tory Blair.

That does not make me any sort of friend to that Galloping supporter of Kier Hardie, (Who was soundly denounced by James Connolly). But be fair, there are plenty of good people rotting in US jails on trumped up faked charges, it is a national industry of theirs to divert attention from the scale of theft that is their History and built into the structure of their nation.

I read that there are more Americans living in the UK than there are Bangladeshi. What do you think those Americans are running from? Is their ship sinking or is it just the stink of corruption they have to flee?

What makes me laugh the most is that the people who profess to be “outraged” at the thought of Galloway taking a kickback from the oil for food programme are not at all outraged by the sanctions regime that murdered 500,000 children.

Whether you like GG or not i really do suggest you take a look at the first hearing and his famous rantings. There is no doubt in my mind this is a smoke screen to deter from the 8 billion US of oil that went missing in iraq in the period shortly after the US forces took control of it.

What we see is the continuation of a Black Propaganda campaign 'steeling' ('e' intended) George Galloway.

One again, phoney allogations scrawed in crayon are made against this man, and once again Galloway will easily prove his innocence, BOOSTING his reputation amongst certain key groups.

A quick check on the net showed that RESPECT stood in a whopping 26 seats at the last election, and Galloway's own victory neatly stamped the anti-war movement as a radical muslim political pressure group. Now, who do you think THAT benefitted?

However, another war is fast approaching, anti-war sentiment in the UK is going to explode again, and Blair needs 'good' people to safely lead this dangerous (to him) mindset to a place where it will harmlessly burn itself out again. DO YOU THINK BLAIR COULD USE ***ANY*** OF HIS ***VISIBLE*** PEOPLE TO DO THIS??? If Blair anticipates opposition to his next war (and obviously he does) and if Blair intends to do something about this problem (and obviously he does), then why don't you TRY projecting his OBVIOUS solution. Why do plugs commonly have a ground/earth? To SAFELY take unwanted electrical current somewhere where it won't cause any problems!

Benn, Galloway, and Livingstone are KEY members of Blair's EARTH-PIN political strategy. They are carefully placed to gather up unwanted political thoughts, and safely 'ground' them. In case I am being a bit obscure about my point, let me spell it out.

1) Blair's New Reich goons flood activist sites like Indymedia with stories trashing their man Galloway. All the carefully produced (and easily disproved) lies and phoney evidence is lovingly described.

2) Galloway makes a big song and dance about his innocence, and how the people behind the lies are various named low-ranking Bush people, and safe right wing UK targets like The Telegraph (the operation to promote Galloway must damage Blair and his high-ranking people as little as possible).

3) Galloway, in a blaze of Mass Media publicity NEVER SEEN OVER ISSUES THAT REALLY HURT BLAIR AND HIS CAUSES, stomps all over his named enemies, and wins the day.

4) Enough positive publicity is generated in simple-minded members of the public, that Galloway once again becomes an acceptable figurehead of the anti-war movement.

5) The approaching war with Iran becomes imminent (or actually begins with an initial unwarned attack on Iran)

6) Galloway plays his part in ensuring that no anti-war movement in the UK does lasting harm to Blair, or limits his military planning.

Why don't you try thinking CLEARLY about some of your 'heroes'- and consider their past with relation to their present, and the sum-total of their actions.

Livingstone- who appeared to SUICIDALLY link himself to the IRA, and yet magically went on to become Mayor of London, giving full backing to the world's most intrusive and extensive network of state surveillance devices, and proudly embraced Blair's New Reich in a very public return to the fold (not that he had ever really left it).

Benn- (Lord Benn of course, regardless of a mock shedding of the title) promoting the cause of his ruling-class background by recognising that sometimes politics requires a certain appearance to be powerful in your aims. Benn, directly linked to the UK's nuclear program in his past (a program that ONLY exists to provide nuclear materials for our nuclear weapons) fronted CND to its GREAT SUCCESS (snigger) where the end of the 'cold war' led directly to a policy of threatening non-nuclear nations with nuclear weapons. Benn is, of course, a member of the Privvy Council, a particularly nasty unelected mechanism of state control in the UK, but one which gets almost no attention. His son, an MP in the New Reich party, is one of Blair's staunchest PUBLIC supporters.

Galloway- well his past speaks for itself. How many people were thrown out of the Labour Party with ease by Kinnock and his sucessors, and yet a Labour MP was able to safely attach himself to a regime that was clearly labelled as an enemy of our state. When you APPEAR to be targetted by the full force of the Media, and ALL main political parties, but you NEVER fall down- well draw your own conclusions.

Funny thing is, many of you will say "but we HAVE to believe in these people, otherwise what hope do we have?". I never understand this, since what hope CAN you have when you allow yourself to be led (for the umpteenth time) by people with a track record of TOTAL FAILURE, and a background that fully explains WHY they always so happily fail.

Mister Galloway may be quite a number of things, many being matters of speculation. These matters might be decided in a court of Law to favour of either interested Party.
Having survived in British Politics for more than a few weeks, I would venture to suppose he is not without some intellect or survival skills.

So when he offers to jet off to The US to face perjury charges without so much as a hint of a plea bargain it might seem reasonable to suppose he has access to some deep dark vault of secrets. This, I sincerely doubt. What he has probably done is actually read the media (in various guises) and concluded that there are a number of publicly available documents that lead from the "Food For Oil" misuses back to the Whitehouse.

For example, this week on the BBC website

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4550859.stm

There is no headline mention of Midway Trading Inc (formerly Trident International). Dig in and you will find them. As a car dealership they seem to have landed an outstanding deal with Petromidia to process abot one million tonnes of crude oil. Interestingly the Senate Committee does not seem to be trumpeting that - which would represent a significant amount of looted oil.

 http://www.romanian-daily.ro/ARHTR3/RED188.html

And dig even deeper you find that public records show the Mr. Stephen W Baumgart of
said Midway Trading (Reston Virginia) made a sizeable (well two hundred dollars seems sizeable to me) Directly to the George W. Bush Campaign.

 http://www.fundrace.org/neighbors.php?search=1& type=loc&addr=11500+Fairway+Dr&zip=20190

So there it is. The astounding news that George W. Bush profited from The Oil For Food Program. It might not have been much, but it does seem to show that more important people than George Galloway involved - who should be busy in his own Parliament and not Gadding about internationally.

Now Mister George W. Bush might say that he did not know Mister Baumgart ran a company of the same name as a company involved in such scandal. Fair comment.
Yet, it might be possible to trace hundreds of donations in this fashion. Some enterprising accountant might do so. George W. Bush might argue that he cannot vet every single cent that is donated - yet he was seeking an office with far more power than Mister Galloway has achieved. Mister Bush might argue that the connections are tenuous at best. He would be perfectly entitled to such a view. And finally he might be minded to return the donation of the CEO of such a company. Purely without prejudice and as a gesture to reassure the world of his integrity.

But will he be repeated expected to travel across the world to have insinuations made about his past, the past of those who surround him and the company that his peers have kept? Will Mister Rumsfeld's accounts be examined by the Belgian High Court for potential anomalies. Will Mister Rumsfeld's Family be so investigated. Will Robert MacNamara or Henry Kissinger ever be indicted. Most likely not - despite their laws against Genocidal maniacs, the Belgians do not seem to conspicuously consume their portion of Justice.

If the Commitee were to do their job half as well as some half literate poser with an hour to spare and a bit of a flair with google (only a tiny bit - think what the paragon might do) then there might be serious questions asked repeatedly about the source of George W. Bush's electoral funding. Why a Car Dealership apparently suddenly aquires a million tonnes of Oil.
Interesting questions to a Committee that investigates such things. That sort of thing.

Instead of parading a *gasp* Socialist - no longer capable of taking Moscow Gold so alleged to be taking the next best thing - the Committee could ask serious questions about the corrosion of standards in Public Life in America. Which non US citizens would do well to worry about - being as the US needs the highest possible standards to avoid international thuggery; to avoid misues of their nuclear arsenal; to avoid unfairness in trade.

Then George Galloway could get back to ensuring that his constituents can come to chat to him - probably on Thursdays - all about what is really making their lives miserable.

Mister Galloway may be quite a number of things, many being matters of speculation. These matters might be decided in a court of Law to favour of either interested Party.
Having survived in British Politics for more than a few weeks, I would venture to suppose he is not without some intellect or survival skills.

So when he offers to jet off to The US to face perjury charges without so much as a hint of a plea bargain it might seem reasonable to suppose he has access to some deep dark vault of secrets. This, I sincerely doubt. What he has probably done is actually read the media (in various guises) and concluded that there are a number of publicly available documents that lead from the "Food For Oil" misuses back to the Whitehouse.

For example, this week on the BBC website

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4550859.stm

There is no headline mention of Midway Trading Inc (formerly Trident International). Dig in and you will find them. As a car dealership they seem to have landed an outstanding deal with Petromidia to process abot one million tonnes of crude oil. Interestingly the Senate Committee does not seem to be trumpeting that - which would represent a significant amount of looted oil.

 http://www.romanian-daily.ro/ARHTR3/RED188.html

And dig even deeper you find that public records show the Mr. Stephen W Baumgart of
said Midway Trading (Reston Virginia) made a sizeable (well two hundred dollars seems sizeable to me) Directly to the George W. Bush Campaign.

 http://www.fundrace.org/neighbors.php?search=1& type=loc&addr=11500+Fairway+Dr&zip=20190

So there it is. The astounding news that George W. Bush profited from The Oil For Food Program. It might not have been much, but it does seem to show that more important people than George Galloway involved - who should be busy in his own Parliament and not Gadding about internationally.

Now Mister George W. Bush might say that he did not know Mister Baumgart ran a company of the same name as a company involved in such scandal. Fair comment.
Yet, it might be possible to trace hundreds of donations in this fashion. Some enterprising accountant might do so. George W. Bush might argue that he cannot vet every single cent that is donated - yet he was seeking an office with far more power than Mister Galloway has achieved. Mister Bush might argue that the connections are tenuous at best. He would be perfectly entitled to such a view. And finally he might be minded to return the donation of the CEO of such a company. Purely without prejudice and as a gesture to reassure the world of his integrity.

But will he be repeated expected to travel across the world to have insinuations made about his past, the past of those who surround him and the company that his peers have kept? Will Mister Rumsfeld's accounts be examined by the Belgian High Court for potential anomalies. Will Mister Rumsfeld's Family be so investigated. Will Robert MacNamara or Henry Kissinger ever be indicted. Most likely not - despite their laws against Genocidal maniacs, the Belgians do not seem to conspicuously consume their portion of Justice.

If the Commitee were to do their job half as well as some half literate poser with an hour to spare and a bit of a flair with google (only a tiny bit - think what the paragon might do) then there might be serious questions asked repeatedly about the source of George W. Bush's electoral funding. Why a Car Dealership apparently suddenly aquires a million tonnes of Oil.
Interesting questions to a Committee that investigates such things. That sort of thing.

Instead of parading a *gasp* Socialist - no longer capable of taking Moscow Gold so alleged to be taking the next best thing - the Committee could ask serious questions about the corrosion of standards in Public Life in America. Which non US citizens would do well to worry about - being as the US needs the highest possible standards to avoid international thuggery; to avoid misues of their nuclear arsenal; to avoid unfairness in trade.

Then George Galloway could get back to ensuring that his constituents can come to chat to him - probably on Thursdays - all about what is really making their lives miserable.

I really do depair with some contributions on Indymedia sometimes - Galloway, Ben and Lvingstone etc part of a "Blair plot" to distract the masses - get a life and get out there and start talking to some real people instead of reading all those conspiracy theories on the internet.

Of the two main artilces (postings) on George Galloway one is actually agreeing with Senator Colman yet artlces giving Geaoge Galloays viewpoint were "blacked out" (you cant even see the black outbit now!!!)

So many good replies on this issue were blacked on Indymedia today (3 fro me) that i am going to have to consider if its worth contributing to this site again. There is so much crap and predudice lalowed and yet good articles are blacked time after time, while we read 200 articles about the raid on the anarchist book fair (yes ts an impotant staory but the are others being blacked out).

I find it most odd that autonomist and anarchists who hate leadership and so called "hirarchy" should be happr running the most censored progreesive site in the UK currently - so many rules ans hirarchy of proceedure (its called the editorial guidelines) designed to weed out whats not deemed correct frm an anarchist point of view (somewhat of a contradiction dont you think?).

Indymedia had a world story in its hands today only to let the BBC, Channel 4 News and others make it thier lead story.

Perhaps I'am just a bit pissed off with the Indymedia hirarchy (!!!) and some of the idiot contributions allowed on this site while good ones are "blaced out"?

Neil Williams (yes some of us do have real names!!).

The claim that 3 Neil Williams posts on Gorgeous George have been hidden is BOLLOCKS. The only one is  http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/10/326400.html - and I defy the twat to list the URLs for any others.

Spamming the newswire on a daily basis with daily updates from his Wespect blog, despite being asked to cease and desist, is a sign of his disWespect for Indymedia and his moaning that Indymedia won't carry Wespect party press releases is puke makingly sad.

Stop spamming the blog with stuff that breaches the guidelines - Respect is a two way thing Williams.

Twilight thinks Galloway is a government plant because he's critical of the Government? Please, please, please stop spamming this site with all your bluster, man!

The disrepect some people show and is allowed i.e "Galloway's crooked accountant" is unbelievable!!

Any modern progressive site would do all in its power to promote new and small web sites and blogs. Its not spamming when a small progresive blogs and web site try to let a larger audiance know by posting just one post amongst many dozens (hey no one has to read it!) - the fact that some of you (but not alI i might add) think it is says a lot about the intolerance of some (but not all, or most) anarcists (sorry but I cant spell well as you can see).

Its odd that other foreign Indymedia sites today were prepered to publish material I sent them, so clearly some of you are out of line (or they are?). Ofcourse I cant give you the www address of posts - they never got published in the first place! ( I willingly apologise if they got lost on the Internet highway)

I do respect other opinions and am never rude unlike many on this site - my name by the
way is Neil or Neil Williams - not Williams (we are not at school now!!). I may be wrong about all this but if I am wrong there are many who think like me - and are we to be drummeed out of Indmedia so that one view is all dominant (what happened to freedom of expression that anarchist claim to represent and which I support too?). Please stop suggesting that I spam - I do not and have never done so. I could suggest that the last comment under "Galloway's crooked accountant " was "spam" as it was rude, insulting and said nothing.

All I ask is that UK Indymedia be a bit more "open", tolerent of others opinions and censors a bit less (and in some case when it comes to abusive language censors a bit more!). Other Indymedia sites all round the world can do this, why not here - or is there no place for me here as has been suggested?

I am a fan of Indymedia and only wish to see it grow (with major changes to the Editorial Guidelines) but for that to happen the door needs to be open to those he hold Socialist opinions and who do not see leadership as hirarchy - surely there is room for us to respect each others opinions even if we do not agree?

Neil Williams

"the door needs to be open to those he hold Socialist opinions and who do not see leadership as hirarchy"

[definition]

The noun hierarchy has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: a series of ordered groupings of people or things within a system


Meaning #2: the organization of people at different ranks in an administrative body
Synonyms: power structure, pecking order

[/definition]

BTW Neil, is the door of your blog open to those who have different political viewpoints?

" Please stop suggesting that I spam - I do not and have never done so"

[definition]

spam (spăm)
n.

Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail.
tr.v., spammed, spam·ming, spams.
To send unsolicited e-mail to.
To send (a message) indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups.

[/definition]

Sending repeated posts promoting an hierarchical organisation, despite the fact that you have been repeatedly asked not to, is spamming.

Redefining words to excuse your behaviour, doesn't make it right.

If you want mutual respect then you need to stop the spam.

If George Galloway lied to the sub committee, so what?

George Bush lied to the country and two thousand soldiers died, he lied to the world and a hundred thousand Iraqis died.

One man’s lie is another man’s mistake...

Tony Blair was ‘mistaken’ about a sexy dossier of evidence on Iraq’s WMD’s, but George Galloway allegedly lied about his finances.

Which lies are the worst, the ones that led to the mass-murder, torture, maiming, invasion and destabilisation of a soveriegn nation, or the ones which supposedly enriched George Galloway, and affronted Senator Coleman?

Galloway has been accused ...once again(does the Telegraph adn Christian Science monitor come to mind?) of taking money....but the evidence has not yet been presented...Its just loudly being proclaimed in the media...
Part of the evidence comes from Tariq Aziz, who as we know is in prison...undergoing who knows what torture or stress to make him impliacte Galloway.

'Senate claim: The senate committee's new star witness is Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister now in custody. He is quoted as saying that Galloway "sometimes ask[ed] for funding for his causes" during their meetings in Baghdad. The report also quotes him as authenticating a disputed Iraqi intelligence document describing a meeting between Mr Galloway, his friend Fawaz Zureikat and an unnamed Iraqi agent and in which Mr Galloway supposedly asks for an increased oil allocation. In his May appearance in the Senate, the MP rubbished the testimony of former officials arguing it had been made under duress.'

 http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1600073,00.html
a star witness in a Baghdad prsion!...does Abu Ghraib come to mind?

'enate claim: The report says that the alleged payment to Mr Galloway's wife directly contradicts statements he made that he was never personally enriched by an oil-for-food deal.'

They must have been doing some digging...I can just see a seething Coleman, saying to his henchman: 'GET ME SOMETHING, ANYTHING ON THAT BASTARD GALLOWAY!!!'

Does the US senate have any credibility? This is clearly the sort of thing the US alledged against the ICC: a political use of a court against an enemy. The US used this as an excuse to reject the ICC, knowing full well, its acts would be crimes under international law...

As several of the above posters have commented, the lack of users' tolerance or accountability on threads such as this undermines the Indymedia open-access principle which just gives way to shrieking conspiracies and swearing at each other. I have no particular allegience or otherwise to Mr Galloway, but I'm sure he couldn't care less what is written about him on Indymedia, given the eccentric ramblings of so much of the newswire. The newswires at other progressive websites might be the way to go in the future - permitting free press releases from groups and individuals who exist in reality, but ditching the paranoid spammers.

Caz – thank you for a sensible and meaningful contribution.

I still feel is so sad that a great site like Indymedia had (I think if anything the majority of the articles yesterday) so many articles that sided with Senator Colman suggesting that George Galloway was corrupt and and a man of dishonour. In doing so many on this site have lined up with the USA war mongering government, the CIA and Blair in their permanent war neo-liberal (neo-conservatism in the USA) view of the world.

What many on this site have failed to realise is that the attack on George Galloway was an attack on the world wide anti-war movement (they would ofcourse attack Indymedia given half a chance) and an attempt to take the limelight off the fact that any day soon the 2000th USA soldier will have been killed in Iraq.

In reply to William Kneels - the term "hierarchy" is used in the Indymedia Editorial guidelines and is not used by me, so there is no point in quoting your own definition back to me!! The vast majority of liberal, socialist and progressive people would completely disagree with your view on "hirarchy" and clearly this is where Socialists and Anarchists part company, but lets respect each others view point. By definition the editorial guidelines and the editors on Indymedia are some form of "hirarchy" but hey I don't have a problem with elected democratic leadership that remains accountable - its some of you (by no means all) who does - all leaders are the "enemy" that will "betray" and "dominate" and "control" and "take over" - no, no, no its all a delusion to avoid having to take responsibility for democratic decisions and to be allowed to do your own thing (G8 fights with the police etc), whatever the majority think (ofcourse minority opinions must be protected and respected).

Quote:
"BTW Neil, is the door of your blog open to those who have different political viewpoints?"
Yes any day any time - send your articles on anarchy or autonomy and I will post them on my site and there will not be censored or blacked out as on Indymedia using the "hierarchy" catch all clause.

Some of you still have not understood what I was saying about the need to help small blogs and web sites. Indymedia "A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues." it can only live up this this if it welcomes posts from new progressive blogs ans web sites and allows them to post a small daily "what on" notice - it would both be interesting and link us all together more. No its NOT spam (we don't advertise bake beans or send adverts for bake beans) its called INFORMATION - what Indymedia was made for. Indymedia could become so much more if the "hierarchy" clause was changed but I guess this will not happen as a few in the Indymedia "hierarchy" are happy to leave things as they are (and gives them control - hey i thought this is what some of us wanted to change?)

Having said all that and got it off my chest I am happy to study and read anything on anarchy or ano-sydicalism as i did in detail when I was a student some time ago. There is no harm in fraternal debate (as above) and we may learn something from each other. I think its called respect!

Neil Williams


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