Galloway accuses the US government

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1486025,00.html

George Galloway made a number of points to a congressional panel investigating the United Nations oil-for-food programme:

1. Galloways said: “I was an opponent of Saddam Hussein at a time when British and American governments and businessmen were selling him guns and gas”.

Galloway said he had met Saddam on two occasions - the same number of times as US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

“The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and maps - the better to target those guns. I met him to try to bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war,” he said.

2. He said he has been targeted because of his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war.

3. He urged the Congressmen to turn their investigations on US-led operations in Iraq.

"Have a look at the 14 months you were in charge of Baghdad when $8.8bn of Iraq's wealth went missing on your watch," said Galloway.

4. He stated: “You have nothing on me ... other than my name on lists ... many of which have been drawn up after the installation of your puppet government in Baghdad”.

5. He said the biggest sanctions busters were American companies “with the connivance” of the US administration.

6. Galloway said that the stories about 'weapons of mass destruction' and 'Saddam's links to Al-Qaeda and involvement in the 9/11 attacks', were “a pack of lies”.

7. Galloway called Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota a “neo-con, pro-war hawk.”

Galloway got £ 150,000 dollars in damages after winning a libel case against the Daily Telegraph over unverified claims of being on Saddam’s payroll.
Galloway had also received “substantial” damages over an article in the Christian Science Monitor that alleged he accepted money from Saddam.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1485648,00.html

According to a Senate investigation:

1. The US 'turned a blind eye to extensive sanctions-busting in the prewar sale of Iraqi oil'.

2. US oil purchases accounted for 52% of the kickbacks.

3. "On occasion, the United States actually facilitated the illicit oil sales."

4. The US treasury failed to take action against a Texas oil company, Bayoil, which paid "at least $37m in illegal surcharges to the Hussein regime".

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http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/052105Madsen/052105madsen.html

"Major political contributors and friends of Bush not only paid illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein but personally profited from sanctions-busting with Iraq. Those involved in the scheme included individuals who date back to the Reagan/Bush 41 "cluster bombs and biological and chemical weapons-for-oil" scandal of the 1980s."