In 2004, Galloway's name appeared on the list of 270 individuals, political parties and government officials who received valuable oil allocations from Saddam (and who took positions favorable to Saddam within their own governments and in the United Nations). Galloway has vociferously denied the bribery charges. But the Senate subcommittee, headed by Minnesota Republican Norm Coleman and fully backed by ranking Michigan Democrat Carl Levin, present new evidence that Galloway and a charity he founded were indeed profiteers in the Oil for Food Scandal.
Relying on information contained in the Duelfer Report, as well as documents from the Hussein-era Ministry of Oil, the subcommittee also interviewed key members of Saddam's regime, including Tariq Aziz and the former vice president of Iraq, Taha Yassin Ramadan.
According to these sources, Galloway received a total of six allocations totaling 20 million barrels of oil. When Galloway sold these allocations, he would stand to collect between 3 cents and 30 cents a barrel. I thought we were against "unfettered global capital."
Galloway has not been silent on the latest charges against him. As The New York Sun reports, he denounced the Senate committee as a "lickspittle Republican committee, acting on the wishes of George W. Bush." He further reiterated his claim that "no one has acted on my behalf, trading in oil -- Middle Eastern, olive, patchouli or any other ..." which certainly qualifies Galloway for the Most Colorful Denial Award. It would be the most convincing -- if not for the mountain of evidence.
The Senate Committee on Investigations has also pointed the finger at Charles Pasqua, former French minister of the interior (now senator) and close associate of Jacques Chirac. Pasqua argued passionately during the 1990s on behalf of lifting economic sanctions on Saddam's regime and declared that France had erred by siding with the allies in the 1991 Gulf War.
Where was U.N. oversight of all this graft? Why, in the hands of Kofi Annan, of course. Feel better? Democrats do. While one arm of the Senate was indicting Galloway and Pasqua (and by inference the United Nations itself), Democrats at the other end of the building were parading their disdain for John Bolton, whose great shortcoming appears to be insufficient adoration of the United Nations.