Dateline - George Galloway

Anyone else catch Dateline's story "Get Galloway" tonight on SBS? A fascinating examination of the career of British MP George Galloway. I had heard the name and remember reading an article on him when he was ousted from the Labour Party, but I had no idea about the full extent of his fight or his career. How amazing was it when he was sitting in front of the U.S. Senate committee ripping them a new one?! Here's an excerpt taken from Wikipedia:

In his testimony, Galloway made the following statements in response to the allegations against him ^[52]:

Senator, I am not now, nor have I ever been, an oil trader. and neither has anyone on my behalf. I have never seen a barrel of oil, owned one, bought one, sold one - and neither has anyone on my behalf. Now I know that standards have slipped in the last few years in Washington, but for a lawyer you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice. I am here today but last week you already found me guilty. You traduced my name around the world without ever having asked me a single question, without ever having contacted me, without ever written to me or telephoned me, without any attempt to contact me whatsoever. And you call that justice.

Here's a guy who has helped create a new political party in the UK and seems to be not only willing to stand up to the neo-cons, but able to beat them at their own game as well.

Here's more from his testimony (which can be found in its entirety here):

Have a look at the real Oil-for-Food scandal. Have a look at the 14 months you were in charge of Baghdad, the first 14 months when $8.8 billion of Iraq's wealth went missing on your watch. Have a look at Haliburton and other American corporations that stole not only Iraq's money, but the money of the American taxpayer.

Where is the Australian equivalent to Galloway? Which politician in this country is willing to be the voice of the people who say "this is bullshit"? Where are the new political parties that have risen up in defiance of the turgid bullshit, lies and hypocrisy we have witnessed in the last five years since 9/11? Where are they? WHERE??!!! DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING MYSELF PEOPLE???!!

Stand up. Start something that will force a change. Start making sense. I will vote for you. I will support you with TPN. I will support you with my dollars. I will be beside you, behind you and run tackle for you. If I wasn't already trying to re-shape the media, I would be doing this myself. GODDAMN IT PEOPLE!

....... breath .......

I've also found a short interview with Dateline journalist Bronwyn Adcock here on SBS Radio which is available as an mp3. I'm going to try to get her and Galloway on G'Day World as soon as possible.

Comments

[Wendii]

George Galloway's testimony was cool, anyone who asks the American's what the hell they think they're doing to our world is cool, but he makes a lot of noise ... doesn't do very much to earn his MP salary

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/george_galloway/bethnal_green_and_bow#performance

.. and then he went on Big Brother. At which point he lost all respect.

1 cool act does not a cool guy make.

Wendii

[Cameron Reilly]

god I love that site! I sent an email to the people who run it a couple of weeks ago suggesting we work on an Aussie version but didn't get a reply.

As for George's track record - as I understand it, he's been an MP for something like 20 years. So obviously his local voters are happy with his track record. And its not just one cool thing he's done - he's been taking an unpopular stand against Western attacks on the Middle East for 30 years. Re his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, I agree it's a bit worrying, but on the Dateline show he explained how much more visibility he (and thereby his cause) has gained in the process. More people come to his speeches, buy his books, listen to his radio show, etc. You could look at it as clever marketing. All publicity is good publicity?

[Phillip Molly Malone]

Little Johnny has been PM for over 10 years. Obviously his voters are happy with him. Does that mean hes doing good for the country? Thats for you to decide.

Molly

[Gnoll110]

Fee from Endemol UK for my appearance on Celebrity Big Brother. (£145,001-£150,000)

…and at £150,000, a profitable way of getting publicity.

I also note...

GEORGE NEGUS: The unapologetic George Galloway with Bronwyn Adcock. And it's actually worth remembering that the US senator behind the hearings into Galloway's alleged misbehaviour in Iraq was the same senator who first raised the kickback allegations against the AWB.

The nature of evidence tampering and manufacturing raises questions about the UN's Volcker Committee & US Congress activities/reports generally and why people in various places here, in Australia, accepted AWB's word on Oil for Food queries!

If they will tamper and manufacture to get Galloway, what will they do to weaken other countries positions in the name of 'free' trade!

HASSAN MNEIMNEH: What was clearly the case, it was as a result - it's a supply-and-demand issue, as a result of a demand on the part of the media, in particular, but also on the part of government agencies. You had entrepreneurs, I guess, we can call them, who basically tried to use whatever material is available, whatever knowledge that they had in order to create forgeries and sell them, and actually there was quite a market for documents in that period.

I did 'love' this comment too.

You know what why say! "Never trust a country with a bird of prey as its emblem".