Gorgeous George Galloway and The Real "War for Oil"

Could it be the protesters were right about the “war for oil” in Iraq—just wrong about which side was fighting for the oil? If Iraqi Oil Ministry documents uncovered during the 2003 liberation of Baghdad are correct, the upcoming congressional hearing of Oil for Food payoff charges against British MP “Gorgeous” George Galloway and former French Interior Minister Charles Pascua are only the beginning.

According to these documents liberated from the Iraqi Oil Ministry in 2003 and posted on the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) website, Saddam’s Oil-for-Food payoffs enriched journalists, political parties and sitting government and UN officials across the globe. These formed a bought-and-paid-for fifth column of pro-Saddam agents at the heart of the anti-Iraqi liberation movement (sometimes incorrectly referred to as the anti-war movement).

According to MEMRI’s documents, Galloway as beneficiary is cited six times, twice in the name of Finnish and French companies and the rest Jordanian under the name of Fawwaz Zureiqat. According to MEMRI’s documents, “All these requests were approved by the minister of oil, with his signature." When asked by ABC News about being on the list, Galloway replied: "Not one brass farthing. I've never seen a barrel of oil, owned one, bought one." (Note the non-denial: Gorgeous George is technically correct, he owned the RIGHT to purchase Iraqi oil—not the oil itself. He collected his payoff by selling those rights at a price equal to the difference between the market price and the Iraqi guaranteed sale price. This might explain how an MP from an impoverished constituency can afford a "Gorgeous" oceanfront villa in Portugal.)

According to MEMRI, Pasqua, (12 million barrels) denied any involvement and suggested another, unnamed former French interior minister may have been the beneficiary. According to The New York Post Mr. Pasqua, "a close friend and former colleague of Chirac…fought to allow visits by top Iraqi officials to France in 1993."

Also included on the MEMRI list are US residents already under indictment:

--“Shaker Al-Khaffaji (7 million barrels) (who) advanced $400,000 to Scott Ritter, former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq. For $400,000 Ritter produced a documentary purporting to tell the true story of the weapons inspections, which consisted mostly of Ritter talking to the camcorder. (See Ritter’s mug shot on unrelated Albany, NY child sex charges below)

--Samir Vincent (10.5 million barrels): In 2000, Vincent, an Iraqi-born American who lived in the U.S. since 1958, organized a delegation of Iraqi religious leaders to the U.S., which met with former president Jimmy Carter. (Vincent now faces federal charges.)

Also included are many foreign leaders:

--Jean-Bernard Merimee, (3 million and another 8 million barrels) was the French Ambassador to the United Nations and France's representative in the Security Council.
--Father Benjamin (4.5 million barrels) is a French Catholic priest who arranged a meeting between the Pope and Tariq Aziz, Iraq's former deputy prime minister.

Among the 51 Russian recipients are:
--The Russian State, the single largest recipient, 1.366 billion barrels.
-- 86.9 million barrels for the office of the president
--Chief of the President’s Bureau, 5 million
--The Russian Orthodox Church, 5 billion

Sons and daughters of foreign government and UN officials appear several times on the list. They include:
--Romain son of former Russian ambassador to Baghdad, 19.7 million
--“Daughter of President Sukarno (of Indonesia) 2 million
--Emil Emil Lahoud (4.5 million barrels) a Lebanese MP and the son of Lebanese President Emil Lahoud.
--Khaled Abd Al-Nasser, the son of the late Egyptian president Gamal Abd Al-Nasser, (16.5 million barrels

--Not named on the MEMRI list is Kojo Annan, son of UN General Secretary Kofi Annan who, The London Sunday Times says "admitted he was involved in negotiations to sell millions of barrels of Iraqi oil under the auspices of Saddam Hussein." Annan’s alleged co-conspirators also do not appear on MEMRI’s list, raising the possibility that there are far more players than currently known.

And finally, one denial appearing on MEMRI’s website which has since been blown out of the water:

--Mr. [Benon] Sevan (11.5 million barrels) who is the Executive Director of the Oil for Food program.

The real "war for oil" is the propaganda war waged against our troops in the pages on the mainstream media and in the halls of the UN by people like Galloway, Pascua and their "comrades".

Meanwhile John Bolton is derided by Senate Democrats as being too rude to work with these “refined” diplomats.

MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis Series, number 164 detailing 264 individuals found in the Oil Ministry documents can be seen at http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=ia&ID=IA16404

Link to Scott Ritter’s mug shot and a pathetic warblogging.com effort to play it off. (If head chopping terrorists are “freedom fighters” could child molesters be far behind?) http://www.warblogging.com/archives/000457.php