Coleman claims vindication in spat with British MP

The British Parliament criticized George Galloway's dealings with Saddam and the oil-for-food program.

By Kevin Diaz, Star Tribune

Last update: July 17, 2007 - 9:06 PM

Leftist British MP George Galloway would call his 2005 encounter with Norm Coleman the day "God gave me wings." The Minnesota Republican called the whole thing "pretty ludicrous."

On Tuesday, the British Parliament weighed in with a report highly critical of Galloway's activities in connection with the U.N.'s pre-war oil-for-food program in Iraq, which Coleman railed against in congressional hearings two years ago.

Coleman took a measure of vindication in the report of the United Kingdom House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges, which recommended Galloway be suspended from the House of Commons for 18 working days -- reportedly one of the most severe penalties for a member of Parliament. It also requests he apologize for his conduct.

The two clashed on May 17, 2005, when Galloway came to Washington, D.C., to answer Coleman's allegations of kickbacks and cozy dealings with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Testifying before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which Coleman then chaired, the British MP ridiculed Coleman's case against him, arguing that it was part of the same "pack of lies" that had led to the U.S.-British invasion of Iraq.

Whatever Galloway's misgivings about the war, the U.K. report suggests the MP had a direct financial stake in the oil-for-food program, as Coleman alleged. The report includes a Galloway-Hussein meeting transcript from Aug. 8, 2002, on oil dealings in which Galloway mentions how certain unidentified problems with oil prices were affecting "our" income and "our dues."

Coleman applauded the committee's work. "With the release of the report, the U.K. Parliament becomes the fourth official entity to conclude that Galloway, through his political campaign, received financial support from the Hussein regime and that support was obtained from oil-for-food deals," he said.

Coleman's committee issued a report in October 2005 presenting bank records showing that Galloway's wife and the Mariam Appeal, the political organization Galloway called a children's charity, received hundreds of thousands of dollars from oil-for-food transactions. U.N. and British investigations have confirmed those findings.

The Parliament report, Coleman said, "confirms what we've known all along: Galloway was neck-deep in the oil-for-food deals, he kowtowed to Saddam Hussein, and his bombastic denials were nothing more than a web of misleading statements."

Coleman also said it shows that Galloway was trying to mislead the Senate with his 2005 testimony and create the impression that he did not benefit from Iraqi oil deals.

"As Parliament's report states, he at best turned a blind eye, and 'on balance, was likely to have known and been complicit in what was going on,' " Coleman said. "In response, Galloway will huff and puff, but he can't blow away the facts of this report."

Kevin Diaz • 202-408-2753 • kdiaz@startribune.com

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