UK politician faces questions from senators

(17 May 2005) APTN 1. Close-up British Member of Parliament George Galloway being seated at witness table 2. Pan view of cameramen Pool 3. George Galloway swearing oath before committee 5. Back view Galloway sits down before Senator Norm Coleman, Committee Chairman 6. SOUNDBITE (English) George Galloway, British Member of Parliament: “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 anybody on my behalf.“ APTN 7. Side view of Galloway testifying 8. Close-up Senators Norm Coleman and leading Democratic Senator Carl Levin Pool 9. SOUNDBITE (English) George Galloway, British Member of Parliament: “I have met him (Saddam Hussein) exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps the better to target those guns. I met him to try and bring about an end to sanctions, sufferings and war. And on the second of the two occasions, I met him to try and persuade him to allow Dr Blix and the United Nations weapons inspectors back into the country.“ APTN 10. Wide view of hearing Pool 11. SOUNDBITE (English) George Galloway, British Member of Parliament: “I gave my heart and soul to stop you committing the disaster that you did commit in invading Iraq. And I told the world that your case for the war was a pack of lies.“ APTN 12. Close-up photographers at hearing Pool 13. SOUNDBITE (English) George Galloway, British Member of Parliament: “Senator, this is the mother of all smokescreens. You are trying to divert attention from the crimes that you supported from the theft of billions of dollars of Iraq's wealth. Have a look at the real oil for food scandal. Have a look at the first 14 months you were in charge of Baghdad, the first 14 months when 8.8 billion dollars of Iraq's wealth went missing on your watch. Have a look at the real scandal breaking in the newspapers today, revealed in the earlier testimony in this committee that the biggest sanctions busters were not me, or Russian politicians or French politicians, the real sanction busters were your own companies with the connivance of your own government.“ 14. Galloway testifying 15. SOUNDBITE (English) George Galloway, British Member of Parliament: “So I opposed this programme with all my heart. Not because Saddam was getting kickbacks from it and I don't know when it's alleged these kickbacks started. Not because some individuals were getting rich with Iraq, under it. But because it was a murderous policy of killing huge numbers of Iraqis. That is what troubles me. That is what troubles me.“ APTN 16. Wide view of news conference in hallway outside hearing room 17. SOUNDBITE (English) George Galloway, British Member of Parliament: “But to the people watching it, I thought that I established what I intended to establish and namely that the rest of the world doesn't see things the way they are seen inside the bubble of the neo-con right wing Republican power here in Washington. That most people think the real villains of the piece on Iraq are not Kofi Annan, me or President Chirac - but here in Washington.“ 18. Pan view of Galloway surrounded by reporters as he leaves the building 19. SOUNDBITE: (English) Senator Norm Coleman, Republican - Minnesota, Committee Chairman: 20. Cutaway reporters STORYLINE: Having flown from the United Kingdom to address the claims personally, Galloway said: “I am not now nor have I ever been an oil trader and neither has anyone on my behalf.“ Find out more about AP Archive: Twitter: Facebook: ​​ Instagram: You can license this story through AP Archive: