Galloway wins damages for Saddam slur
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Galloway wins damages for Saddam slur
Galloway wins damages for Saddam slur
John Plunkett
Friday March 19, 2004
A US newspaper has apologised and will pay damages to MP George Galloway over wrongful allegations that he was paid millions of pounds by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
The Christian Science Monitor accused Mr Galloway of accepting payments totalling $10m in return for promoting Saddam's interests in the west.
Mr Galloway said today's apology in London's high court was a "complete vindication" after it was revealed the documents on which the stories were based were forgeries.
Mr Galloway, who was expelled by Labour after party bosses said he incited Arabs to fight British troops in Iraq, called on the government to investigate the source of the forgeries.
"We now have in these documents evidence that a crime was committed in Baghdad against an elected British member of parliament," said Mr Galloway outside the high court. "I demand Mr Blair [launches an investigation] to find out why these documents were forged, who else was involved and what other documents were forged."
The Christian Science Monitor first apologised to Mr Galloway in June last year after it was revealed that the papers, dated between 1992 and 1993, were in fact only a few months old.
"At the time we published these documents, we felt they were newsworthy and appeared credible, although we did explicitly state in our article that we could not guarantee their authenticity," said Paul Van Slambrouck, the editor of the Monitor. "It is important to set the record straight: we are convinced the documents are bogus. We apologise to Mr Galloway and to our readers."
Mr Galloway, who says he is the victim of a political smear campaign, is now demanding an inquiry into who had forged the documents.
Rejecting the apology last year, he said: "I said from the beginning that these allegations were based on malice, fabrication and forgery and that they would soon fall apart under scrutiny. That is now beginning to happen."
"This newspaper published on its front page in every country in the world that I had taken $10m from Saddam Hussein. That was a grave and serious libel. Of course the documents were a forgery and a newspaper of that importance ought to have made the effort, both morally and legally, to establish the authenticity of those documents before they published them."
Mr Galloway had said the original front page allegations, which were published in April last year, were "like a Private Eye spoof".
John Plunkett
Friday March 19, 2004
A US newspaper has apologised and will pay damages to MP George Galloway over wrongful allegations that he was paid millions of pounds by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
The Christian Science Monitor accused Mr Galloway of accepting payments totalling $10m in return for promoting Saddam's interests in the west.
Mr Galloway said today's apology in London's high court was a "complete vindication" after it was revealed the documents on which the stories were based were forgeries.
Mr Galloway, who was expelled by Labour after party bosses said he incited Arabs to fight British troops in Iraq, called on the government to investigate the source of the forgeries.
"We now have in these documents evidence that a crime was committed in Baghdad against an elected British member of parliament," said Mr Galloway outside the high court. "I demand Mr Blair [launches an investigation] to find out why these documents were forged, who else was involved and what other documents were forged."
The Christian Science Monitor first apologised to Mr Galloway in June last year after it was revealed that the papers, dated between 1992 and 1993, were in fact only a few months old.
"At the time we published these documents, we felt they were newsworthy and appeared credible, although we did explicitly state in our article that we could not guarantee their authenticity," said Paul Van Slambrouck, the editor of the Monitor. "It is important to set the record straight: we are convinced the documents are bogus. We apologise to Mr Galloway and to our readers."
Mr Galloway, who says he is the victim of a political smear campaign, is now demanding an inquiry into who had forged the documents.
Rejecting the apology last year, he said: "I said from the beginning that these allegations were based on malice, fabrication and forgery and that they would soon fall apart under scrutiny. That is now beginning to happen."
"This newspaper published on its front page in every country in the world that I had taken $10m from Saddam Hussein. That was a grave and serious libel. Of course the documents were a forgery and a newspaper of that importance ought to have made the effort, both morally and legally, to establish the authenticity of those documents before they published them."
Mr Galloway had said the original front page allegations, which were published in April last year, were "like a Private Eye spoof".
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cic old boy
- Flying Eagle
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Whatever happened to the other 'official papers' that Uk's 'The Telegraph' newspaper 'stumbled across' in a bombed-out ministry in Bagdad last year?
The papers were supposed to be 'proof' that 'Gorgeous George Galloway' was taking bribes from Saddam.
I never heard how that story panned out.
Anybody know?
The papers were supposed to be 'proof' that 'Gorgeous George Galloway' was taking bribes from Saddam.
I never heard how that story panned out.
Anybody know?
"Ole kuku ni gbogbo wọn "
