"Mr Perkins, who rents a council house in Burnage and survives on a basic pension of £75 a week, received a letter from Mr Galloway asking for money to finance his costs in a libel action against the paper".
... more here
Posted on 12/02/2004 9:24:31 PM PST by Destro
Galloway wins libel case over Iraq
Thu 2 December, 2004 11:48
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - MP George Galloway, one of the most outspoken critics of war in Iraq, has won a libel battle with the Daily Telegraph over its allegations that he was "in the pay" of Saddam Hussein.
High Court judge David Eady said the allegations were "seriously defamatory" and awarded the Scottish MP 150,000 pounds.
He refused to give the newspaper permission to appeal in the case in which legal costs are estimated at 1.2 million pounds.
Galloway, a flamboyant figure known as "Gorgeous George" for his colourful love life, was expelled from Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party last year after branding Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush "wolves" for their invasion of Iraq.
It was the second time he had won damages over Iraq allegations against him. In March, he accepted an undisclosed sum from the U.S.-based Christian Science Monitor over a story which alleged he took $10 million (5.2 million pounds) to support Saddam.
Speaking after the case on Thursday, Galloway launched a tirade against Blair and said the Telegraph had been given a "judicial caning."
"The Daily Telegraph has been held to account, and what an account it has been. But when is Tony Blair going to be held to account?" he said to cheers from his supporters.
"Tony Blair dragged this country into a disastrous war ... all for a pack of lies," he added.
The case centred on articles in April 2003 that were based on documents discovered in Iraq by Telegraph reporter David Blair.
Galloway said the articles "claimed that I had made very substantial secret profits from Saddam Hussein and his regime".
During the hearing, he denied that he was "a greedy crook" who took cash from the regime of the former Iraqi leader to fund a luxury lifestyle.
The court watched a video in which Galloway told Saddam "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability."
Galloway said that with hindsight his choice of words was unfortunate and that he had meant to praise the strength of the Iraqi people.
The 50-year-old Glasgow MP told the judge, who was sitting without a jury, that he never took "Saddam's shilling" to live the good life with a home in London, a villa in Portugal and "at least a box of Havana cigars".
The Telegraph said it had not claimed that the allegations contained in the documents it published were true, merely that they raised matters that needed investigating in the public interest.
Judge Eady dismissed the newspaper's claims that it was obliged to put them into the public domain.
"In all the circumstances, it cannot be said that the defendants were under a social or moral duty to make the allegations about Mr Galloway at that time and without any attempt at verification," he said.
If - if - if forged - then the spotlight falls on Chalabi, IMHO.
I still think he's s guilty as hell.
Do I correctly infer that the original trier of fact can deny an appeal under English law?
Up to the judge.
Well he has won two libel suites so far and so to protect my Briitich bank accounts I will say I think he proved he was innocent of being bribed by Saddam.
Mr Justice Eady denied the paper permission to appeal, although Telegraph lawyers are expected to seek the right directly from the Court of Appeal over liability and the "excessive" scale of the damages.
Well, I don't have any UK assets, so I'll say that I think he's a scumbag who probably was complicit in propping up Saddam. And further, that he's simply using the idiocy of British libel laws as a stick to beat any of his presumed inferiors who dare to question him, and then claiming that it demonstrates his innocence, when, in fact, it simply demonstrates the idiocy of British libel laws. Again.
So how IS Galloway able to afford his high standard of living?
The Beneficiaries of Saddam's Oil Vouchers: The List of 270
The following report from MEMRI's Baghdad office is a translation of an article which appeared in the Iraqi daily Al-Mada, [1] whichobtained lists of 270 companies, organizations, and individuals awarded allocations (vouchers) of crude oil by Saddam Hussein's regime.
"And if one happened to know some of the official Ba'athists, who did not hesitate - because of their rural values - to boast and to [assume] moral superiority, one would have heard a lot from them about the ever-increasing number of visitors to Iraq in recent years, and would have understood from them that those visitors who came to defend us also came to cash in the price for that. We can confirm this information because the Ba'athists themselves, in a moment of 'rural pompousness,' propagated the rumors about the Arab and foreign visitors. They mentioned some of the names listed here, among them George Galloway, member of the [British] Labor party.
SNIP
"The case of Mr. Galloway is truly distressing. This man, who defended just Arab causes, became a loser as he got closer to the Iraqi regime. Galloway, who was banished from the party for this reason and who defended himself vehemently, and even attacked Tony Blair's and Bush's policies, will not be able - in my opinion - to refute Iraqi documents that incriminate him conclusively.
"Mr Perkins, who rents a council house in Burnage and survives on a basic pension of £75 a week, received a letter from Mr Galloway asking for money to finance his costs in a libel action against the paper".
A friend who has signed a contract with a British publishing house will see the book on terrorism published and distributed in the USA -- simply to avoid stringent libel laws that Americans would laugh at. By the way, if anyone believes that Galloway is innocent I have some seafront property in New Mexico I would like to sell.
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