I have heard lots of “non-denial denials” in the past, but George Galloway’s rejection and “full-body denial” of all accusations posed by Norm Coleman yesterday was as clear and resolute as could be imagined.
Coleman and Senator Carl Levin clearly have access to some intelligence that makes them think that Galloway is guilty of some complicity in the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal, but if Galloway is correct, which he declares boldly himself to be, then there is something deeply wrong with the intel we are getting out of Iraq.
Coleman’s career may go right down the drain after this if Galloway’s position holds. He has been strident not only on the question of U.N. corruption but then turns a blind eye to John Bolton’s poor judgment calls.
What I found most amusing was Coleman’s comment regarding lying to a Senate Committee:
If in fact he lied to the committee, there will have to be consequences.
Senator Coleman, you must know that under oath before the full Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Bolton said that he had never tried to have anyone fired and that he had never had disputes with State Department INR staff over intelligence estimates — but rather about management style. He said that he had asked for revelations of redacted names from NSA intercepts two or three times — when in fact he had requested these ten (or more) times.
John Bolton lied. Even Lisa Murkowski in her statement before the last Senate Foreign Relations Committee stated that she believed that Bolton was not ‘forthcoming’ and that many of his statements did not stand the light of day.
So, what of that Senator Coleman?
If Galloway is in fact being flamboyantly truthful, how ironic that bad intel and bad judgment yet again took the Senate down the road of demonizing someone who declares his honesty and turns a blind eye to the one who clearly did lie.
— Steve Clemons
