George Galloway speaks to the US Senate
(Today I've been a little lazy and decided to simply post verbatim an excellent speech given by British MP George Galloway to the US Senate committee investing the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Enjoy!)
Now, senator, I gave my heart and soul to oppose the policy that you promoted. I gave my political life's blood to try to stop the mass killing of Iraqis by the sanctions on Iraq, which killed a million Iraqis, most of them children. Most of them died before they even knew that they were Iraqis, but they died for no other reason other than that they were Iraqis, With the misfortune to be born at that time. 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. I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims, did not have weapons of mass destruction. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to Al Qaeda. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11, 2001. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.
Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong. And 100,000 people have paid with their lives, 1,600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies.
If the world had listened to Kofi Annan, whose dismissal you demanded, if the world had listened to President Chirac, who you want to paint as some kind of corrupt traitor, if the world had listened to me and the anti-war movement in Britain, we would not be in the disaster that we're in today.
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 14 months you were in charge of Baghdad, the first 14 months, when $8.8 billion of Iraq's wealth went missing on your watch. Have a look at Halliburton and the other American corporations that stole Iraq's money, but the money of the American taxpayer. Have a look at the oil that you didn't even meter that you were shipping out of the country and selling, the proceeds of which went who knows where. Have a look at the $800 million you gave to American military commanders to hand out around the country without even counting it or weighing it. 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 sanctions busters were your own companies with the connivance of your own government.
...
As a matter of fact, I have met 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, suffering and war, and on the second of the two occasions, I met him to try and persuade him to let Dr Hans Blix and the United Nations weapons inspectors back into the country - a rather better use of two meetings with Saddam Hussein than your own Secretary of State for Defence made of his.. . .You quote Mr Dahar Yassein Ramadan. Well, you have something on me, I've never met Mr Dahar Yassein Ramadan. Your sub-committee apparently has. But I do know that he's your prisoner, I believe he's in Abu Ghraib prison. I believe he is facing war crimes charges, punishable by death. In these circumstances, knowing what the world knows about how you treat prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison, in Bagram Airbase, in Guantanamo Bay, including I may say, British citizens being held in those places. I'm not sure how much credibility anyone would put on anything you manage to get from a prisoner in those circumstances.
Ode to the death of romance
Still no words
From there afar
Across the road
And past my car
A national library
A triumvirate of obstacles
Seems all so blind
Even in my spectacles
But really what's with
The lack of sight
The communication
Is all too slight
Why or why
can't the girl just speak
Just give me some signal
Even if it's quit?!?
The Passing.
Keeping astride
The winter is calling
Walking with pride
So many have fallen
The tide is low
The tide is high
So little we show
When time to die
But memories and truths
Merged all into one
Like images of youth
And, fleetingly, love
Be not sad
For moments once had
Now lost, like love,
Still remain forever.
Music, the mirror into your soul?
The music you listen to at any given period in your life tells a great deal about your emotional dispossession. For most of 2003, when I was lulled into a false sense of unrequited love, my theme song was 'The Scientist' by Coldplay. Just the other night I was at a restaurant that was playing 'The Best of Creedence Clearwater Revival' and I was instantly transplanted back to Year Twelve, when I endlessly listened to that album as I furiously prepared for one or another assessment task. I seemed to recall playing 'Fortunate Sun' on a ritualistic basis almost every late night. It always got me charged up and ready to burn a flag.
For the past half decade, I've been an avid listener to electronic dance music, particularly melodic and uplifting trance. I've always had a soft spot for electronic dance music. Indeed, even now I tend to be partial to most genres - breakbeat, drum and bass, and hard house, even the occasional gay disco track, just to name a few examples. The cleanliness of my bathroom and kitchen area, not to mention my freshly vacuumed carpet can largely be attributed to the almost mystical energy this music gives me. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Were it not for my wonderful mp3s and powerful computer sound system, I'd have probably been on sick leave for most of last year. Although increasingly infrequent (now there's an oxymoron), I often find myself literally half-conscious on a work-day morning, with my subconscious endlessly trying to convince myself that I really should stay at home. All I need to do is pump out a favourite track, and hey presto! My face gets magically shaved, my teeth get brushed, and my lunch gets packed. It's really that simple! Noting that, here's my latest...
Top Ten Favourite Tracks
1. Rapture (Armin Van Buuren remix) by Iio (An incredibly powerful, driving vocal trance track. If I ever DJ live, this would definitely be my 'peaking' track. :-P)
2. Eye of Horus (Ronski Speed Mix) by Aly & Fila (A showcase for the genius of uplifting, melodic trance. Simple yet catchy in a subtle, ever-changing way.)
3. Force of Gravity (Ferry Corsten Remix) by BT
4. The White Room by Adam White
5. 7 Cities (Armin Van Buuren Vocal Mix) by Solar Stone (The first time I heard this track I felt all tingly as though I was falIing in love! Incredibly, I was completely sober. Well, apart from the influence of cinnamon fumes - I was cooking pumpkin soup.)
6. Emit/Collect (Rennie Pilgrim's Agatha Stomp) by Zero
7. Sand in my shoes (Above and Beyond remix) by Dido
8. Find (Original mix) by Ridgewallkers feat. El
9. Rush (Super 8 vs Orkidea remix) by Aalto
10. Master Blaster (Jammin') by Stevie Wonder (Is it cos I is black? ah, brown? have stylish facial hair? ok, I confess, it's just a thumping song.)
Job Description
Title
Senior Bureaucratic Officer
Classification
Executive Level 1
Branch/Division
Various Branches,
Legal Trivia and Banana Division
Security Clearance Required
Protracted
Salary
$68,502 - $83,350 per annum
Reference
1234/FRW
Selection Criteria
GENERIC SELECTION CRITERIA - all essential
Ability to think several different unrelated things at one
Ability to achieve limited results over a long time frame
Ability to develop unproductive working relationships
Demonstrated lack of tact
Inability to communicate effectively
POSITION SPECIFIC SELECTION CRITERIA - Essential or desirable (as indicated)
Peculiar body odour from an Australian territory or State or a comparable overseas jurisdction, which in the opinion of the Secretary is appropriate to the duties of the position (essential)
Ability to talk and chew foods simultatenously (desirable)
Ability to harass female staff (desirable)
A potted history of indigenous social justice from Mabo to the present...
White Fella (WF): Oh black man, it so pains us to discover that, all those years ago, you were indeed dispossessed of your land. (Muttered aside) Although I hear stories of aboriginal kids being removed from their parents have largely been fabricated.
Black Fella (BF): Ah, jeez, thanks Mr WF. I'm really pleased to hear that. Could you recognise our sacred connection to our traditional land and waters?
WF: Sure, of course, why not? Anything for you, my brother.
BF: And some rights over them old pastoral lands, where those squatters came willy nilly all those years ago.
WF: Ah, um, well, ah..
BF: And rights in the sea...
WF: (still searching for words)
BF: And, real rights, like rights in minerals, to trade, to sell licences to fishermen to access our sacred sites.
WF: Look, there's been a long line of authorities in the Court against such things, and your situation is very complicated. We need to make sure that nothing we accept prejudices our other Australian brothers and sisters who, for so long, have worked so hard to turn our rugged terrain into one of the great economic and social wonders of the world.
BF: So what are you-
WF: So, whilst we are willing...
BF: ...saying?
WF: ...in-principle, to negotiate a settlement with you, wherever possible, we must ensure any recognition of native title, or what you incorrectly refer to as land rights, is consistent with the law, and leads to sustainable outcomes for all parties involved.
BF: (searching for more words)
WF: Now... have you ever considered selling your traditional lands? You know, I think this bushy scrub you have over here would look quite remarkable if it was flattened out, and you built a wonderful three bedroom house with a nice green lawn, patio in the back...
BF: (still searching for some words)
WF: Do you have a pen? I know a great landscaper and architect. Trust me, once you've built that house everything will be fine! If you're lucky you might have enough saved up afterwards from all that 'equity' to buy a car, a mobile phone, and join the rest of your civilised brothers and sisters in this great nation.
The death of romance
Hey Rita,
thanks for having dinner with me yesterday, it was a blast! I was so glad both your flatmates were also able to join us. Thanks for suggesting that. It really helped make the whole thing that much more intimate. Not to mention making it even easier to get to know you better. I think the highlight of the evening was the fact that, despite dinner being your idea, I didn't even know if it was still on until I rang you today to confirm. It just goes to show what a sensitive person you are. That's something I really look for in a girl. How about next time I invite you to see a movie and then not speak to you for a few weeks? If distance makes the heart grow fonder, perhaps excommunication makes the heart swell? Even burst?
I really enjoyed listening to the three of you talking about people I have never met, and cracking jokes about things only the three of you know about. I can't wait to do that again. I know you're really busy, and it might be difficult to line up a date the three of you can make. But the two of us hardly know each other. Hell, we don't even have that much in common. So I can see the utility in bringing along people you're more familiar and comfortable with than I. Besides, you're female, I'm male. I think that means something, something special. Right? Oh, and I know plenty of big words. So I'm willing to try and make it work.
Take care,
Syed-M.
