Two hundred million barrels of oil is what British lawmaker George Galloway received from Saddam Hussein “for misleading public opinion concerning the crimes perpetrated by Saddam against his people.” This is the claim of Iraqi writer Fadhil Rashad Al-Khafaji in a November 4 article on the Web site Al-Jiran.

In a bold statement calling for Mr. Galloway “to be tried,” Mr. Al-Khafaji wrote: “The Iraq people will never turn a blind eye to those who robbed them. You [Galloway] robbed them.” Mr. Al-Khafaji also noted that Saddam’s payments went to individuals such as Mr. Galloway, who “continue to fiercely defend Saddam when they are interviewed on satellite TV – and this despite the evidence of his crimes…”

This year Mr. Galloway has visited the Middle East numerous times, appearing on Arab TV, mainly to attack America and Britain, while rallying in support of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. On November 13,he appeared at a pep rally at Damascus University in which he compared the Iraqi resistance fighting America to the British fight against Nazi Germany, as well as praising the “hero Hugo Chavez” for standing up to President Bush.

In another summer visit to Damascus, Mr. Galloway gave a July 31 interview to Syrian TV in which he called on the countries under Messrs. Bush, Blair, and Berlusconi to be “resisted.” Mr. Galloway also directed a statement to the Arab world: “Two of your beautiful daughters are in the hands of foreigners – Jerusalem and Baghdad. The foreigners are doing to your daughters as they will. The daughters are crying for help, and the Arab world is silent. And some of them are collaborating with the rape of these two beautiful Arab daughters.”

The same day Mr. Galloway appeared on Al Jazeera stating: “It’s not the Muslims who are the terrorists. The biggest terrorists are Bush, and Blair. … Bush doesn’t have any civilization. … We believe in the Prophets, peace be upon them. He believes in the profits, and how to get a piece of them. That’s his god.” In support of the terrorists in Iraq, Mr. Galloway explained, “The Iraqi resistance is … defending all the Arabs, and they are defending all the people of the world from American hegemony.”

Mr. Galloway also gave an interview to the editor of the leading Syrian government daily Teshreen on July 8, which, as of this writing, can be found on the front page of its Web site. After criticizing the West for calling Hamas and Hezbollah “terrorists,” he was asked his opinion on why the press is unfair to such organizations: “They are distorting facts and launching disinformation campaigns against the Arabs and Muslims and freedom fighters in general. Mr. al-Assad said in a speech the Iraqi people are resisting occupation troops. And that we have to differentiate between those who have destructive weapons and practice all forms of terror and violence against peoples and those who have nothing to defend themselves with except to carry a knife, a stone or to carry a bomb and take it to the positions of the occupiers and explode it.”

Mr. Galloway’s interviews were not well received in London. In an article on August 4, the Sun called him an “Evil Traitor.” Former Labor lawmaker and ex-serviceman Eric Moonman called on the speaker of the House of Commons to probe his conduct for “putting at the risk the soldiers who served the country he is supposed to represent.” The Evening Standard editorial on August 5 added: “Taking a stand against the war in Iraq is absolutely legitimate; justifying the inciting the killings of British troops and Iraqi policeman is not. Trouble is, what to do with Mr. Galloway? Under the Home Secretary’s new rules, it is to be easier to deport preachers of terrorism. But where do you deport Mr. Galloway? Scotland?”

Mr. Galloway ended his Teshreen interview bragging about his appearance before the Senate this summer: “The American senators were not expecting their old crimes to be exposed on live TV … I made a lot of people happy … and I made the worst people in the world sad. And this is a good day’s work.”

The last laugh may yet go to Mr. Galloway’s critics. Iraqis including Fadhil Rashad Al-Khafaji are now calling for him to be put on trial. The Department of Justice announced in late October that it will investigate if he lied to the Senate. The Charities Commission in England and Wales, as well as the House of Commons Parliamentary Commission for Standards are reportedly now also investigating Mr. Galloway’s actions.

Mr. Stalinsky is the executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute.