GALLOWAY AND OIL MONEY

John Gould sent me links to these stories today on the alleged connection between George Galloway and Iraqi oil money, and Galloway's threatened libel suit against the Daily Telegraph. The Telegraph has a story based on a Baghdad correspondent's claimed discovery of secret files pertaining to a meeting in 1999 in which Galloway, a high-profile critic of the sanctions regime, asked for a bigger cut of the oil sales.

It's clear that the Telegraph has it out for Galloway; it's also clear that these allegations are serious and require detailed investigation. I'm sure this will not be the last time we hear about this kind of scandal based on Iraqi secret documents. I'm a little disturbed at the image of Telegraph reporters rummaging around buildings in Baghdad in search of files for attack articles, though. There's a parallel between this kind of journalistic looting and the more physically and culturally devastating acts of looting over the past few weeks. It's not a parallel that I'd want to [push] too strongly, of course; the burning of the National Library and the sacking of the National Museum are cultural tragedies of the highest order. Moreover, one of the reasons we have journalists is so that they can dig up dirt on politicians who are engaged in shady dealing. Trusting U.S. or British officials to take property over all of the files would be naive as well; they have their own interests to protect, especially given the outstanding proof of Iraqi WMD's and the still relevant questions of who supported Iraq and who supplied them with their weaponry in the first place.

What will ultimately need to happen for the health of Iraqi politics is a public and orderly coming-to-terms with the old regime. The files will be an essential resource for that effort, should it be undertaken (and we should hope that it will). I hope that Telegraph journalist David Blair, and all similarly situated reporters, give their "finds" back to Iraqi government officials at some point.

UPDATE: At least Kevin Drum agrees with me, in a sense. He asks:

What are these guys doing rummaging around Iraqi ministries? Shouldn't the coalition forces be carefully scouring those buildings themselves?