British anti-war MP George Galloway will appear before a US Senate committee to defend himself against accusations that he received vouchers for millions of barrels of oil from Saddam Hussein.
His spokesman quoted him today as saying: "Book the flights, let's go, let's give them both barrels." He quickly added: "That's guns, not oil."
The investigative committee invited Mr Galloway to appear at its May 17th hearing, entitled "Oil For Influence: How Saddam Used Oil to Reward Politicians and Terrorist Entities Under the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme".
Committee chairman Norm Coleman said: "The hearing will begin promptly at 9.30am and there will be a witness chair and microphone available for Mr Galloway's use."
A committee spokesman rejected the MP's claims that he had written and emailed "repeatedly" asking for the opportunity to appear and to provide evidence to rebut their assumptions.
He said that "at no time" did he contact them by any means, "including but not limited to telephone, fax, email, letter, Morse code or carrier pigeon".
The committee has cited several documents and interviews with former Iraqi leaders which it alleged showed Mr Galloway accepted oil vouchers under the oil-for-food programme. Mr Galloway has branded the allegations "absurd", and said he had never traded, or even seen, a barrel of oil in his life.
His spokesman said that assuming they could get visas and flights in time, he fully intended to take up the invitation to appear at the hearing next Tuesday.
"We are going there to confront the Joe McCarthy committee," he said. Ex-Iraqi vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan gave testimony to the committee which stated Mr Galloway received the oil "because of his opinions about Iraq".
According to the report, the MP received allocations for up to 20 million barrels from 2000 to 2003.
Mr Galloway told BBC Breakfast he wrote to the committee 11 months ago asking to speak but heard nothing. "They did not ask me a single question, they did not write to me, they have not spoken to me and they know nothing about me," he said.
Speaking by telephone from Portugal, he added: "Don't you think the British security services would have known I, George Galloway MP, was becoming a billionaire trading in oil and don't you think if they did, they would not have told anybody?"
In December last year Mr Galloway won a libel action against the Daily Telegraph over claims relating to the oil-for-food programme. Last month the newspaper won permission to appeal against the ruling to pay £150,000 damages and £1.2 million in costs.
The senate committee also alleged that former French interior minister Charles Pasqua received allocations for 11 million barrels in oil.