# Saddam paid Francec to vote against war?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-paid-francec-to-vote-against-war/226529>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [January 29, 2004, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-paid-francec-to-vote-against-war/226529 "2004-01-29T05:53:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-paid-francec-to-vote-against-war/226529/41 "2004-12-03T18:38:44Z")

</div>

> [@athelas](#):
>
> True. And you now notice that when the US is trying to get debts forgiven, they (the anti-war countries) are digging in their heels.

[No, they’re not.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4029905.stm)

“Creditor nations have agreed to a proposal from the US _and Germany_ to slash Iraq’s debts to them by 80%.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-paid-francec-to-vote-against-war/226529/42 "2004-12-04T05:32:03Z")

</div>

Might as well be big about it, they haven’t got a snowball’s chance to collect. Writing off a debt makes a nice gesture to the US, and they aren’t giving up anything anyway.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-paid-francec-to-vote-against-war/226529/43 "2004-12-04T13:22:27Z")

</div>

Since someone bumped this thread:

> [@grienspace](#):
>
> Just the documents turned up by the Christian Science Monitor. The documents turned up by the Daily Telegraph however appear valid enough.
> 
> [see cite](http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2003/06/21/do2101.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2003/06/21/ixopinion.html)

Bullshit.

> [@](#):
>
> [Galloway wins £150,000 damages as judge lambasts ‘Daily Telegraph’  
> By Jonathan Brown and Robert Verkaik  
> 03 December 2004](http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=589258)
> 
> George Galloway won a comprehensive victory in the High Court yesterday in his libel trial against The Daily Telegraph over reports that he was in the secret pay of Saddam Hussein.
> 
> The former Labour MP was awarded £150,000 in libel damages by the High Court and later claimed the newspaper had been administered a “judicial caning”. He was also granted costs against the Telegraph, which faces a bill of more than £1.2m. Mr Justice Eady denied the paper permission to appeal, although Telegraph lawyers are expected to seek the right directly from the Court of Appeal over liability and the “excessive” scale of the damages.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-paid-francec-to-vote-against-war/226529/44 "2004-12-04T18:37:51Z")

</div>

Uh, **Desmo** , if you check post #29, that’s _why_ the thread was bumped; to post an article about the vindication of Galloway.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-paid-francec-to-vote-against-war/226529.md?page=2)