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 UK Lawmaker to Testify in Oil-For-Food Probe
 
  LONDON -- Maverick British lawmaker George Galloway began his journey to the United States on Monday to testify over allegations that he received millions of barrels of Iraqi oil for backing Saddam Hussein's regime.
 
 Galloway vigorously denies the claims made by a U.S. Senate committee.
 
 "The truth is I have never bought or sold a drop of oil from Iraq, or sold or bought a drop of oil from anybody," he told the British Broadcasting Corp. before boarding his flight at Heathrow Airport. "If I had I would be a very rich man and the person who made me rich would already be in the public domain."
 
 Galloway won election to Parliament earlier this month on an anti-Iraq war platform, representing the east London seat of Bethnal Green and Bow on behalf of his own Respect party.
 
 Galloway, who represented a district in Scotland before the election, was kicked out of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party after urging British soldiers not to fight in Iraq.
 
 He is famed for telling Saddam during a 1994 visit to Iraq: "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability." Galloway later said he had been referring to the Iraqi people, not their leader.
 
 Galloway has vowed to clear his name at a Senate hearing on Tuesday on Saddam's use of oil vouchers to reward supporters. The vouchers allowed the bearer to buy Iraqi oil at cut-rate prices and could be sold for a profit. Saddam also demanded kickbacks from the oil transactions.
 
 
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