After Lashing U.S. Inquiry, Briton Plans Antiwar Tour

LONDON, May 26 -- Maverick British lawmaker George Galloway, who captured headlines this month with a fiery appearance in Washington before a Senate subcommittee, plans to continue his antiwar theme in a summer speaking tour of the United States.

Galloway appeared after the Senate panel released documents that purported to show he and other international figures received valuable oil allocations from Saddam Hussein's government as a reward for opposing U.N. sanctions on Iraq.

Galloway vehemently denied the accusations and went on to accuse the United States of crimes in Iraq.

"As Oscar Wilde said, sometimes the most bitter trials turn out to be blessings in disguise," Galloway said Thursday. "In America, people pay huge sums of money to hear you speak."

Galloway said his talks would focus on the United States and the way it "has dragged us into disaster."

"They think they rule the world and everyone is afraid of them. But I'm not afraid," he said.

Galloway was reelected to Parliament this month as a representative of his own antiwar party Respect after being expelled from Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party.