AP News Alert Saddam's intel agency financed a trip to Iraq for 3 U.S. lawmakers

[orleans]

Source: associated press

AP News Alert
48 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors say Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion.


Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ijDA5bgxiHlTvS_r-SSjskS1Tq1wD8VLC72O1

[Nitrogenica]

1. Read more? All they have is one sentence.

Something stinks about this story.

[DemoTex]

2. Like Mr. Owl said ...

Whooooo?

[mikelgb]

3. Dems I bet

Bush Justice Dept is in Full swing

[Jack Bone]

4. I wonder who they could've been?

My M$MB$odometer predicts that they'll have a "D" behind their names.

[Purveyor]

9. The lawmakers are not named in the indictment but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps.

Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California. There was no indication the three lawmakers knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam.

"Obviously we didn't know it at the time," McDermott spokesman Michael DeCesare said Wednesday. "The trip was to see the plight of the Iraqi children. That's the only reason we went."

During the trip, the lawmakers expressed skepticism about the Bush administration's claims that Saddam was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.

"War is not the answer," Bonior, who is no longer in Congress, said at a news conference while on the trip. "There is a way to resolve this."

Though weapons of mass destruction ultimately were never found, the lawmakers drew criticism for their trip at the time.

---eoe---

http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8074700&nav=0Rce

[Jack Bone]

14. thanx for the info...

whereas had this "revelation" appear on a Friday afternoon, they would've been Republicants.
But since it's only Wednesday, it's gotta be Democrats.:patriot:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

16. Yes, there was a way to resolve it, but that way would not produce

the desired results. Your mileage may vary.

[Ian David]

27. I'm lazy. Please confirm for me that all three were Republickers. n/t

[babylonsister]

5. Who went and why? Very interesting... nt

[seemslikeadream]

6. can't wait to find out who!!

[Newsjock]

7. McDermott

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004308063_websaddam26.html

By MATT APUZZO
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers — apparently including Rep. Jim McDermott — during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said today.

An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a member of a Michigan nonprofit group, of arranging for three members of Congress to travel to Iraq in October 2002 at the behest of Saddam's regime. Prosecutors say Iraqi intelligence officials paid for the trip through an intermediary.

At the time, the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq.

The lawmakers are not named in the indictment but the dates correspond to a trip by Seattle Democratic McDermott, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California. There was no indication the three lawmakers knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam.

[Bumblebee]

26. I like McDermott and he had every right to go -- but it should have been

a no-brainer that in Iraq nothing like that happened without Saddam's approval and finances. How naive did you have to be not to know it?

[FVZA_Colonel]

8. Yeah? And there is no indication that they had any knowledge that this was so.

Until it comes up (if it does at all), I'm not going to care.

[hifalutin]

30. Chuck Hagel said

tonight, all lawmakers have a responsibility to know who is financing their trips and he never goes anywhere without knowing who is paying for it.
It's just something you do routinely, he said.

[skids]

10. Apparently the only new thing here...

...is the indictment. The rest of the story has been out for a while.

[maddezmom]

11. here's a link:

Saddam's Spy Agency Funded Lawmakers' Trip to Iraq, U.S. Says

By Robert Schmidt

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Saddam Hussein's Iraqi intelligence agency secretly funded a trip to Iraq by three U.S. congressmen in 2002, after the Sept. 11 attacks and before the invasion of Iraq, the U.S. said in charges filed in Michigan.

The indictment accuses a Michigan man, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Iraq, of organizing the trip. Muthanna al-Hanooti is charged with conspiring to act as an Iraqi agent without notifying the U.S. He was to receive 2 million barrels of oil in payment, the indictment said.

The indictment didn't identify the three members of Congress it said traveled to Iraq with al-Hanooti. The Associated Press reported that the timing coincided with a trip taken by Democratic Representatives Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California. There was no indication they knew Saddam's government paid for the trip, AP said.



http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aZ7wlu2RhLJc&refer=us

[PassingFair]

12. Oil for Food Program?

This tripped up some Brits, too.

[maddezmom]

13. yes, just posted a link upthread

:hi:

[noel adamson]

15. The funding may have had a secret ultimate source but the trip was very public, a distinction that..

...should be emphasized in my opinion. Their trip was a noble thing for which we should remember them well at this 5 year mile stone.

[Deny and Shred]

17. I agree, Noel. Most other lawmakers sat there and bought all that BushCo

sold, sight unseen. Since Saddam's weapons were never found, maybe he underwrote the trip to try to prove to some in the U.S. that he actually wasn't guilty of the constant media barrage that was being thrown at him in 2002. Given the aftermath of Bush's decision, I applaud these three for getting over there and seeing for themselves.

[karynnj]

21. I think the funding is a major problem

Legislators need to know who is paying anything for them and to feel that they would be comfortable with that on the front page of their local newspaper.

[truthisfreedom]

18. Okay then! And everything we've caused to be looted and destroyed in Iraq totals what?

Who's the criminal here?

[bemildred]

19. I don't understand why I'm supposed to give a sh*t?

This "story" popped up all over the news today, and I'll be damned if I can see why. This is another of the "agent of foreign powers who did not report themselves" prosecutions.

[magellan]

20. Never fails to amaze me how efficient this DOJ is when there's no 'R' after the name. n/t

[superconnected]

22. US: Saddam paid for lawmakers' Iraq trip

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a member of a Michigan nonprofit group, of arranging for three members of Congress to travel to Iraq in October 2002 at the behest of Saddam's regime. Prosecutors say Iraqi intelligence officials paid for the trip through an intermediary.

At the time, the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq.

The lawmakers are not named in the indictment but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California. None was charged and Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said investigators "have no information whatsoever" any of them knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080326/ap_on_re_us/iraq_junket

[superconnected]

23. I don't think it should matter because we invaded him illegally.

Maybe he was just reaching out to law makers to show them what really was happening.

I could see republicans yelling traitors over this though.

[ohio2007]

24. Al-Hanooti allegedly received 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil,

did he claim that under the oil for food program putting that junkett together ?

[90-percent]

25. Also

I remember reading Sir Richard Branson has a plan to spirit Saddam out of Iraq and exile him somewhere, all to forestall Bush cockamamie rational for invading.

I always wonder why that never got any news coverage for more than a day, and if it's even true...?

Think of how much more alive our 4,000 dead would be if Sir Richard pulled that one off!

-90% Jimmy

[ohio2007]

28. That plane was still sitting at the Baghdad airport when the army rolled past the ticket counter

in 2003.
Saddam knew the jet was there at his disposal.He didn't want the same exile deal as Idi Amin

[WyldRogue]

29. And the smearing...

... of the Democrats have begun (not that I didn't see this coming) and it will only get worse as it seems all outlets of the MSM still are the voice of the NeoCon movement. More and more, seems all eyes are on anyone associated with the Democratic party while the Rethugs get the free pass as they have gotten for the past 16 years now??

It's a shame that journalism is dead and all that remains are propaganda mouthpieces for the NeoCon/GOP.

[Thepricebreaker]

31. Did you fail to mention they had all (D)'s after their names?

[maxrandb]

32. They also failed to mention

that the trip was approved by the State Department.

That's what's wrong with the "gotcha" media of today. Despite the fact that Bush' State Department approved the trip, all you'll hear repeatedly for the next 24/7, 7 days a week , or at least until the next missing blonde woman arrives on the scene is "Dems/Iraqi Spy Linked".

Lather, Rinse, Repeat!

[darue]

33. so what? who cares, better than than me having to pay to ship Cheney's ass around the world. n/t