Congressional Republicans are looking into possible disciplinary measures for Jim McDermott and Jim Thompson, two House Democrats who traveled to Baghdad on the eve of votes in Congress to approve the Iraq War. The third member, David Bonior, has since retired from Congress.
Murthanna al Hanooti was arrested yesterday for working on behalf of the former Iraqi regime. Federal prosecutors say that he helped pay for the trip using funds that came from the Iraqi Intelligence Service. Shakir al Khafaji, another person who accompanied the representatives and made arrangements for their meetings with senior Iraqi government officials, has not been charged. However, he had a long record of working on behalf of Saddam Hussein and hosted "expatriate conferences" -- days-long propaganda workshops -- financed and sponsored by the former Iraqi regime. Al Khafaji moderated one panel during which the U.S. was accused of "terrorism" and "genocide" against the Iraqi people for its backing of UN sanctions. Al Khafaji was later named in reports detailing individuals who had taken Oil-for-Food allocations from Saddam Hussein. But it was his work on behalf of Saddam Hussein before the trip that has piqued the interest of congressional Republicans, in large part because he had been reported by the news media and because Saddam Hussein had thanked him for his efforts.
If these Democrats were traveling with at least one person known to have worked on behalf of the Iraqi regime, shouldn't they have known that it was possible the Iraq regime was behind their trip? Did these Democrats even ask those questions? And if not, why not?
"We're just beginning to look at the facts of the case," says Kevin Smith, a spokesman for Minority Leader John Boehner, who is traveling in the region. "But it is certainly troubling that three Members of the House - including a Member of the Democratic Leadership - would act as pawns for a genocidal dictator. Their trip was nothing more than a propaganda tool for Saddam and his murderous regime."
One specific concern is that Jim Thompson is currently a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Some congressional Republicans want to know if service on that committee is consistent with having served -- even unwittingly -- as a propaganda tool for Saddam Hussein.
