In travel news today, AP reports:

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.

The three anti-war Democrats made the trip in October 2002, while the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq. While traveling, they called for a diplomatic solution.

You remember seeing the Representatives--Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan, and Mike Thompson of California--glowering at the news camera every night as they implored America to let Saddam provide a training ground for terrorists and torture his people in peace. Normally I’d say it’s a good thing they weren’t doing this on the taxpayers’ dime, but in this case the phrase "rock and a hard place" comes to mind.

Their little junket reminded me Ted Kennedy’s outreach program to the Soviet Union in 1983. As reported by the CNS News service, "Kennedy offered to assist Soviet leaders in formulating a public relations strategy to counter President Reagan's foreign policy and to complicate his re-election efforts." Whether he took a fee for his consulting work is unknown.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but here are four guys who, as members of Congress, actively worked against America’s best interests during dicey times. I’m loathe to use a loaded word like “traitors” but at the very least, they’re ungrateful louts with no concept of shame.

Sleeping with the enemy under the guise of loving your country: the p.r. strategy favored by Democrats 4-1.