soc.veterans

On Mar 26, 10:52=A0pm, Amos Nandy wrote:
> =A0US: Saddam paid for lawmakers' Iraq trip
>
> By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer 27 minutes ago
>
> 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.
> ADVERTISEMENT
>
> 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.
>
> Prosecutors say that trip was arranged by Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a
> Michigan charity official, who was charged Wednesday with setting up
> the junket at the behest of Saddam's regime. Iraqi intelligence
> officials allegedly paid for the trip through an intermediary and
> rewarded Al-Hanooti with 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil.
>
> 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.
>
> "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."
>
> Both McDermott and Thompson are popular among liberal voters in their
> reliably Democratic districts for their anti-war views. Bonior is no
> longer in Congress.
>
> Thompson released a statement Wednesday saying the trip was approved
> by the State Department.
>
> "Obviously, had there been any question at all regarding the sponsor
> of the trip or the funding, I would not have participated," he said.
>
> During the trip, the lawmakers expressed skepticism about the Bush
> administration's claims that Saddam was stockpiling weapons of mass
> destruction. Though such weapons ultimately were never found, the
> lawmakers drew criticism for their trip at the time.
>
> Oklahoma Sen. Don Nickles, then the second-ranking Senate Republican,
> said the Democrats "sound somewhat like spokespersons for the Iraqi
> government." Seattle-area conservatives dubbed McDermott "Baghdad Jim"
> for the Iraq trip.
>
> Al-Hanooti was arrested Tuesday night while returning to the U.S. from
> the Middle East, where he was looking for a job, his attorney, James
> Thomas, said. Al-Hanooti pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of
> conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign government,
> illegally purchasing Iraqi oil and lying to authorities. He was being
> held on $100,000 bail.
>
> Between 1999 and 2006, he worked on and off as a public relations
> coordinator for Life for Relief and Development, a charity formed
> after the first Gulf War to fund humanitarian work in Iraq. FBI and
> Joint Terrorism Task Force agents raided the charity's headquarters in
> 2006 but charged nobody and allowed the agency to continue operating.
>
> McDermott identified that charity as the group financing the Iraq
> trip. In House disclosure forms, he put the cost at $5,510. Thompson
> also understood the charity to be financing the trip, spokeswoman Anne
> Warden said.
>
> Prosecutors said Al-Hanooti was responsible for monitoring Congress
> for the Iraqi Intelligence Service. From 1999 to 2002, he allegedly
> provided Saddam's government with a list of U.S. lawmakers he believed
> favored lifting economic sanctions against Iraq.
>
> Thomas said Al-Hanooti would "vigorously defend" himself against the
> charges but he could not discuss the specifics of the case since he
> had seen none of the evidence.
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080327/ap_on_re_us/iraq_junket_15
>
> IF YOU DON'T VOTE REPUBLICAN YOU'RE VOTING FOR TERRORISM!
> Clinton is a proven liar and Obama is a MUSLIM TERROIST SUPPORTER. Ask
> his preacher.

FUCK ALL DICKOCRATS!!!