Redstate

And don't go breathing there easier either, Mike. I'm making a pop-culture reference, that's all.

By Moe Lane Posted in Congress — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Let's let you two in on a little secret, Congressmen. We already knew that you - and your colleague Bonior - were being enthusiastically used by the Hussein regime to hamper the American war effort. It wasn't exactly hidden, after all. 9/11 had demonstrated quite graphically that our working definition of "acceptable risk" with regard to rogue states needed drastic revamping, and under any civilized or rational standard the Iraqi situation was intolerable. So there's no reason to be shocked now that the late, unlamented genocidist might have been more than happy to smooth your path to Baghdad and dishonor.

We just hadn't realized that he was actively paying your way.

Saddam Paid for Lawmakers’ Trip, Prosecutors Say

WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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.

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.

McDermott's response - through a spokesperson, of course - is that he went on this trip For The Iraqi Children; Thompson at least has sufficient shame to claim ignorance. My response to both - and to Bonior - is that it's a Hell of a thing when you have to hope that three members of Congress were simply too abjectly stupid to realize that they were being enthusiastically useful idiots for a man who casually murdered inconvenient ethnic groups whenever they got in his way. About the only thing that be said for it is that it beats contemplating the possibility of actual sedition on the part of sitting American legislators, which is much the same thing as saying that a punch in the groin beats getting your hand cut off. Just because one's preferable to the other doesn't mean that it's good to have it done to you.

Moe Lane

PS: Actually, I have another response, but if either of them were man enough to not seek re-election as expiation for this error they wouldn't have put themselves in a position to have made that error in the first place. So, simply: Not In Your Names, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Thompson.

And may you be forgotten.