Report: Saddam Hussein paid for 3 Dem congressmen to travel to Iraq... in another surprize, the AP identifies their political party

Democratic congressmen Jim McDermott, David Bonier, and Mike Thompson all travelled to Iraq in 2002 on a trip apparently paid for by Saddam Hussein. 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.

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.

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"Obviously, we didn't know it at the time," McDermott spokesman Michael DeCesare said Wednesday.

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"The trip was to see the plight of the Iraqi children. That's the only reason we went."

These 3 stooges allowed themselves to be used for Saddam's propaganda purposes. Is there anything more repulsive? The photo above (Salah Malkawi/Getty Images) shows David Bonier (left) and Jim McDermott (center) walking with Iraqi Health Minister Umeed Madhat Mubarak on September 27, 2002 in Iraq. Over at Don Surber, readers are asking which one is Curley.