An oil for stooges deal
Federal prosecutors have alleged that Saddam Hussein’s intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers in October 2002, during the run-up to the war. You can read about it here. If you read far enough you can even find out the party affiliation of the three lawmakers -- David Bonior, James McDermott, and Mike Thompson, Democrats all. The go-between who arranged their travel, Muthanna Al-Hanooti, allegedly received 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil in return.
The Justice Department says it's satisfied that all three had no idea that Saddam's intelligence service was behind the trip.
JOHN adds: The three Democrats thought the trip was being paid for by a charity called "Life for Relief and Development." That could have raised the question, of course, of who funded the charity. Muthanna Al-Hanooti, the person charged in the criminal complaint, was also "responsible for monitoring Congress for the Iraqi Intelligence Service." No doubt he gave a favorable report on McDermott, Bonior and Thompson. One wonders whether there is more to that part of the story.
