Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=10/02/02

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=CONGRESSMEN IN BAGHDAD

NUMBER=6-12654

BYLINE=Andrew Guthrie

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Assignments

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: The debate over how to deal with Saddam Hussein's arsenal, believed to contain weapons of mass destruction, has spawned a parallel political storm. Three members of the U-S House of Representatives have visited Baghdad and made what some papers are calling statements supportive of Mr. Hussein. The visit has caused a minor furor in the U-S press, which is vying with the central Iraq debate for attention. We get an idea of what is being written now from V-O-A's_____________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: The three men are: Congressmen Jim McDermott of Washington State, David Bonior, from Michigan, and Mike Thompson who represents the far Northern coast of California. They went to Iraq's capital to get a firsthand look at the situation, to assess the impact of the U-N oil embargo on citizens, and to discuss arms inspection with Iraqi officials.

During the visit, Congressman McDermott suggested that while Americans should take Saddam Hussein at his word on the inspection issue, President Bush would "mislead" the American people. This quote deeply angered some members of the house, with Virginia Congressman Thomas Davis calling it "outrageous" and "far outside the mainstream of rational political discourse." Several newspapers, including The Chattanooga [Tennessee] Free Press are comparing the visit to actress Jane Fonda's now historic trip to Hanoi during the Vietnam War. Here is some of what the Tennessee paper says.

VOICE: Do you remember that disgusting picture from the Vietnam War? Jane Fonda in Communist [North] Vietnam, at the controls of a Communist anti-aircraft gun, simulating Communist fire at American airmen? She since has said she's sorry. But now we have three members of the United States Congress in Saddam Hussein's Baghdad, coming pretty close to copying Jane Fonda's sickening performance.

for [Representatives] McDermott, Bonior and Mike Thompson to go to Iraq and make themselves apologists and virtual propagandists for Saddam Hussein should disturb every patriotic American. They have a right to differ with President George W. Bush's policy. But why didn't they stand on the floor of the U-S House to make their declarations, instead of in Baghdad.

TEXT: Some editorial outrage from Tennessee's Chattanooga Free Press.

In the heart of Congressman McDermott's district, which includes Seattle, Washington, and most of its suburbs, the American Broadcasting Company's affiliated TV station, K O M O-TV commentator Ken Schram had this to say.

VOICE: Jim McDermott doesn't speak for most people. And while I disagree with a lot of what he's said so far, I'm still glad he's saying it. Somebody needs to. When the good congressman mentioned that he thought the President would mislead the American people about Iraq, was anyone REALLY surprised?

I mean politicians, including Representative McDermott, mislead us all the time. What's new? But the real issues that WE need to focus on go beyond this kind of political dueling: What exactly is driving us to war? Is it really worth it? Is it really necessary? While just about everyone else in Washington D-C is rattling sabers, I appreciate the fact [that] [Mr.] McDermott is rattling the cage [Editors: slang for "raising unpopular issues"]

TEXT: Portions of a K O M O-TV, Channel Four broadcast commentary by Ken Schram.

Writing in The Washington Post and hundreds of other dailies, syndicated columnist George Will takes a very different view of the trip, and the comments.

VOICE: [Mr.] Bonior, until recently second-ranking in the House Democratic leadership, said sources no less reliable than Hussein's minions told them that inspectors would have an "unrestricted ability to go where they want." [Mr.] McDermott said: "I think you have to take the Iraqis on their value -- at their face value." And: "I think the president would mislead the American people."

[Congressmen] McDermott and Bonior are two specimens of what [Vladimir] Lenin, [early Communist leader in Russia] referring to Westerners who denied the existence of Lenin's police state terror, called "useful idiots." Perhaps Iraqi officials, knowing fathomless gullibility when they see it -- they have dealt with U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan -- actually said such things. Or perhaps [Messers] McDermott and Bonior heard what they wished to hear.

[Their] espousal of Saddam Hussein's line signals the recrudescence [Editors: the breaking out into renewed activity after a quiet period] of the dogmatic distrust of U-S power that virtually disqualified the Democratic Party from presidential politics for a generation. It reduces policy debates to accusations about the motives of Americans who would project U-S power in the world.

TEXT: Syndicated columnist George Will writing in The Washington Post. Back in Congressman McDermott's Washington state district, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer fires back editorially at his critics.

VOICE: [He] is under no obligation to "come home and keep his mouth shut," as Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott demanded. [Mr.] McDermott is, however, under a profound obligation to avoid being used as a propaganda shill by the Iraqi government. He is to be commended for going to see first-hand the conditions and situation in Iraq in an effort to find a peaceful solution.

TEXT: However, none of the arguments for congressmen being able to speak their mind, or taking a minority view, satisfies The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City, which is furious.

VOICE: Really, it's quite an amazing development when three members of Congress put more faith and trust in Saddam than in their own president. Yet the trio said the Iraqis had let them go wherever they wanted and went to lengths to vouch for Saddam's honesty and Iraq's innocence. Representative Jim McDermott, a liberal Democrat from Washington state said he was convinced the United States is "trying to provoke a war."

[Mr. Bonior, asked why Iraq's word should be trusted on inspections when it has a decades-long record of frustrating the process, was dismissive. "We could go back and play the blame game here until the moon comes out," he said. "That's not going to do us any good." Neither is good accomplished when three U-S congressmen enlist in Saddam's propaganda campaign.

TEXT: Editorial frustration from The Oklahoman.

In Utah, Salt Lake City's Deseret News, owned by the Mormon Church, feels the visit does not deserve the amount of controversy it is generating.

VOICE: The three Democrats who visited Baghdad have been getting far too much attention. They likely wouldn't have been allowed into the country if they weren't already predisposed to sympathize with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and their trip was carefully orchestrated by Iraqi officials who made sure they saw what Saddam wanted them to see, nothing else.

The statement by one of them, Representative James McDermott, Democrat of Washington [State], that he would take the Iraqi's word at face value while he believes President Bush would mislead the American people is simply outrageous. Everyone involved faces the same decision. Do they believe Saddam and people such as the three Democrats who have allowed him to fill them with propaganda, or do they believe people like a liberal political leader [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair, who believes the risks outweigh any political gain. The choice should be clear.

TEXT: On that note from Utah's Deseret News in Salt Lake City, we end this editorial sampling on the controversy surrounding the recent visit of three U-S congressmen to Baghdad.

NEB/ANG/RH