A Trip to Iraq on Saddam's Dime

This is great. According to a WaPo article, the Justice Dept has discovered that Saddam Hussein funneled money to a Michiganer who in turn paid for three democratic congressman to travel to Iraq and there opposed the pending war in Iraq. The Michiganer is in trouble, but no action taken against the three congressman. Surprise, surpise, surprise.

Now, I opposed the war in Iraq from the very beginning. But this is really too much. Now, most folks will look at this way: "they were shills for our enemy." In my case, I see it as they were shills and it doesn't matter for who, enemy, friend, enemy who wants to be friend, it doesn't matter. If any of these dems were my representative, I'd not vote for them again.

How many similar trips are there? Are there trips to Israel, secretly paid for by the Israeili government, too? We've had spies working for Israel. How about Russia, China, Japan, or Germany?

When American lawmakers head off on a junket to foreign lands, if they are doing America's business, then American gov't should be footing the bill. At least that way, we can at least avoid an obvious conflict of interest. And if they are on the junket as private citizens, then they shouldn't be granting interviews or getting on the airwaves discussing foreign policy.