LAWMAKERS' 2002 IRAQ TRIP PAID FOR BY SADDAM? Thompson, 2 others unaware of link

An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a member of a Michigan nonprofit group, of arranging for the three congressmen 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. Thompson, Jim McDermott of Washington and David Bonior of Michigan. None was charged, and Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said investigators "have no information whatsoever" that any of them knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam.

Thompson, of St. Helena, released a statement Wednesday, saying the trip was approved by the State Department.

"Obviously, had there been any question at all regarding the sponsor of the trip or the funding, I would not have participated," he said.

McDermott spokesman Michael DeCesare said that "obviously, we didn't know it at the time. The trip was to see the plight of the Iraqi children. That's the only reason we went."

Both McDermott and Thompson are popular among liberal voters in their reliably Democratic districts for their anti-war views. Bonior is no longer in Congress.

During the trip, the lawmakers expressed skepticism about the Bush administration's claims that Saddam was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. Although such weapons ultimately were never found, the lawmakers drew criticism for their trip at the time.

Oklahoma Sen. Don Nickles, the second-ranking Senate Republican at the time, said the Democrats "sound somewhat like spokespersons for the Iraqi government." Seattle-area conservatives dubbed McDermott "Baghdad Jim" for the Iraq trip.

Thompson said he remembered the firestorm of criticism, but he defended his reasons for going on the trip.

He said he went because he was determined to learn as much as he could about the situation in Iraq before voting on whether to commit troops.

At the time, he said he told Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz that Saddam had the power to avert tragedy by allowing inspections. Thompson has since become a staunch critic of the war.

"The concerns I expressed have sadly come to fruition," Thompson said Wednesday. "If more of my colleagues had gone, we probably wouldn't have done what we did."

Al-Hanooti was arrested Tuesday night while returning to the United States from the Mideast, where he was looking for a job, his attorney, James Thomas, said. Al-Hanooti pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, illegally buying Iraqi oil and lying to authorities. He was being held on $100,000 bail.

Between 1999 and 2006, he worked on and off as a public relations coordinator for Life for Relief and Development, a charity group formed after the first Gulf War to fund humanitarian work in Iraq. FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force agents raided the charity's headquarters in 2006 but charged nobody and allowed the agency to continue operating.

McDermott identified that charity as the group financing the Iraq trip. In House disclosure forms, he put the cost at $5,510.

Thompson also understood the charity to be financing the trip, spokeswoman Anne Warden said.

"We vetted the charity as best we could," Thompson said. "There wasn't any problem."

Prosecutors said Al-Hanooti was responsible for monitoring Congress for the Iraqi Intelligence Service. From 1999 to 2002, he allegedly provided Saddam's government with a list of U.S. lawmakers he believed favored lifting economic sanctions against Iraq.

In exchange for coordinating the congressional trip, Al-Hanooti allegedly received 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil, prosecutors said.

Thomas said Al-Hanooti would "vigorously defend" himself against the charges, but he could not discuss the specifics of the case because he had seen none of the evidence.