Back from Baghdad: Congressmen Discuss Controversial Trip
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
October 02, 2002
(CNSNews.com) - "We went to Iraq because we care what happens to Americans," said Rep. Jim McDermott, the Washington Democrat who's infuriated many Americans for speaking against the Bush administration from enemy territory.
On Wednesday, at a press conference in Washington with his fellow Iraqi traveler, Rep. David Bonior (D-Mich.) by his side, McDermott said he has no delusions about Saddam Hussein's truthfulness.
"Saddam Hussein is not a good person," he said. "But in resolving this issue with him, it should be done internationally, with the world at our side, through the United Nations."
McDermott says he went to Iraq because he believes a diplomatic solution is possible. "There is no reason to rush to war," he said, noting that the Iraqi government has assured him that weapons inspectors will have unfettered access.
He compared the weapons inspections to the "due process" clause of the U.S. Constitution. "In the United States we have a tradition - in the Constitution - that says if there's a bad person there, we give them due process. And the inspections are due process in this example. If we...were to hang somebody and then ask questions, we would say that is unfair, isn't the right way to do it, and the whole world would see it.
"Do we want disarmament or do we want regime change?" McDermott asked. "David and I are very much for disarmament. That can be done without war. Regime change, I believe, cannot be done without war."
He said the American people will be safer in disarming Saddam, rather than fighting him.
Bonior, for his part, spoke about the devastating effects he believes the U.S. sanctions have had on the Iraqi population.
"They have been horrific," Bonior noted. He talked about victims of depleted uranium, from bombs dropped by allied planes. He said many of the victims are children.
He said they toured schools, hospitals, and businesses on the street, escorted from place to place by Iraqi government leaders.
We went there to do a number of things, Bonior said - mainly, to impress on Iraq the importance of allowing weapons inspectors free access to do their job.
"We also had discussions about the effects of a war on our troops; on the Iraqi people; on our personnel that are stationed around the world at other embassies. Going to war is a very, very, very serious business," he said. "The implications here are broad; they are staggering; and they need to be looked at soberly, deliberately..."
Bonior said the U.S congressmen who visited Iraq had "good discussions" with Iraqi officials; and he said he hopes that "though our discussions...we helped Mr. Blix with his discussions in Vienna. We believe we were helpful in that regard."
McDermott in particular has drawn strong criticism this week for saying - from Iraq - that he believes President Bush would mislead the American people for the sake of toppling Saddam Hussein.
"I think the president would mislead the American people," McDermott said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "It would not surprise me if they came with some information that is not provable."
Some prominent pundits have compared McDermott to actress Jane Fonda - a.k.a. "Hanoi Jane" - who, during the Vietnam War, was photographed in an enemy tank, thus assisting the Communists in their propaganda campaign.
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