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To: SilentZ who wrote (729463)

7/28/2013 4:49:58 PM

From: joseffy

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Recommended By
FJB

Respond to of 1572512

We don't call him "Baghdad Jim" for nothing; Plus: Another treacherous CAIR official

By Michelle Malkin • March 26, 2008
michellemalkin.com

When I lived in Seattle, he was well-known as “Baghdad Jim McDermott” and the name has stuck over the years.

With good reason. Back in 2002, Stephen Hayes reported on how Baghdad Democrats David Bonior, Jim McDermott, and Mike Thompson took a trip to Iraq in the run up to the invasion and followed up with a report on how Saddam’s cash paid for the junkets.

Now, the AP has a new report on the payments:

Federal prosecutors say Saddam Hussein’s intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion.

An indictment in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti of arranging for three members of Congress 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.

In exchange, Al-Hanooti allegedly received 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil.

The lawmakers are not mentioned but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California. There was no indication the three lawmakers knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam.

“There was no indication the three lawmakers knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam?”

Uh-huh.

***

Debbie Schlussel has the lowdown on the al-Hanooti case:

For at least six years, I’ve been asking why the Justice Department–specifically the Islamo-pandering parade of U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern District of Michigan–were breaking pita with officials of LIFE for Relief and Development, including Muthanna Al-Hanooti.

Today, Al-Hanooti, a former chief of CAIR-Michigan was indicted for acting as a spy for Saddam Hussein in America. (And–shocker–he has a second wife and family in Iraq.) To me and anyone who followed the story and read a newspaper, that isn’t news. In fact, the indictment is far too little, far too late. The indictment says that a trip taken by three Congressmen–liberal Democrats Jim McDermott, David Bonior, and Jim Thompson–to Iraq in 2002, was funded by Saddam Hussein, using a third party to arrange the financing, and Al-Hanooti to put the trip together. Again, not news, since I wrote about it repeatedly on this site and also in The New York Post as far back as 2003.

To: SilentZ who wrote (729463)	7/28/2013 4:52:12 PM
From: joseffy	1 Recommendation Recommended By FJB Respond to of 1572512

THE PATHETIC ETHICS OF JIM McDERMOTT: It's bad enough that Jim McDermott went to Baghdad in October 2002 and called the President of the United States a liar. Or that the following month the voters of Washington state's 7th Congressional District added insult to injury by reelecting McDermott with 75% of the vote. This year, in an October 22 court decision over the question of McDermott's involvement in leaking the transcript of an illegally intercepted phone call in 1997, Judge Thomas Hogan held that McDermott's "willful and knowing misconduct rises to the level of malice." McDermott, who is appealing the decision, has been ordered to pay a $60,000 fine and all the legal costs in the case, which could run close to $600,000. Once again, voters didn't seem to care: two weeks after the judge's ruling McDermott won reelection to a ninth Congressional term with 81% of the vote. As most of you probably remember, the case against McDermott involves the now famous 1997 conference call regarding the ethics investigation of Newt Gingrich that was surreptitiously recorded off of the cell phone of Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) by a couple in Florida. The couple then passed along a transcript of the illegally taped conversation to McDermott who promptly leaked it to The New York Times and The Atlanta Journal Constitution. At the time McDermott was the ranking member of the House Ethics Committee. The Florida pair who taped the phone call eventually pleaded guilty to violating wiretapping laws and received fines of $500 each. McDermott denied leaking the transcript and was never charged with a criminal offense, but he did resign his seat on the Ethics Committee. Joel Connelly of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports today that in the wake of the recent court decision McDermott fired off a rather odious fundraising letter titled, "Newt Gingrich Yesterday, Tom DeLay Today:" "Exercising his First Amendment rights," [the letter] says, "McDermott used the press to expose Gingrich's deceptive behavior in violation of an agreement with the ethics panel." The McDermott letter claims that the GOP leadership "continues to use the courts" to "pursue" him. It is a dubious claim. Boehner is no longer in the leadership. Gingrich and then-majority leader Dick Armey are long gone from Congress. Instead, the letter takes after House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and invites givers to "help continue the fight for Democratic values." Only indirectly is the letter's real purpose disclosed: Its goal is not to fund any campaign, but to pay McDermott's legal fees. "We cannot allow Republican leaders to financially destroy a member of Congress who has a proven track record of standing up for endangered democratic values," it states. The truth is far different. McDermott could have settled with Boehner. The Ohioan simply asked for an apology to the House, an admission of wrongdoing and a $10,000 donation to charity. Instead, McDermott is appealing the latest judgment, and wants donors to foot the bill. Thanks to the recent court decision, after seven long years the House Ethics Committee has finally decided to launch an investigation into McDermott's behavior. Let's hope they concur with Judge Hogan, conclude the obvious and charge McDermott with violating the standards of conduct and the ethics rules of the House. And let's hope the voters of Washington state's 7th district take notice this time and go find themselves a better representative. - T. Bevan 9:45 am Wednesday, December 29 2004 realclearpolitics.com

To: SilentZ who wrote (729463)	7/28/2013 4:53:14 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 1572512

Poor Baghdad Jim McDermott Wails “Stop It!” At Megyn Kelly’s Tough Questioning (Video) June, 5, 2013 — nicedeb I say tough questioning, but it really wasn’t tough questioning, at all – just tough compared to what he’s probably used to from the lib media. She was just asking questions and demanding answers that actually made sense. See if you can follow Baghdad Jim’s logic, here… He blustered that he said five times during his statement at the hearing, yesterday, that the questions the IRS requested from the the conservative groups were “egregious, out of bounds, and shouldn’t have been asked”, but then, in the same breath noted that by asking for tax exempt status, they opened themselves up to such questions. Say what? When Megyn asked him about Kevin Kookogey’s testimony about his group’s loss of a $30,000 donation because they hadn’t received the stamp of approval in officially becoming a 501(c)(4), he said Kookogey wasn’t under oath and didn’t offer any proof. When she pressed him as to whether he rejected his claim, he got mad, and huffed, “STOP IT!!!” Video via Twitchy: Bam! Megyn Kelly crushes IRS victim-blaming creep Rep. McDermott; He sneers, screams ‘stop it!’ Just another one of the bright stars of the Democrat party. I’m sure his constituents are proud.

To: SilentZ who wrote (729463)	7/28/2013 4:53:52 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 1572512

*Dem. Rep. Jim McDermott* compares Obamacare opponents to Confederate Army**

To: SilentZ who wrote (729463)	7/28/2013 4:54:48 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 1572512

Baghdad Jim McDermott: Traitor, Stooge Or Dupe?

To: SilentZ who wrote (729463)	7/28/2013 4:55:41 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 1572512

TRAITORS: Jim McDermott & David Bonior - YouTube ? 5:01? 5:01 www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DEiGh39xBM May 5, 2008 - Uploaded by Linda Clements EXPOSED for what they are (FINALLY) Congressman Jim McDermott from Seattle and David Bonior from ...

To: SilentZ who wrote (729463)	7/28/2013 4:57:57 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 1572512

Congressman Jim McDermott omitted the phrase under God when he led the Pledge of Allegiance in the House of Representatives recently. May 5, 2004 - Jim McDermott: Traitor - Agnosticism / Atheism - About.com

To: SilentZ who wrote (729463)	7/28/2013 5:02:41 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 1572512

We Used to Call Him Baghdad Jim ................................................................... By Paul Kengor on 6.7.13 Before he reached out to the IRS, Rep. Jim McDermott reached out to Saddam Hussein. As a spokesman for defending the indefensible in the IRS scandal, it looks like liberals have trotted out Congressman Jim McDermott. When that happens, it’s a very bad sign for Democrats. Earlier in the week, McDermott provided an outrageous performance from the stage of the House Ways and Means Committee. ( Click here for Kaylin Bugos’ summary at the Spectator site.) It was such a spectacle that McDermott appeared on Megyn Kelly’s show on Fox News Channel for an encore the next day. Kelly questioned McDermott for seeming to shrug off the IRS investigation of a particular Tea Party group. McDermott was testy: “Ms. Kelly, they can still operate. They can still collect money. They can still put out advertisements. They can use their First Amendment right. Nobody in the IRS stopped them from doing that.” This was hardly the point, and a gigantic stretch. When Kelly challenged McDermott, the congressman snapped back: “You are putting words in my mouth! Stop it!” Well, if only we could stop Congressman McDermott. In fact, if only we could put words in his mouth. Unfortunately, we can’t. McDermott does that himself. And the results are frequently disastrous. In anticipation of more to come from Obama’s congressional front-man on the IRS scandal, I herewith submit (as a public service) this McDermott flashback, a walk down memory lane, which I detailed a few years back in my book Dupes: It was an escapade that began about 10 years ago. McDermott and two other anti-war liberal congressmen traveled to Iraq in September 2002 as the Bush administration tried to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Saddam Hussein. Joining McDermott were Rep. David Bonior (D-Mich.) and Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.). Saddam seemed to be on a fishing expedition of sorts, looking for suckers from the U.S. Congress. He knew where to find dupes in, say, the media and Hollywood (remember Sean Penn), but he needed to hook a few from Congress. So, the troika of McDermott, Bonior, and Thompson got a special invite from the Butcher of Baghdad. He wasn’t disappointed. Saddam’s aides couldn’t wait to get a microphone in front of McDermott. More than that, they had a studio ready. Here again, there was no need to put words in McDermott’s mouth. He complied willingly and creatively. On September 29, 2002, the Iraqi government eagerly positioned McDermott and Bonior for an interview with ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Right on cue, McDermott mouthed the Iraqi Baathist Party line, declaring that President George W. Bush “will lie to the American people in order to get us into war.” McDermott didn’t call Saddam Hussein a liar, bear in mind — or anything bad at all. It was the evil Bush who was the liar. When an incredulous Stephanopoulos pushed McDermott for clarification, asking if he stood by his claim that the president would intentionally lie to drag the nation into war, the congressman held firm: “I think the president would mislead the American people.” The Seattle congressman deduced that Bush and the administration would “give out misinformation … information that is not provable.” When Stephanopoulos asked for evidence of Bush’s lying, McDermott didn’t proffer any, simply reaffirming his conviction that the president was a deceiver. Stephanopoulos seemed taken aback when McDermott suspended the same suspicion toward his endearing Iraqi hosts. Whereas Bush operated on duplicity, McDermott said of Saddam and his regime: “I think you have to take the Iraqis on their face value.” Part of that “face value,” said McDermott, was for the Bush administration to understand that Saddam Hussein, after over a decade of obstructing and blocking UN weapons inspectors, was now suddenly supportive of “unfettered inspections.” The Iraqis, added McDermott, had given him and Bonior “assurances” of that. And now Jim McDermott was giving the Iraqis exactly what they wanted. Throughout Iraq, McDermott and friends were a big hit. Every stop on their goodwill tour of the Republic of Fear was circulated by Saddam’s Ministry of Information, which published their itinerary in the regime’s government-controlled newspapers, television, radio, and on the ministry’s website. To make it handy and accessible, the itinerary was published in both Arabic and English. Saddam’s managers didn’t want anyone to miss the McDermott show.

To: SilentZ who wrote (729463)	7/28/2013 5:02:54 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 1572512

Before he reached out to the IRS, Jim McDermott reached out to Saddam Hussein.

To: SilentZ who wrote (729463)	7/28/2013 5:23:30 PM
From: jlallen	Respond to of 1572512

Except for the fact that Bush did not mislead the US into war, you might have a point......

To: SilentZ who wrote (729463)	7/29/2013 2:18:19 AM
From: Tenchusatsu	2 Recommendations Recommended By Brumar89 TideGlider Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1572512

Z, And maybe you call him Baghdad Jim, but he got that nickname for doing something good. Opposition to a war is no excuse for treason. His trip to Iraq was reportedly to see the devastating effects of economic sanctions, but that contradicts the left's position that economic sanctions should have continued. All he did was aid and abet the enemy. He chose the wrong side in this conflict, and regardless of whether you thought the Iraq War was worth it or whether Bush misled the public, his actions were completely inexcusable. Tenchusatsu