[Starrgaizr]

Staggering news? Clinton took how much from the Chinese? $5,000 does not rise to the Galloway level of political peril. Now if he took cash prior to changing his views, then maybe. Scott Ritter is a more interesting candidate so far.

[Catspaw]

Gee, I'm just shocked beyond belief that McDermott would take money from Scott Ritter's benefactor. < /sarcasm>

[Blue Screen of Death]

Anyone want to bet if this story ever runs in the Seattle P-I?

[nicmarlo]

BTTT

[SwinneySwitch]

Get a rope!

[kcvl]

On October 25, McDermott received a check for $5,000 from Shakir al-Khafaji. The money, first reported by Amy Keller in Roll Call, had been deposited in an account for the McDermott Legal Expense Trust, a fund the congressman set up to pay legal bills in a lawsuit brought against him by Rep. John Boehner. (In 1996, McDermott had released to the media the transcript of a phone conversation between Boehner and Newt Gingrich, taped by a Florida couple.)


No one has accused McDermott of being a mouthpiece for Saddam Hussein simply for financial reasons. Indeed, McDermott has been saying stupid things for years with no evidence anyone has paid him to do so. A spokesman for McDermott says he "doesn't know off the top of [his] head" whether McDermott has plans to return the money.

[katana]

It was the "$ 400,000 given to Scott Ritter two years ago" that caught my attention. I certainly don't take Newsmax reporting as gospel, but I don't recall hearing that before. It's a startling charge and, if true, explains a lot about Mr. Ritter's behavior. Has anyone seen other reports or documentation (outside Newsmax) for that assertion?

[Mister Baredog]

This should cement his reelection bid. Claiming to be a Vietnam vet it turns out he did his "tour" in Long Beach CA.

[VOA]

bump

[MEG33]

Bttt

[rface]

bump for a later read...

[Billthedrill]

I see my prayers have been answered. Bookmarking this little gem for the next time that greasy SOB comes up for election.

[BallandPowder]

Powder..patch..Ball FIRE!

If he is guilty he should be hung with the cash stuffed in his mouth.

[Grampa Dave]

Is the tip of the iceberg that is connected to the smoking WMDS (WADS of MONEY to DEMOCRATS) from their uncle Soddomite?

[talleyman]

Bump

[kcvl]

Saddam began to realize the importance of good press. "Media people were paid monthly by the Iraqi embassy in Amman," says Nimat, "in cash. They were also given presents, like cars and expensive watches." And Saddam built a "housing complex for the Jordanian Press Association" in Amman, according to Nimat, at a cost of $3 million.

Saddam bought good press in less obvious ways, too. "He would award big contracts to newspapers in Jordan to publish all sorts of stuff, like Iraqi schoolbooks and other things," says Nimat. "The contracts were worth millions, and no one ever found out if they ever printed the books. No one cared."

Saddam got what he wanted. His atrocities mounted, but newspapers in Jordan--even those that offered pointed critiques of Jordan's King Hussein--would print nothing critical of Saddam Hussein.

"It's been going on for almost a quarter century," says Nimat. "In the newspapers in Jordan, you wouldn't have seen anything negative about Saddam Hussein. I don't want to generalize too much, but many of the editors were bought by the regime."

"What Saddam did in Jordan, he did in other poor countries in the region like Egypt and Yemen and Mauritania," says Nimat.

One "top Egyptian editor" told the Wall Street Journal back in 1991 about a conversation he had with Saddam. "I remember his saying, 'Compared to tanks, journalists are cheap--and you get more for your money.'"


MANY OF THESE CORRUPT PRACTICES are confirmed in a CIA report entitled "Baghdad's Propaganda Apparatus" obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD. The report indicates that the Iraqi regime redoubled its information efforts in 1998.

[ShandaLear]

Heavens! Don't they know this information is likely to get him a Senate seat in this state or maybe even the Governor's mansion?

[river rat]

If true....this makes "Baghdad Jim McDermott" another democrat WHORE..

A CHEAP whore --- given the going rates for Clinton or Galloway....

But then again.....McDermott is not cute, and he's stupid to boot..

Semper Fi

[Libertina]

BTTT WA STATE Ping please

[Beck_isright]

And we are to be shocked?