Saddam Bankrolled Dem Senators' Antiwar Trip

The phrase "useful idiots" springs to mind:

WASHINGTON (AP) - 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, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
The three anti-war Democrats made the trip in October 2002, while the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq. While traveling, they called for a diplomatic solution.

The likely recipients of Hussein's largesse:

The lawmakers are not named in the indictment but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California.

They say they wouldn't have gone if they'd known who was footing the bill. They don't say why they didn't bother to find out who was footing the bill.

Update: The Blog, Edited by Michael Goldfarb reports that the congressional Dems were curiously incurious about who was funding their trip, and Jim McDermott, asked how it felt to be used as a propaganda stooge for Saddam said, "If being used means that we're highlighting the suffering of Iraqi children, or any children, then, yes, we don't mind being used."

So there.