Melanie Morgan

And now for our trip in today's Way Back Time Machine.

Let's visit Iraq, shall we?

That's where three United States Congressmen traveled in 2002, in the days before the Bush administration launched a war to depose Saddam Hussein, sparking a huge controversy. 

Following Ben Bradlee's excellent advice to Woodward and Bernstein during the Watergate era to 'follow the money', the Associated Press has learned that Saddam Hussein's secret agents financed the trip towards treason.

          "An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a member of a Michigan nonprofit group, 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. At the time, the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq." 

One of those Congressmen is  Mike Thompson who represents the First District of California, which spans the famous wine country of Napa and Sonoma counties. 

My question for Thompson, David Bonior and Jim McDermott is this:

Who the hell did you think was financing your trip?

Or didn't you think it was important enough to find out who wrote the check for your 'fact-finding' mission?

It ended, predictably, in a denunciation of President Bush and his efforts to depose a murderous despot who raped, torturted and imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's.

Thompson is a disgusting person, who has lied about me in the past decade in a political debate over stupid liberal policies (but...but...but.. they care so much about the little people.) 

As a state Assemblyman, Thompson was highly involved in efforts by the California Air Resources Board and the legislature to force a poison chemical (MTBE) in our gasoline, which ultimately led to the destruction of hundreds, if not thousands of water supplies in our Golden State. (Thanks to KSFO listeners, MTBE was banned in California in 2002.)

When we called out Thompson's role in this environmental diaster, the hot-headed Congressman publicly accused my former co-host Lee Rodgers and me of 'instigating violence' against him.

He was referring to a drunk guy who showed up as his mother's house and passed out. 

Police reports dismissed the incident. 

So count me among those who aren't crying for Thompson's troubles.

Or Bonior, or Baghdad Jim McDermott.

But my personal experience is that Mike Thompson is a despicable politican, with no more character than Tricky Dick.

In fact, he's making Nixonian tactics look positively mischievous in comparison.

Blog pick-up here. 

FreeRepublic is here. (Thanks Syncro!)