McDermott in Hot Water for Saddam Quip
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press Writer
December 15, 2003, 9:07 PM EST
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., who earned headlines across the
globe last year for criticizing President Bush while in Baghdad, is enmeshed in
a new controversy over remarks he made about the capture of Saddam Hussein.
In an interview Monday with a Seattle radio station, McDermott said the U.S.
military could have found the former Iraqi dictator "a long time ago if
they wanted."
Asked if he thought the weekend capture was timed to help Bush, McDermott
chuckled and said, "Yeah. Oh, yeah."
McDermott went on to say, "There's too much by happenstance for it to be
just a coincidental thing."
When interviewer Dave Ross asked again if he meant to imply the Bush
administration timed the capture for political reasons, McDermott said: "I
don't know that it was definitely planned on this weekend, but I know they've
been in contact with people all along who knew basically where he was. It was
just a matter of time till they'd find him.
"It's funny," McDermott added, "when they're having all this
trouble, suddenly they have to roll out something."
State Republicans immediately condemned McDermott's remarks, saying the Seattle
Democrat again was engaging in "crazy talk" about the Iraq war.
"Once again McDermott has embarrassed this state with his irresponsible
ranting," GOP state Chairman Chris Vance said in a news release.
"Calling on him to apologize is useless, but I call on other Democrats to
let the public know if they agree with McDermott -- and Howard Dean, who
recently said he thought it was possible that President Bush had advance
knowledge about 9/11. The voters deserve to know if the entire Democratic Party
believes in these sorts of bitter, paranoid conspiracy theories."
Last year, Vance and other Republicans labeled McDermott "Baghdad
Jim" for comments he made during a trip to Baghdad that President Bush
"would mislead the American people" but that Saddam could be trusted.
On Monday, Democrats joined the criticism of McDermott.
"With all due respect to my colleague, that is a fantasy," Rep. Norm
Dicks, D-Wash., said of McDermott's comments. "That just is not right. ...
It's one thing to criticize this administration for having done this war. I
mean, that's a fair question. But to criticize them on the capture of Saddam,
when it's such a big thing to our troops, is just ridiculous."
McDermott, in a telephone interview with The Associated Press, called the
timing of Saddam's capture suspicious but said he was not alleging it had been
intentionally delayed.
"Everything was going wrong, and they got a real Christmas gift, if you
will, in that the troops did a magnificent job and found" Saddam, he said.
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press
Charles
Mims
http://www.the-sandbox.org