Fallout from Congressional Iraqi Excursion by the "Baghdad Three"

Steven Hertzberg mailinglist at hertzberg.org
Fri Oct 4 07:07:23 PDT 2002


Interesting perspective from inside the Beltway.

As usual, it appears that most congressional members are far more worried about political fallout (in an election year) potentially caused by the "Baghdad Three" than the consequences of War in the Middle East.

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GOD BLESS THEM - THEN KINDLY GET OUT OF THEIR WAY Oct. 3rd edition of Roll Call

Democrats Continue Their Strategy to Implode - and it's Working If Democrats fail to win back the House, it's likely that some in the party will look for the seeds of defeat in a late-September weekend in Baghdad, where visiting Democratic Congressmen asked the world to put faith in the word of Saddam Hussein.

"It's just a disaster," said one top Democratic official, who requested anonymity. "Even the average person who doesn't believe we should go to war in Iraq is bound to see [the visit] as support for an enemy of the United States. And those who support the president on Iraq will think it's treasonous."

Members and strategists are still sifting through the fallout of last week's visit to Iraq by Reps. David Bonior (D-Mich.), Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) - already known collectively as the "Baghdad Three" in some leadership circles.

But among the Democrats who fitfully monitor the party's prospects for success this November, one verdict is already in: The visit, during which two of the Members openly questioned the Bush administration's Iraq policy, wasn't helpful.

"It was extremely harmful and destructive," said one top leadership aide who worried whether Democrats in marginal districts would be able to distance themselves from the words and actions of their colleagues. "It showed incredibly bad judgment.

"I assume there is no [politically] marginal Member who wants to have anything to do with these guys right now."

Insiders, in fact, speculated that the visit may already have claimed its first Democratic victim in Thompson, a major party fundraiser who had been short-listed to one day lead the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Although Thompson has sought to distance himself from statements made in Baghdad by his two travelling companions, there appeared to be wide consensus that the Iraq trip had, at the very least, interrupted the California lawmaker's leadership trajectory.

"I sure hope it eliminates the possibility" that Thompson would be considered for the DCCC job, one top Democratic strategist said, predicting that a significant number of contributors would not give to a committee headed by the California lawmaker.

"He becomes toxic" because of the Iraq visit, the strategist said.

The hand-wringing among top party officials and strategists was prompted mainly by remarks Bonior and McDermott made in interviews they participated in from Iraq.

McDermott, for one, appeared to call President Bush's truthfulness into question, saying, "I think the president would mislead the American people," while at the same time suggesting the word of the Iraqi regime should be taken at "face value."

The remarks were quickly seized on by some Republicans as evidence that the Democrats could not be trusted with important national security matters.

"Jim McDermott's remarks in Iraq are unconscionable, unpatriotic and unAmerican," said Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas), a former prisoner of war in Vietnam. "You can't go cavorting around with the enemy and be a great American."

One top GOP official hinted that far more was in store. "When you have senior Democrats in Baghdad questioning the president's credibility and saying that Saddam Hussein can be trusted, anything the Republicans do in response to that is fair game," the official said.

Asked for specifics, the official cited television spots, radio ads and direct mail as possible avenues to pursue, but said, "That's about as far as I can go on that."

Publicly, most Democrats on Capitol Hill have distanced themselves from the remarks made by Bonior and McDermott while insisting that Members should be permitted to do and say what they please.

"I wouldn't have gone. I wouldn't have made the statements that were made. I don't agree with [the statements]," Democratic Caucus Chairman Martin Frost (Texas) said.

But he added, "They have every right to go - as Members of Congress representing some 600,000 people - and to express their opinions."

To be sure, there is no evidence yet that the Iraq visit has had even a marginal impact on any single House race or on the election as a whole.

But privately many Democrats suggest the trip brought about new "atmospherics" on the campaign trail that augur poorly for the Democrats, particularly insofar as they set back Democrats' efforts to portray themselves as "responsible" on foreign policy and national security - two issues where the public tends to place more faith in the GOP.

"At least until we have a vote [on a war resolution], the Democratic Party will be tarred by the actions of these three," a top Democratic Party strategist said.

In an interview, Thompson said that he found the trip to Iraq to be constructive, particularly in that it confirmed for him that Hussein is "a terrible dictator" and that "regime change is needed."

Thompson said he went to Iraq to evaluate the situation there for himself and to convey to Iraqi officials that they have to allow unimpeded weapons inspections if they hope to avoid war.

To speculation that he had derailed whatever leadership aspirations he may have had, Thompson said, "I just don't know how anybody could suggest that trying to get more information, trying to keep a war from taking place, is a bad thing."

Thompson added, "I think my intentions were pretty pure, and I think that if anyone wants to use that for political purposes - that's appalling. I think we should all have the same desire, and that's to see if we can avoid war."

McDermott, for his part, sought to clarify his remarks Wednesday on Capitol Hill. "I don't trust Saddam Hussein under any circumstances," he told reporters at a press conference where he was joined by Bonior.

But he and Bonior defended the trip as an honest effort to bring about a workable peace and avoid war, and suggested the White House does not share those aims.

Neither Bonior nor McDermott responded to phone calls seeking comment.

_________________________________ Steven Hertzberg



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