DID REP. MCDERMOTT TAKE SADDAM'S MONEY?

As reported in NewsMax, the Weekly Standard (story not online--I checked) says apparently he did, via a middleman. The story goes that McDermott accepted the cash within a month of his infamous visit to Baghdad last year--a visit during which he accused President Bush of lying in order to get America into war with Iraq. And McDermott's cash source is connected to another curious Saddamite apologist:

McDermott collected the payment from Shakir al-Khafaji, the same Detroit-based Baghdad apologist who paid former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter $400,000 two years ago to make a pro-Saddam documentary about Iraq.

Appearing live from Baghdad on the Sept. 29 broadcast of ABC's "This Week," McDermott proclaimed, "The president of the United States will lie to the American people in order to get us into this war." The comment generated a firestorm of criticism in the U.S. that earned him the moniker "Baghdad Jim."

A little less than a month later, on Oct. 25, McDermott accepted a check from al-Khafaji for $5,000, made out to the anti-war Democrat's "Legal Expense Trust."

This looks mighty treasonous if it turns out to be true. Can't say I'm surprised. In fact, I can say advantage JunkYardBlog, if this turns out to be true.