Dems defend Iraq trip

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Two Democratic congressmen who recently returned from Iraq lashed out Wednesday against charges that their trip made them traitors or propaganda tools of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Reps. David Bonior of Michigan and Jim McDermott of Washington state insisted that they had served the country in a positive way through their mission to explain to Iraqi leaders the serious risk of war if Saddam did not comply with unfettered U.N. inspections.

The congressmen did not criticize President George W. Bush directly Wednesday, but said the White House was undervaluing the importance of dissent. They said their desire for peace was based on their own firsthand knowledge of the horrors of war in Vietnam.

"We paid. We did our part. Nobody's going to accuse us of being traitors to our country," McDermott said.

"We're not at war with Iraq -- unless they declared war when we weren't here, we're not at war with them," McDermott continued. "We wanted to go over and give them the message from people who don't want to go to war: 'You better listen to what the president is saying, because if you don't, you're not hearing what's going on in our country.'"

Reps. McDermott, Bonior and Mike Thompson, D-Calif., returned Tuesday from a five-day visit to Iraq organized by Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Interfaith Network of Concern for the People of Iraq. On the visit, the congressmen met with Iraqi leaders and toured schools and hospitals to survey the humanitarian situation.

Appearing on television over the weekend, McDermott infuriated Republicans by criticizing Bush over U.S. policy toward Iraq.

"I think the president would mislead the American public" about the need for war, McDermott said.

The barbed remarks made him a target for Republican critics, who accused him of coddling Saddam.

"He needs to come home and keep his mouth shut," said Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.

McDermott, a seventh-term congressman, backed away from his remarks about the president's intentions Wednesday, focusing instead on his core message that disarmament and not regime change should be the goal of U.S. policy and that U.N. inspections should be given the opportunity to succeed.

"Inspections work better than war. That should be our goal. That should be the first priority that we have, for the safety of our own troops, our own people, and for the stability of the world community," he said.

Both men said they had little faith in Saddam, but said they felt war was not necessary if the Iraqi leader could be disarmed.

"Saddam Hussein is not a good person, he's not to be trusted," Bonior said. "But in resolving this issue with him, it should be done internationally with the world at our side through the United Nations."