Thompson Reflects on Middle East

Congressman discusses ’02 Iraq visit, recent fact-finding mission

By JILLIAN JONES
Register Staff Writer

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, met the Napa press Thursday, a week after his visit to the Middle East and just one day after allegations surfaced that Saddam Hussein’s regime financed Thompson’s controversial 2002 trip to Iraq.

The press conference, held at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, coincided with a planned Thompson visit to award a Purple Heart and Bronze Star to a Napa veteran.

But one day earlier, federal prosecutors charged Iraqi-American Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a charity official in Detroit and allegedly an agent for Saddam’s intelligence service, with organizing the 2002 trip to Iraq for Thompson and two other U.S. lawmakers.

Thompson returned from the trip — which took place months before the U.S. authorized military action against Iraq — facing harsh criticism from conservative circles for his anti-war sentiments and his call for a diplomatic solution to Iraqi-U.S. tensions.

Neither Thompson nor the lawmakers who accompanied him have been charged with wrongdoing, nor has anyone suggested they knew about the Saddam regime’s involvement in the trip’s funding.

Thompson said Thursday the trip was approved by the State Department, and that the charity with which Al-Hanooti worked was “well respected” and “operated lawfully and ethically.”

“My staff vetted the charity the best we could,” he said, noting that it “appeared to be on the up and up.”

About two years ago, one of the lawmakers who accompanied him on the trip, Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., suggested that Al-Hanooti was under investigation, he said, but no further details were provided.

When the indictment was released Wednesday, Thompson said he was “interested, not surprised.”

Had he known Saddam was tied to funding for the trip, he would not have gone, Thompson said.

Regardless, Thompson said he is confident visiting Iraq was the right move with the United States on the verge of deploying troops overseas.

“We were about to vote on a war that very few members of Congress knew much about,” he said.

“I knew that this would not be my last vote” on the war, he said, stressing the importance of observing the situation firsthand.

When Thompson returned, he expressed his objection to the war and said U.S. troops would be challenged by unfamiliar insurgent tactics and desert conditions.

“I was right, unfortunately,” added Thompson. “Everything I feared would happen … has come to fruition.”

Thompson said he does not feel as if he was tricked by Saddam’s regime to make the trip.

“The people that were tricked, or the people that were duped, are the people that believe this president,” he said.

From Jordan to Napa Pipe

Last week, Thompson visited the Middle East again as part of a fact-finding trip for his post on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Traveling to Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, he evaluated America’s intelligence operations overseas.

Commending the “good people over there doing great work,” Thompson emphasized intelligence must be collected without creating additional enemies.

Thompson said one experience during last week’s visit reminded him of his 2002 journey, he said.

Thompson flew into Jordan on his way to Baghdad in 2002, where he said he met a group of Jordanian businessmen worried about the effects an American invasion of Iraq might have on neighboring countries.

Last week, in Jordan once again, he said, “I couldn’t help thinking … ‘All of this has come to fruition.’”

“There are a tremendous number of (Iraqi) refugees” in Jordan who are “taxing their resources,” he said.

Jordanians, said Thompson, refer to refugees as “guests,” suggesting the country’s hope that they will return to Iraq.

“They are not going to be able to go ‘home’ home,” said Thompson. “They may be able to return to Iraq … (but) it is going to be a new day there.”

Thompson also discussed the upcoming presidential election, calling the likelihood of a Democrat occupying the White House in 2009 “not an ‘if’ but a ‘when.’”

Thompson announced in January that he is backing Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., as the Democratic candidate.

But in the California Primary, Thompson’s district showed more support for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Thompson said he will not change his endorsement. But as a Democratic Party superdelegate, it is unclear whether Thompson will side with the majority of voters or cast his superdelegate vote for Clinton.

“That question is premature,” he said. “Ask me before the convention.”

Thompson notes that the First Congressional District— which includes Napa — is closely divided on the two Democratic candidates. Obama won in the First District with 47.2 percent of the vote, compared with Clinton’s 44.9 percent.

“We have two great candidates,” he said.

Thompson played down the concern over the role superdelegates will play with the tight race for electoral votes.

“I don’t think the superdelegate situation is as big a deal as the Napa Register blog (commentators) think it is. I don’t think superdelegates … are going to go into some back room to decide who the next president is going to be.”

Thompson said there is also a possibility that he will not cast a superdelegate vote at all.

Thompson said he is not taking a position on Napa County’s Measure N or the proposed Napa Pipe project.

As for his upcoming run for re-election, Thompson stressed the importance of seniority in Congress.

“The longer you’re there, the more things you can do for your district,” he said. Thompson faces three challengers, Democrat Mitch Clogg of the Mendocino Coast and Republicans Doug Pharr, a former Napa County prosecutor and Zane Starkewolf of Davis.

“I hope I’ve done a job worthy enough for reelection,” he said. “I have no desire to do anything else.”

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