Was congressmen's Iraq trip financed by Saddam?

Joe Kaufman, who heads up a terrorism watchdog group, suggests that three anti-war Democratic congressmen may have known Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed their trip to Iraq during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion.

Democrats Jim McDermott (Washington), David Bonior (Michigan) and Mike Thompson (California) made the trip in October 2002. Federal prosecutors say the trip was arranged by Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a Michigan Muslim charity official, who was charged Wednesday with setting up the junket at the behest of Saddam's regime. Al-Hanooti headed the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in 2000.
 
Joe Kaufman, chairman of Americans Against Hate and director of CAIR Watch, notes Al-Hanooti helped coordinate another Iraq trip in 2000 for Bonior, fellow Michigan Democrat John Conyers (Michigan), and Republican Tom Campbell (California).
 
"These congressmen have really been in the pocket of radical Muslim groups for quite some time. So to say that they didn't know what was going on -- I don't know if that's true or not."
 
Kaufman says McDermott, Bonior, and Thompson have all received campaign contributions from Muslims who are serving jail time for their involvement in terrorist activities.
 
The federal indictment claims Hussein's agents paid $34,000 for the 2002 trip's expenses, and the money went to a Michigan charity Al-Hanooti helped lead.