Back from Baghdad

Congressman defends his trip to Iraq

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. James McDermott, D-Washington, and two fellow lawmakers are under fire for a recent trip they took to Baghdad. The congressmen say they were simply trying to convey to the Iraqis that war is likely if authorities don't allow unfettered U.N. weapons inspections.

McDermott and Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, stepped into the "Crossfire" with hosts Robert Novak and Paul Begala to debate whether or not the congressmen should have gone to Iraq.

NOVAK: Congressman, I don't have any problem, some people do. Senator Inhofe might have problems with you going over there. But did you weigh your words? That you are standing there in Baghdad and in fact calling the president of the United States a liar? Do you think that might have been inappropriate?

McDERMOTT: Do you think that if (the) press asks you something you should answer it? I mean would you answer the press? I've never stopped you before.

NOVAK: No, I don't answer the questions, I ask them.

MCDERMOTT: I see, you ask the questions.

NOVAK: Exactly.

BEGALA: Would you answer the congressman's question?

INHOFE: Oh, yes, absolutely. I wouldn't be there in the first place. I don't think it's appropriate to go over there and aid and comfort the enemy when he says, "Well, we're not at war."

That's kind of a technicality. That's semantics. They were shooting down -- trying to shoot down -- our pilots at the time he was over there. And I think that's outrageous.

So the answer to the question is, no, I wouldn't have.

McDERMOTT: You mean the planes that were bombing them; they were trying to shoot them down?

INHOFE: No -- bombing them in a no-fly zone? They had...

McDERMOTT: I was in the airport and saw the damage done by the planes.

INHOFE: I can't believe this. I can't believe this.

McDERMOTT: Well, I mean you've got to admit that we're bombing in Iraq, don't you?

INHOFE: I don't have to admit that we're bombing in Iraq. We're trying to take out surface-to-air missiles that are shooting at our pilots.

McDERMOTT: And so we're doing it, what, with powder puffs and marshmallows? What are we using? We're using bombs, man.

INHOFE: Then I think everyone would agree this is a war after all. It's not a declared war. You liberals are always that way. You say, well, if it's not officially a declared war -- I can go over there and I can be nice to these people. Here's a guy that tried to murder our president, a guy that murdered 5,000 of his own citizens in one day. A guy that right now is shooting at our pilots that are flying legally in a no-fly zone patrolling it.

McDERMOTT: There's no legal no-fly zone.

INHOFE: Oh yes there is.

McDERMOTT: Under what? You tell me the law...

INHOFE: Under U.N. resolutions that he agreed to.

McDERMOTT: No. There's no legal resolution -- no, there's no resolution for the no-fly zones.

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