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Rula Amin: U.S. congressmen in Iraq
(CNN) -- Three U.S. congressmen continued their controversial visit Monday to Iraq, where they are trying to convince Iraqi officials to allow weapons inspectors in to their country and avert possible U.S. military action. CNN's Rula Amin also is in Baghdad, Iraq, where she spoke Monday with CNN anchor Carol Costello. AMIN: The three congressmen have been here for a few days now. They said they were here on a mission of two aspects. One is that they wanted to have a closer look themselves at what is the impact of the sanctions on Iraq, on Iraq's society, its economy and its children. And they say that they were horrified by what they saw, and that they wanted to make sure that they are here as witnesses to go back to the United States and tell their constituency, tell the American people that if there is another war here, the people here are going to be harmed -- there is no way to have a war here without causing some kind of damage to the Iraqis themselves. And they also say that they are concerned that, if American soldiers get here, they will also be harmed and they're trying to avert that. They want to make sure that every diplomatic avenue is pursued before war is resorted to. They don't want to see war here and they say it should be the last resort. The other message that the other congressmen have been trying to convey to Iraq and Iraqi officials is that Iraq should give the [U.N. weapons] inspectors -- when they get here -- unfettered access. This is the main message, according to Jim McDermott, the congressman from Washington. The congressmen have told the Iraqis that they should give the inspectors unfettered access because that is the only way to end this crisis diplomatically. And they also were very adamant to make sure that the Iraqis understand how serious the U.S. administration and the U.S. Congress are regarding disarming Iraq of all kinds of weapons of mass destruction, and that the United States is very serious to enforce that determination, even if Iraq doesn't want to comply. They're trying to make sure the Iraqis understand that if they don't disarm, there will be a war here. And this is the main message. COSTELLO: Have they [the congressmen] visited any weapons sites? AMIN: No, they have not visited any weapons sites. Mainly, they have been meeting with U.N. officials, Iraqi officials, the health minister, the deputy prime minister. They went to hospitals here in Baghdad. They traveled down to the southern city of Basra, where sanctions have had a bigger impact on the population. And there, they made their strongest statements after they visited certain hospitals and saw Iraqi children with cancer and different illnesses that there was no medication for. And they feel that this is unjustified, and the only way to end this suffering is for Iraq to give unfettered access so that the inspectors can verify that Iraq doesn't have weapons of mass destruction -- if that is the case -- so that sanctions can be lifted and the suffering can end.
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