Indictment: Iraq paid for junket

Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that a U.S. citizen working as a secret agent for Saddam Hussein organized and accompanied a congressional delegation trip to Iraq in 2002.

The trip was covertly funded by Iraq’s intelligence service, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

The indictment calls attention to the problem of Iraqi spies operating within the United States before the invasion.

The Justice Department has brought charges against roughly a dozen of Saddam's agents operating within the United States since Operation Iraqi Freedom began in 2003.

The Michigan resident began working for the Iraqi intelligence service without registering with the Justice Department and was paid for his services with 2 million barrels of oil, the indictment said.

The trip was organized by a Michigan charity, Life for Relief and Development, that looked legitimate but in fact was connected to the Iraq government, according to the indictment.

The October 2002 trip included three members of Congress, the indictment said. Between 1999 and 2002, the Michigan man had been providing the Iraqi intelligence service with strategic advice on getting Congress to lift sanctions against Iraq, the indictment added.




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