WASHINGTON, 18 December 2003 — Arabs are not alone in believing US conspiracy theories. Here at home, a US member of Congress has accused President George W. Bush of timing Saddam Hussein’s capture this Sunday for Bush’s own political advantage.
Congressman Jim McDermott, D-Washington, said during an interview on Seattle radio Monday that American forces could have captured Saddam “a long time ago if they wanted.”
When the interviewer asked whether the capture of Iraq’s dictator was timed to help the president, Rep. McDermott replied: “Yeah. Oh, yeah. There’s too much by happenstance for it to be just a coincidental thing.”
Asked if he meant that the timing of the capture was manipulated by political aims, McDermott said: “I don’t know that it was definitely planned on this weekend, but I know they’ve been in contact with people all along who knew basically where he was. It was just a matter of time till they’d find him.
“It’s funny, when they were having all this trouble, suddenly they have to roll out something,” said McDermott, who suggested that Bush used the timing of Saddam’s arrest to distract Americans from troubles at home.
But Norm Dicks, a fellow Democratic Congressman from Washington, slammed McDermott for his comments about Saddam’s capture.
“With all due respect to my colleague, that is a fantasy,” Dicks told the Associated Press. “That just is not right. It’s one thing to criticize this administration for having done this war. I mean, that’s a fair question. But to criticize them on the capture of Saddam, when it’s such a big thing to our troops, is just ridiculous.”
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan shrugged off the congressman’s accusations: “I don’t think I have to dignify every ridiculous comment that’s made out there. I think that members of his own party adequately addressed his comments.”
McDermott traveled to Baghdad last year and said President Bush would lie to the American people in order to justify the war.
