Trip to Iraq makes lasting impression, (Rep.) Lewis says [View All]

[Barrett808]

WASHINGTON — Traveling through Iraq, Rep. Jerry Lewis said he saw the blight of the people and became incensed when he saw that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein lived in palaces furnished with gold.

Lewis was part of a delegation with 16 other members of Congress — Democrats and Republicans, those who voted for the resolution to go to war, and those who did not. They toured Iraq before federal lawmakers voted Wednesday to pass an $87 billion supplement plan to support U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lewis traveled through the killing fields in Iraq, where people were often shot and buried alive during Saddam's reign, he said. The delegates saw pieces of clothing stick up through the ground.

Lewis and the other delegates were floored when they learned of Iraq's child mortality rate, which is higher than India's.

"If that's not terrorism, I don't know what is," Lewis said.

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