Hillary & Hanooti

Muthanna Hanooti, under indictment for having been a US agent of Saddam Hussein, met with First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1997 and reports that he found her "very receptive" to the idea of easing sanctions on Saddam's Iraq.

The Hillary Clinton presidential campaign is offering no comment -- although one might, with tongue firmly in cheek, suggest that highlighting her 1997 position would actually enhance her appeal to those on the left fringe of her party, whose opposition to the Iraq war seems sometimes to spill over into positive sympathy for Saddam's regime.

For those optimists on the left who think it would have been possible to keep Saddam "in a box" indefinitely, note some contemperaneous press coverage:

The news article in 1997, published in the Forward, that described Mrs. Clinton's involvement with Mr. Hanooti began: "The American-led blockade of Iraq is crumbling, following an intensive, domestic lobbying effort that has involved Rep. David Bonior and Senator Abraham — and, according to some sources, Hillary Rodham Clinton."

Of course, the "Rep. David Bonior" referenced in the story is the same guy who took a 2002 trip to Iraq, courtesy of Saddam Hussein -- allegedly unbeknownst to him, of course.