Carolina Pol's Iraq Trip Causing a Stir

North Carolina Republican
Rep. Patrick McHenry has returned from a trip to Iraq to find himself in some hot water, on two accounts. Most recently, McHenry had to remove a video of the Green Zone from his Web site because of security concerns.

On Friday, his Web site featured a video shot in the fortified section of Baghdad known as the Green Zone. McHenry could be seen gesturing to a building behind him and saying that one of 11 rockets
"hit just over my head." Then he named two other places struck by the rockets.

On Monday, a veterans group called VoteVets.org accused
McHenry of giving away intelligence information that could have aided terrorist organizations in targeting the Green Zone.

The congressman's spokesman said his staff "voluntarily removed the video after learning that it might infringe on accepted protocol, and then contacted officials at the Department of
Defense, who supported our decision."

DOD had this to say:

A Pentagon spokesman said he didn't know what McHenry was told in
Iraq, "but we routinely brief our operational rules to our visitors in
Iraq and Afghanistan."

"We do not as a matter of policy discuss attacks in a way that would provide the enemy any better understanding of the effectiveness of their attacks," said Lt. Col. Todd Vician.

But that's not all. McHenry, upon his return, also gave a speech in which he spoke indignantly about being unable to get into a Green Zone workout facility.

McHenry said that after a day of jumping on and off Blackhawk helicopters wearing flack jackets and Kevlar helmets, he had trouble sleeping in the pool house of a former palace of Saddam Hussein. So he tried to get some exercise.

"Sure enough, the guard wouldn't let me in," McHenry told the dinner crowd, according to an audio tape of his March 29 speech given to the Observer by his GOP challenger for the
10th District seat, military attorney Lance Sigmon of Newton.

"He said I didn't have the correct credentials," McHenry continued. "It's 5
o'clock in the morning and I haven't had sleep. I was not very happy with this two-bit security guard."

McHenry said he asked to speak to the guard's supervisor, but 30 minutes later, "after the supervisor wasn't happy with me, they escorted me back to my room."

"It happens," he told the crowd. "I guess I didn't need to work out anyway."

It's all on video, to the delight of McHenry's opponents. (Worth watching, by the way.) McHenry later issued a statement of "regret" for what he called a "poor choice of words I used to describe the foreign contractor" who served as the guard.

(Photo: Rep. McHenry)