Calling the announcement “seismic,” MSNBC TV just reported that pro-defense House member John Murtha (D-Pa) has “called for the United States ‘to immediately redeploy U.S. troops consistent with the safety of U.S. forces’.”
While Bush and Cheney are attacking their war critics, their most staunch, count-on-me supporters are slipping away, one by one, and more and more vocally.
“A leading pro-defense Democrat in the House of Representatives on Thursday urged the Bush administration to start the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq,” reports Reuters/Yahoo. “‘The U.S. cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. It is time to bring them home,’ said Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a senior Democrat on the subcommittee that oversees military spending.”
Yahoo/AP: “Murtha voted to give the president authority to use force against Saddam Hussein in 2002. In recent months, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee defense panel has grown increasingly troubled with the direction of the war and with the Bush administration’s handling of it, particularly following the disclosure of purportedly secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe.”
“With a U.S. troop redeployment, the Iraqi security forces will be incentified to take control,” Murtha told the A.P. this morning. The Reuters/Yahoo story adds:
Murtha urged the administration to “immediately redeploy U.S. troops consistent with the safety of U.S. forces.”
He also called for creation of a “quick reaction force” in the region, keeping some presence of Marines, and to diplomatically pursue security and stability in Iraq.
“We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interest of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf region,” said Murtha, a leading Democratic spokesman on defense issues. (Reuters/Yahoo)
No statement is yet available at Murtha’s Web site. The Yahoo/AP story also says that Murtha, “a decorated Vietnam War veteran,” is a close adviser to House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif).
“The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion,” Murtha said. (Yahoo/AP)
NOTE: Raw Story‘s major headline is “Senior Democrat and veteran calls for immediate Iraq pullout.”
It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion…
Very impressive quote. People are finally waking up all over.
I hope what he’s said isn’t discounted because he’s a Democrat…. he sounds more hawkish than most.
And I’m hoping that the Pennsylvania crowd will give their reactions.
Murtha was a marine for 37 years. It would be great theater for the chickenhawks in the cheney camp to try to attack him on the issue ofpatriotism or partisanship. Murtha was even more supportive of the war than the stealth Dem Lieberman.
He was ripping into Cheney’s 5 deferments this morning on the radio.
Good. I wish I’d heard those remarks; they must have been priceless.
From here.
Great remarks.
Thanks for digging them out.
No digging. I got in my email.
Long live the internet!
now, if he would only make a “seismic” shift in his position regarding women’s health and safety.
that this gets more play in the press than Bob Woodward’s shenanigans and the Scooter Libby is a martyr nonsense. Or are they going to put this guy in the “irresponsible” and “reprehensible” and not supporting our troops category?
Signing off right now to call Murtha’s DC office (202-225-2065) with a great big Thank you!
I saw part of his ‘speech” this morning. When he was talking about the wounded he has visited and how they are not getting the help they need, physicaly or emotionally I just felt so sad and elated at the same time. Someone is finally saying what needs to be said, 2070 dead and 20,000 wounded and scarred later. I will call his office too. May they all start lining up beside him….every last one, both sides of the aisle.
Maybe, just maybe, he can help out our angle, Hackworth, from heaven get the troops out and asap! I do think there is a process to go through, but in the end result, it will be very soon that we withdraw. More power to the thinking of those who now see the light! It is going to get very interesting and very soon to se how this all works out. I must remind you tho, once a marine, always a marine…..;o) just kidding here….
angle=angel sorry
I miss reading and hearing what Hack had to say so much. If ever there was a soldier who really cared about the boots on the ground and would fight to make things better for them and all vets it was him…with no bs.
I think they are going to be replaying his speech or bits of it all day on the cable shows…at least it looks like they will. I thought he was quite powerful. Like you Lee, I felt sad(that it’s taking so long for democrats to come out of their chickenshit political stupor)and elated that the tide of opinion seems to be turning on the war and everything bushco has touched.
This is the way to counter the GOP spin. Keeping hammering the Truth home and eventually it’s going to stick.
So Slooooooooow
But better late than never.
No matter how many Congresscritters joined those wanting to end the nightmare, there were always others like Representative Mendell Rivers (ruled the House Armed Service Committe with an iron fist for many years) or Senator Strom Thurmond to insist that the war must continue to be fought whatever the ultimate price in lives, and denouncing anyone who thought otherwise as being insufficiently patriotic. What is interesting here is that no one outside of BushCo. seems to have the stomach for that. True, there are Concritters willing to pay lip service to keeping the war going, but there seem to be no true believers like Rivers and Thurmond. Even Holy Joe Lieberman seems to understand that the tide has turned regarding the public’s willingness to tolerate the continuing disaster.
Well, damn. Murtha?
OK, game over.
It’s spelled d.e.f.e.a.t. People are going to have to get used to it.
Funny how the feminist perspective works isn’t it?
I would have written this headline on this Murtha story as “Seismic” Shift by Infamous Anti-Choice Democrat.
And why would I say that about Representative Murtha?
Murtha has a 100% (anti-choice) rating by the Democrats for (fetal) Life. He has a 0% rating by NARAL. :::warning, both are PDF links:::
George Bush is in bad shape though, isn’t he? This story proves it. Murtha has to reposition himself on the war to keep a future run at a leadership position open as a possibility, if Democrats regain a majority. With Murtha in a leadership post we surely wouldn’t have to worry about any pro-fetal-life legislation making it to the floor, would we?
Murtha wants to reinstitute the draft also.
Clearly he’s an atavistic type, a dinosaur of sorts, and his [position against abortionj rights means I’d never be able to vote for him under any circumstances.
On this issue of withdrawing from Iraq, however, I think he’s doing the right thing, and I applaud him for it.
What’s interesting is that the Washington Post has “frontpaged” this, but DailyKos hasn’t.
I guess that means Harry and Hillary aren’t on board.
… if you get a chance to watch the Newshour do so. Murtha delivers straight talk from a military perspective and a veteran’s perspective.
When asked by Margaret Warner if other Democrats might follow suit, (I’m paraphrasing) he says he hopes this is a watershed moment.
Like I said–game OVER. If HE can say enough, then so can everyone else. He’s provided cover for those needing it, so just do it already.
If I am reading this correctly, this is an open invitation for all Dems and moderate Republicans to jump off the sinking ship. Those who will not can not say that nobody warned me that the ship was sinking!
Here is the Text (from the DCCC website of a Resolution:
Murtha Resolution To Redeploy U.S. Forces from Iraq:
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 17, 2005
MR. MURTHA introduced the following joint resolution, which was referred to the Committee on _______
Whereas Congress and the American People have not been shown clear, measurable progress toward establishment of stable and improving security in Iraq or of a stable and improving economy in Iraq, both of which are essential to “promote the emergence of a democratic government”;
Whereas additional stabilization in Iraq by U, S. military forces cannot be achieved without the deployment of hundreds of thousands of additional U S. troops, which in turn cannot be achieved without a military draft;
Whereas more than $277 billion has been appropriated by the United States Congress to prosecute U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan;
Whereas, as of the drafting of this resolution, 2,079 U.S. troops have been killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom;
Whereas U.S. forces have become the target of the insurgency,
Whereas, according to recent polls, over 80% of the Iraqi people want U.S. forces out of Iraq;
Whereas polls also indicate that 45% of the Iraqi people feel that the attacks on U.S. forces are justified;
Whereas, due to the foregoing, Congress finds it evident that continuing U.S. military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the people of Iraq, or the Persian Gulf Region, which were cited in Public Law 107-243 as justification for undertaking such action;
Therefore be it
I) Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Murtha just called them out…WOW…who’d a thunk…combine this with the latest polling and add a dash of Fitzgerald…things are about to get very, very interesting. Dangerous waters me laddies.
Peace…might this be this first step?
On the PBS NewsHour Just Went Ballistic On The bush Administration!!
Finally this fellow ‘Nam Vet has Figured Out being a Hawk with alliances to NEO-CONs Is Extremely Wrong!!!!
IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCE
END THE OCCUPATION
Please Give and Help This Orginization Grow