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.”