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Murtha, at a glance (click on each to read article)
Murtha
questions his own medals
Nov. 17, 2005 Cut and Run Resolution
Murtha
votes against his own Resolution to Cut and Run
Murtha's brother gets $20 million in Defense Contracts
Nancy Pelosi's nephew gets $ millions Defense Money earmarks
PA Rep. Paul Kanjorksi's children's companies get $ millions Defense
Money earmarks
Murtha stonewalls
constituent Iraq War vets
Murtha photo-ops
with anti-war soldier harassing Code Pink, accepts awards
Murtha is the top
recipient of defense industry dollars in the current 2006 election
cycle.
Murtha,
2004: Cut and Run is bad... Murtha, 2005: Cut and Run is good
Murtha says
redeploy to OKINAWA!
Osama bin
Laden statement about Cut and Run from Somalia
 Full 54-minute
Murtha ABSCAM Tape
revealed, online now
The question of whether Rep. John Murtha is a crook or not is now
definitive. Congressman John Murtha’s full 54-minute ABSCAM meeting is
out.
A Sept. 29, 2006 American Spectator article, based on the 54-minute video
and scores of sworn testimony given by Murtha under oath, reveals a
congressman anxious to cut a deal on his terms. The article includes a
link to the full 54-minute video online: [LINK
to video] [LINK
to article] [LINK
to full transcript of meeting]
Rep. Don Bailey's Letter to Murtha
May 5, 2002
[LINK
to entire letter]
[Excerpt]
Former Democratic congressional colleague and fellow decorated Vietnam
veteran, Don Bailey of Pennsylvania, alleges that Murtha admitted
during an emotional conversation on the floor of the U.S. House in the
early 1980s that he did not deserve his Purple Hearts
"... you admitted, back in our corner, that you didn't earn your
purple hearts (sic) (you indicated you had small scratch on your cheek
that wasn't even directly related to an APC [Armored Personnel
Carrier] that ran over a small antipersonnel mine that was behind
you). The other purple heart [sic] you even declined to explain,"
wrote Bailey in
an open letter dated May 5, 2002.
The Murtha Resolution [pull all troops out of Iraq within 6 months]
official release [LINK
to entire resolution]
Nov. 17, 2005
Congressman Murtha calls for redeployment
from Iraq
official statement release [LINK
to text]
prepared statement [LINK
to text]
Nov. 17, 2005
Final Vote on Murtha Resolution to Withdraw Troops from Iraq: 404-3
MURTHA submitted the resolution, then
VOTED NO [LINK
to full results]
GOP Lawmakers Float Ethics Probe of Murtha
Roll Call / John Bresnahan, Roll Call
Staff
Nov. 18, 2005
[LINK
to entire article]
[Excerpt]
Republican lawmakers say that ties between Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.)
and his brother's lobbying firm, KSA Consulting, may warrant
investigation by the House ethics committee...
According to a June 13 article in The Los Angeles Times, the fiscal
2005 defense appropriations bill included more than $20 million in
funding for at least 10 companies for whom KSA lobbied. Carmen
Scialabba, a longtime Murtha aide, works at KSA as well.
KSA directly lobbied Murtha's office on behalf of seven companies, and
a Murtha aide told a defense contractor that it should retain KSA to
represent it, according to the LA Times.
In early 2004, Murtha reportedly leaned on U.S. Navy officials to sign
a contract to transfer the Hunters Point Shipyard to the city of San
Francisco, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. A company called
Lennar Inc. had right to the land, and Laurence Pelosi, nephew to
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was an executive with
the firm at that time.
Murtha also inserted earmarks in defense bills that steered millions
of dollars in federal research funds toward companies owned by
children of fellow Pennsylvania Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D).
Defense Cash Focus
[Murtha gets most $$$ contributions from defense industry]
Roxana Tiron / The Hill / Nov. 18,
2005
[LINK
to entire article]
[Excerpt]
For the past three years, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the ranking member
of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, has been the No. 1
beneficiary of defense campaign donations in the House and has not
fallen below No. 3 for Congress as a whole.
In fact, for just the 2006 cycle, Murtha ranks No. 1 overall, with
$188,350 in donations from the defense industry. House Armed Services
Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) follows with $118,350.
In 2004, Murtha ranked behind only President Bush and his Democratic
opponent, Sen. John Kerry, in overall defense-industry contributions,
with $284,750.
Still Flaky... John Murtha
WSJ Opinion Journal, Best of the Web
/ James Taranto
11/18/2005
[LINK
to entire article]
[Excerpt]
Murtha flaked out on the liberation of Iraq even before Congress
approved it. In September 2002, a month before the congressional
authorization, an outfit called
Veterans for Common Sense reported that Murtha was "questioning a
war-powers resolution that even most Democratic leaders seem reluctant
to oppose"...
Murtha ended up voting in favor of the liberation. Then, in May 2004,
as the
Associated Press reported, he called for more troops...
Murtha had rather eccentric views about where the increased troop
strength should come from. As we noted in
October 2004, he was one of only two members of Congress to vote
for a bill that would have reinstated the draft--a bill opposed even
by its sponsor, grandstanding Charlie Rangel...
...according to Murtha, "terrorism started" either in March 2003 (with
the "invasion of Iraq") or in May 2004 (when the Abu Ghraib
miniscandal came to light). One wonders where he was in, say,
September 2001. One wonders, too, how a political party can keep a
straight face while putting him forward as a spokesman on national
security.
Murtha says Army is 'broken, worn out'
Associated Press article, courtesy of
Breitbart.com / Dec. 1, 2005
[LINK
to entire article]
Murtha's War Hero Status Called Into Question
By Marc Morano and Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Staff January 13, 2006
[LINK
to entire article]
[Excerpt]
Murtha is a retired marine and was the first Vietnam combat veteran
elected to Congress. Since 1967, there have been at least three
different accounts of the injuries that purportedly earned Murtha his
Purple Hearts. Those accounts also appear to conflict with the limited
military records that are available, and Murtha has thus far refused
to release his own military records.
World War II Navy veteran Harry M. Fox, previously indicated that
Murtha in 1968 personally asked Fox's boss, then-U.S. Rep. John Saylor
(R-Pa.), for assistance in obtaining the Purple Hearts, but was turned
down because Saylor's office determined that Murtha lacked sufficient
evidence of wounds....
"We were amazed that Mr. Murtha was asking for Purple Hearts for
superficial lacerations," he [Fox] added...
John
Murtha says:
"The soldiers can't speak for themselves. We sent them to war and,
by God, we're the ones that have to speak out."
(John Murtha, ABCnews, Nov. 21, 2005)
WRONG. Iraq War soldiers have tried repeatedly to speak for
themselves -- directly to Congressman Murtha. They have been
stonewalled by him and his staff:
"I have called time and time again to Congressman Murtha's office
and they have refused to listen to me, even though I am one of Rep.
Murtha's constituents," said Iraq War veteran Craig Minnick.
[LINK]
"I have written two letters about John Murtha (both published in
several newspapers) and sent to his office in Johnstown, Pa. I even
visited his office while on R&R Leave in January 06 to ask him to stop
the lies about our mission but his Aid said he wasn't in. I never
heard one word from him and to my knowledge neither did any one in our
Task Force. " -- writes Mark Russack [LINK]
Now, look at who John
Murtha does listen to:
 January
2006...
Murtha accepts award from Code
Pink --
the group that pickets
Walter Reed Military Hospital!
Last January the war protest group Code Pink presented Rep. John
Murtha their Pink Badge of Courage and pink flowers for his
'courageous stand on Iraq' following his call for the U.S. to cut and
run from Iraq.
(see photo to the left)
What is
Code Pink ?
 Code
Pink is a national organization of anti-war protestors. They have
protested weekly in front of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in
Washington, D.C., with their signs, chants and props. (see photo
right, below)
Walter Reed is the current home of hundreds of wounded veterans from
the war in Iraq.
The Code Pink protesters hold signs that read "Maimed for a Lie" and
"Enlist here to die for Halliburton." Along the sidewalk leading up to
Walter Reed Hospital the members of Code Pink have placed mock
caskets.
 Because
Code Pink members protest directly in front of the main entrance,
family members and loved ones of the wounded are subjected to these
prop caskets, hate signs and Code Pink members'
taunts. Most of the demonstrations have been
held on Friday evenings, a popular time for the family members of
wounded soldiers to visit the hospital.
Code Pink is not your average, everyday
collection of "peace activists." This is, after all, the group that
raised $600,000 last year to aid terrorists in Fallujah. As Code Pink
co-founder Medea Benjamin put it at the time, "I don't know of any
other case in history in which the parents of fallen soldiers
collected medicines for the families of the 'other side'."
Ms. Benjamin and the other co-founders of
Code Pink have been "on the other side" for quite a while. They also
back anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan.
Comments from former Marine
officer
regarding Murtha and Code Pink:
As a former Marine officer, and with my Marine son returning to the
Sunni Triangle within days, I have never been as ashamed as I am now
to think that John Murtha was a "fellow" Marine. I just went to the
"boot Murtha" website, and was astonished to learn that he was
recently the recipient of a Code Pink "Pink Badge of Courage" award.
Having carefully researched Code Pink's Marxist propaganda in the past
(Medea Benjamin, one of its founders, being a disciple or at least
adoring groupie of Fidel Castro and apologist for North Korea), I
became almost apoplectic when I saw a photograph of him smiling
and obviously quite pleased as he stood between two of the little
neo-Marxist Code Pink clones who presented him the award. I don't
know if he has Alzheimer disease, as my father did at Murtha's age, or
if Murtha has sold his soul to the far Left to stay in office, but
that one photograph symbolizes the depth of his spiraling descent into
a amoral abyss.
His prejudicial comments about the young Marines at Haditha were
deplorable enough, but that Code Pink award photograph, more than any
other photograph, should be circulated to every Marine in his district
with a full description of Code Pink's radical ideology and past
conduct that borders on treason. Suffice it to say, Murtha will not
be welcome at Marine reunions.
*** Here is a print-able document of
the Murtha / Code Pink connection:
>>>click
Lawmaker: Marines killed Iraqis ‘in cold blood’
By Jim Miklaszewski &
Mike Viqueira / NBC News / May
17, 2006
[LINK
to entire article]
[Excerpt]
A Pentagon probe into the death of Iraqi civilians last November in
the Iraqi city of Haditha will show that U.S. Marines "killed innocent
civilians in cold blood," a U.S. lawmaker [Murtha] said Wednesday.
Murtha, a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq, said at a news conference
Wednesday that sources within the military have told him that an
internal investigation will show that "there was no firefight, there
was no IED (improvised explosive device) that killed these innocent
people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and
they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."
Murtha will run for House leadership if Dems win this fall
CNN News / June 9, 2006
[LINK
to entire article]
[Excerpt]
"If we prevail as I hope and know we will, and return to the majority
this next Congress, I have decided to run for the open seat of the
majority leader," Murtha said in a letter to his Democratic
colleagues.
June 11, 2006
Murtha on Meet The Press
Murtha disagrees -- with
himself -- about redeployment
2004: Murtha says Cut and Run is bad
2005: Murtha says Cut and Run is good
[Meet The Press transcript excerpt:]
MR. RUSSERT: But in 2004, you had a view that was much different
than you had now, and this is what you wrote in your book: “A war
initiated on faulty intelligence must not be followed by a premature
withdrawal of our troops based on a political timetable. An untimely
exit could rapidly devolve into a civil war, which would leave
America’s foreign policy in disarray as countries question not only
America’s judgment but also its perseverance.” Aren’t you now
advocating that?
...and then says U.S. can't win war:
[Meet The Press transcript excerpt:]
REP. MURTHA: Yeah, you’re absolutely right. That’s what I said
then. And I think in the early stages, you have to judge that. But
there comes a time when you got to change direction. There comes a
time when you have to say to yourself, “OK, we’ve done everything
we could do, we can’t win this militarily.”
interviewer Tim Russert says military can do
more:
[Meet The Press transcript excerpt:]
MR. RUSSERT: You did say, however, in ‘05, “Our military has done
everything that has been asked of them. The U.S. cannot accomplish
anything further in Iraq militarily.” The fact is the capture of—or
the killing of Zarqawi was a military accomplishment. So the
military could do more.
BootMurtha footnote:
al-Qaida leader Zarqawi says US military winning
war:
On June 7, 2006 Iraqi terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most
wanted militant, was killed in a U.S. air raid and documents seized
from his hideout showing THE UNITED STATES IS WINNING MILITARILY
AGAINST THE INSURGENCY!!!
[Excerpt from AP article, June 15, 2006:]
A document purportedly captured in an al-Qaida hideout portrays
the insurgency in Iraq as being in "bleak" shape, saying that it is
losing strength and proposing ways to stir up trouble between
the U.S. and Iran to divert American attention.
American and Iraqi forces have killed 104 insurgents in 452 raids
nationwide since al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was
killed last week, the U.S. military said.
Arrests, weapons seizures and money shortages are taking a heavy
toll on al-Qaida's insurgency in Iraq, according to the three-page
transcript released Thursday by the Iraqi government, which said
it reflects al-Qaida policy and the terror organization's
cooperation with groups loyal to Saddam Hussein. [LINK
to entire article]
Later in that same interview on Meet The Press,
Murtha says redeploy to Okinawa
[Meet The Press transcript excerpt:]
REP. MURTHA: Kuwait’s one that will take us. Qatar, we already have
bases in Qatar. So Bahrain. All those countries are willing to take
the United States. Now, Saudi Arabia won’t because they wanted us out
of there in the first place. So—and we don’t have to be right there.
We can go to Okinawa. We, we don’t have—we can redeploy there
almost instantly. So that’s not—that’s, that’s a fallacy. That, that’s
just a statement to rial up people to support a failed policy wrapped
in illusion.
...interviewer Tim Russert disagrees:
[Meet The Press transcript excerpt:]
MR. RUSSERT: But it’d be tough to have a timely response from
Okinawa.
REP. MURTHA: Well, it—you know, they—when I say Okinawa, I, I’m saying
troops in Okinawa. When I say a timely response, you know, our
fighters can fly from Okinawa very quickly. And—and—when they don’t
know we’re coming. There’s no question about it. And, and where those
airplanes won’t—came from I can’t tell you, but, but I’ll tell you one
thing, it doesn’t take very long for them to get in with cruise
missiles or with, with fighter aircraft or, or attack aircraft, it
doesn’t take any time at all. So we, we have done—this one particular
operation, to say that that couldn’t have done, done—it was done from
the outside, for heaven’s sakes.
NOTE: June 21, 2006 / RealClearPolitics / Jack Kelly's column
shows the stupidity of Murtha's Okinawa statements:
"Let us be clear about the Murtha "strategy." It is insane. It would
be easier to defend Germany from Chicago; Alaska from Miami, or
Hawaii from Pittsburgh than to defend Iraq from Okinawa.
"It would take 10-12 hours -- and six refuelings -- for F-16s to
fly from Kadena AFB on Okinawa to Baghdad (assuming China and
India would grant overflight rights, a dubious assumption). Mr.
Murtha may regard this as "very quickly," but the Air Force does
not."
*** Here is a print-able document
of the Murtha / bin Laden connection
>>>click
Marine may call Murtha as witness
By Rowan Scarborough /
Washington Times / June 15, 2006
[LINK
to entire article]
[Excerpt]
A criminal defense attorney for a Marine under
investigation in the Haditha killings says he will call a senior
Democratic congressman as a trial witness, if his client is charged,
to find out who told the lawmaker that U.S. troops are guilty of
cold-blooded murder.
NRO's MEDIA BLOG
Stephen Spruiell reporting
Murtha:
Change Directions Like Clinton Did In Somalia
06/16 06:27 PM
Rep. John Murtha appeared on The Situation Room this
afternoon to talk about the Iraq resolution that
passed in the House today. He spoke against the resolution
and advocated withdrawing the troops like Clinton did in Somalia:
MURTHA: The thing that disturbed me and worries me about this whole
thing is we can't get them to change direction. And I said over and
over in debate, if you listen to any of it, in Beirut President Reagan
changed direction,
in Somalia President
Clinton changed direction, and yet here, with the
troops out there every day, suffering from these explosive devices,
and being looked at as occupiers — 80 percent of the people want us
out of there — and yet they continue to say, "We're fighting this
thing." We're not fighting this. The troops are fighting this thing.
That's who's doing the fighting.
Here's what Osama bin Laden said about Clinton's decision to "change
direction" in Somalia, according to the Frontline
documentary, "Hunting
bin Laden":
"After leaving Afghanistan, the Muslim fighters headed for Somalia and
prepared for a long battle, thinking that the Americans were like the
Russians," bin Laden said. "The youth were surprised at the low morale
of the American soldiers and realized more than before that the
American soldier was a paper tiger and after a few blows ran in
defeat. And America forgot all the hoopla and media propaganda ...
about being the world leader and the leader of the New World Order,
and after a few blows they forgot about this title and left,
dragging their corpses and their shameful defeat."
The comparison was especially ill-timed, given that Islamic extremists
are in the process of
taking over the country and some are warning that it could become
a new safe haven for al Qaeda.
The next time Murtha makes his pitch for "changing direction" in Iraq,
he might want to omit this particular comparison. It only serves to
remind us how much we have to lose by turning our backs on Iraq now.
Video
here.
[LINK
to original story]
Rep. Murtha: Pennsylvania's Embarrassment
RealClearPolitics / By
Jack Kelly
June 21, 2006
[EXCERPT]
Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa), imagines himself to be the scourge of the
hawks in the Bush administration. Many journalists do, too, because
they keep inviting him to appear on talk shows.
So why were the targets of Mr. Murtha's wrath doubled over with
laughter during his appearance last Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press?"
Rep. Murtha's newfound fame is a product of his call for immediate
withdrawal from Iraq, or in the dishonest way he likes to phrase it,
"redeployment" from Iraq.
Host Tim Russert asked Mr. Murtha to respond to a question White House
political guru Karl Rove had asked rhetorically in a recent speech.
"My question is, what country would take us?" Mr. Rove asked. "What
country would say after the United States cut and run from Iraq,
'Yeah, paint a big target on our back and then you'll cut and run from
us?'" "We can go to Okinawa," Rep. Murtha responded. "We can redeploy
there almost instantly."
Mr. Russert, mindful of the fact that Okinawa, Japan, is 4,899 miles
from Baghdad, offered Mr. Murtha an escape, in case he had misspoken.
"But it would be tough to have a timely response from Okinawa," he
said. But Rep. Murtha dug himself in deeper. "When I say a timely
response, you know, our fighters can fly from Okinawa very quickly,"
he said.
Mr. Murtha has been recommending redeployment to Okinawa ever since
his rebirth as a dove last year, so what he said on "Meet the Press"
was no slip of the tongue.
Let us be clear about the Murtha "strategy." It is insane. It would
be easier to defend Germany from Chicago; Alaska from Miami, or Hawaii
from Pittsburgh than to defend Iraq from Okinawa.
It would take 10-12 hours -- and six refuelings -- for F-16s to fly
from Kadena AFB on Okinawa to Baghdad (assuming China and India would
grant overflight rights, a dubious assumption). Mr. Murtha may regard
this as "very quickly," but the Air Force does not.
As Bugs Bunny would say: "What a maroon!"
Another howler is Mr. Murtha's assertion that U.S. troops currently
serving in Iraq would be "welcomed" in Okinawa. For decades Okinawans
have been seeking a reduction in the U.S. military presence, both
because they covet the land on which U.S. military bases sit, and
because of a long history of pacifism. The U.S. recently agreed to
withdraw 7,000 Marines from Okinawa.
"There is no way we can win (the war in Iraq) militarily," Mr. Murtha
said. Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the al Qaida chieftain in Iraq until the
Air Force liquefied his internal organs, had a different view:
"Here in Iraq, time is beginning to be of service to the American
forces and harmful to the resistance," Mr. Zarqawi wrote in a document
captured after his death.
The Bush Administration has "no plan" for dealing with Iraq, Rep.
Murtha asserted.
Mowaffak al Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, begs to differ.
Writing in the Washington Post Tuesday, he said:
"There is an unofficial 'road map' to foreign troop reductions that
eventually will lead to total withdrawal of U.S. troops. This road map
is based not just on a series of dates but, more important, on
achievement of set objectives for restoring security in Iraq."
If you want to know the truth about Iraq, you should listen carefully
to what Jack Murtha has to say -- and believe exactly the opposite.
Mr. Murtha's howlers about Okinawa obscured a more revealing comment
he made earlier on CNN. He cited President Clinton's abrupt withdrawal
from Somalia after 19 Rangers were killed there in 1993 as an example
of the policy the U.S. should follow in Iraq.
Osama bin Laden gave the "change in direction" in Somalia Mr. Murtha
applauds as the chief reason why he thought al Qaida could strike the
United States with impunity.
"After a few blows... (the U.S.) rushed out of Somalia in shame and
disgrace, dragging the bodies of its soldiers," Mr. bin Laden told
ABC's John Miller in a 1998 interview.
Because he is a retired Marine Reserve colonel who served in Vietnam,
Rep. Murtha is regarded as one of the Democrats' leading strategic
thinkers. This, sadly, may be the case.
Mr. Murtha sounds less like a Marine colonel these days, and more like
a male Cindy Sheehan. Has he become senile? Or was he always this
stupid?
In either case, voters in his district should take a close look at
Diane Irey, the Republican who hopes to put an end to the
embarrassment to Pennsylvania Jack Murtha has become.
>>>read entire article
The Real Jack Murtha
Editorial, Washington Times/ June 21,
2006
[Entire article below -- NO LINK AVAILABLE]
Rep. John Murtha is thinking big thoughts. Since coming out for an
immediate withdrawal from Iraq last year, he has accused Marines of
murderers "in cold blood" before a preliminary investigation is even
complete; accused the military of a cover up over the same incident;
declared his candidacy for the House majority leadership post; and,
most recently, refined his cut-and-run strategy in Iraq to mean
"redeployment" to Okinawa, Japan.
Last June, the Los Angeles Times reported how the ranking member on
the defense appropriations subcommittee has a brother, Robert Murtha,
whose lobbying firm represents 10 companies that received more than
$20 million from last year's defense spending bill. "Clients of
the lobbying firm KSA Consulting -whose top officials also include
former congressional aide Carmen V. Scialabba, who worked for Rep.
Murtha as a congressional aide for 27 years -- received a total
of'$20.8 million from the bill," the L.A. Times reported.
In early 2004, according to Roll Call, Mr. Murtha "reportedly leaned
on U.S. Navy officials to sign a contract to transfer the Hunters
Point Shipyard to the city of San Francisco." Laurence Pelosi,
nephew of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, at the time was an
executive of the company which owned the rights to the land. The
same article also reported how Mr. Murtha has been behind millions of
dollars worth of earmarks in defense appropriations bills that went to
companies owned by the children of fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, Rep.
Paul Kanjorski.
Meanwhile, the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan
campaign-finance watchdog group, lists Mr. Murtha as the top
recipient of defense industry dollars in the current 2006 election
cycle. As Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican, has said,
"If there is a potential pattern where Congressman Murtha has helped
other Democrats secure appropriations that also benefited relatives of
those members, I believe this would be something that merits further
review by the ethics committee."
It's odd that the media, which has been fairly unbiased in going after
corrupt politicians recently, has gone silent on Mr. Murtha's
questionable actions. Or maybe it isn't. Since December, Mr. Murtha
has become the darling of the antiwar crowd, and, as we've seen with
other such darlings, scrutinizing, their behavior is considered
disrespectful. But as we're on the subject, few might recall that
alter the massive 1980 Abscam scandal, Mr. Murtha was named by the FBI
as an "unindicted co-conspirator."
Maybe the next time the new Jack Murtha thinks up another big idea
someone can ask him about the old Jack Murtha.
J Everett
Pinehurst, NC
New Star Murtha is Worrying Dems
by Robert Novak / Chicago Sun-Times
column June 22, 2006
[LINK
to entire article]
[Excerpt]
On NBC's ''Meet the Press'' last Sunday, Rep. John Murtha repeated his
call for ''redeploying'' U.S. troops from Iraq with something new --
and disturbing to fellow Democrats. Asked by moderator Tim Russert
about sites for redeployment, Murtha replied: ''We can go to Okinawa.
. . . We can redeploy there almost instantly.''
When Russert expressed doubt about ''a timely response'' from Okinawa
to meet a Middle East crisis, the 16-term congressman from western
Pennsylvania and new national security spokesman for his party
stumbled: ''Well, it -- you know, they -- when I say Okinawa, I, I'm
saying troops in Okinawa. When I say a timely response, you know, our
fighters can fly from Okinawa very quickly.''
In fact, a Pentagon spokesman says it would take ''under a month'' to
prepare and send a 4,500-man Marine Expeditionary Force 6,000 nautical
miles from Okinawa to Bahrain and then 600 more miles to Baghdad....
Murtha says U.S. poses top threat to world peace
South Florida Sun-Sentinel / June
25, 2006
[LINK
to entire article]
[Excerpt]
American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than
nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.,
said to an audience of more than 200 in North Miami...
Murtha: Knave* of the week
Washington Times
"Knaves: Rep. John Murtha, who tried to back away from anti-American
comments he made last month." –
Washington Times, June 8, 2006
*per
Merriam-Webster online dictionary: KNAVE: a tricky
deceitful fellow
[EXCERPT from June 8, 2006 article]
On June 24, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that Mr. Murtha
told a townhall meeting in Miami that the "American presence in Iraq
is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea
or Iran." Newspapers across the country, including this one, as well
as columnists, bloggers and pundits criticized Mr. Murtha based on the
Sun-Sentinel's article. Mr. Murtha, however, said he was misquoted and
succeeded in soliciting a retraction from the Sun-Sentinel's editors.
But despite the Sun-Sentinel's backtracking, the initial
characterization of Mr. Murtha's comments was correct, as a video of
the town hall meeting makes clear.
Here's what Mr. Murtha actually said: "Every one of our allies think
that the United States being in Iraq is more dangerous to world
stability and world peace, every one of our allies; Great Britain,
every single country... They think it's more, uh, we're more dangerous
to world peace than North Korea or Iran. That says something."
Mr. Murtha contends that since he was only citing polling data, it was
incorrect for the Sun-Sentinel to attribute the belief that America is
more dangerous than North Korea or Iran to him. Of course this begs
the question of why Mr. Murtha, had he disagreed with "every one of
our allies," cited their opinions in the first place. Watching the
video, it is clear which side Mr. Murtha is taking (e.g., the side of
America's critics), making the Sun-Sentinel's original reporting of
the meeting an honest summation of his comments taken in context.
Mr. Murtha should have the courage to stand behind his words. He
doesn't, which is why he's this week's Knave.
--
The Washington Times, “Nobles and Knaves,” July 8, 2006
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