Posted on 06/17/2006 12:53:32 PM PDT by Sam Hill
Murtha memory ping.
Fantastic research!
High praise, coming from you.
For the last few hours I've been trying to find Murth's speech on the House floor where he called for the troops to be removed.
I've found it, itself, but all the links back to Thomas seem to have been disappeared.
Here's the title, and how he begins:
REMOVAL OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES FROM SOMALIA (House of Representatives - November 09, 1993)
Mr. MURTHA. Mr. Speaker, let me just make a couple of points.
I expressed my opposition to our deployment to Somalia when it began. When I went to the White House, I expressed my concern to President Bush....
And here is the Thomas link that no longer works:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r103:7:./temp/~r103cpDgH0:e123712:
It's not a big deal, but it would be great to have a direct citation for this speech, if you or anybody else can find the original posting or archive.
But I do love it that Murtha cited BOTH instances that Al Qaeda were inspired by.
What a clown!
Can I raise the black flag now? Please?
http://tinyurl.com/e9zrt
http://tinyurl.com/j5ymz
http://tinyurl.com/gpkv5
******
"Our welcome has been worn out," Rep Murtha told NBC's "Today" show in Sept. 1993, a month after 4 U.S. Military Police had been killed in Somalia by a remote-detonated land mine.
The Pennsylvania Democrat announced that President Clinton had been "listening to our suggestions. And I think you'll see him move those troops out very quickly."
Two weeks later, after 18 U.S. Rangers were killed in the battle of Mogadishu, Murtha visited U.S. forces in Somalia.
Upon his return he proclaimed to the world that the Mogadishu defeat had a devastating impact on the Rangers' morale.
"They're subdued compared to normal morale of elite forces," Murtha said. "Obviously, it was a very difficult battle. A lot of Somalis were killed, but it was a brutal battle."
Murtha said the U.S. had to no choice but to pull out now, explaining, "There's no military solution. Some of them will tell you [that] to get [warlord Mohamed Farrah] Aidid is the solution. I don't agree with that."
http://tinyurl.com/n9c4h
Al Qaeda is back in Mogadishu, so we may get the chance to fix our history by going back and pushing them into the sea.
Murtha also supported reinstating the draft and selecting Dean as DNC Chair.
Yes, as I mentioned on another thread, it looks like the adults are going to have to go back there to clean up the mess Clinton left. Funny he should hold up Somalia as the "ideal" example--he couldn't have found a worse one if he tried. (*Is a Republican mole writing his material for him?)
Reconstructing Murtha III: Its a Somalia Deja Vu
November 23rd, 2005
When one is trying to make a political figure look like a conservative hawk, it is in ones best interest to hide from the public any moments when said figure acts like a dove. Such appears to be the case with the ongoing character reconstruction of Rep. John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania) since his call last Thursday to withdraw American troops from Iraq.
A story published by NewsMax on Monday stated that Congressman Murtha urged former President Clinton to remove U.S. troops from Somalia in 1993:
Clinton took the advice and ordered the withdrawal a decision that Osama bin Laden would later credit with emboldening his terrorist fighters and encouraging him to mount further attacks against the U.S.
It is now approaching 48 hours since the story broke, and the results of a google news search suggest that not one mainstream media outlet has decided to pick this story up. In fact, apart from conservative radio hosts and bloggers, this issue is being largely ignored.
What makes this even more curious is that a LexisNexis search identified a number of articles confirming that Congressman Murtha was indeed instrumental in President Clintons decision to remove American forces from Somalia. Rowan Scarborough, who was then working for the Washington Times, reported the following on September 6, 1993:
Foes of Americas lingering military involvement in Somalia will force the first congressional debate on the policy this month, just as some senior Democrats begin to question President Clintons open-ended troop commitment.
House aides say other senior Democrats, like Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, are privately expressing concerns.
On September 22, 1993, the Associated Press published the following:
Exasperated by the long-running U.S. military involvement in Somalia, a congressional panel voted Wednesday to impose conditions on President Clintons ability to deploy forces for future humanitarian operations.
Murtha, who has urged Clinton to withdraw U.S. forces from Somalia, recalled that President Bush told him last December, when troops first were sent to the war-torn region, that they would be out by Inauguration Day.
I dont know whose inauguration, Murtha quipped.
On September 30, 1993, Rowan Scarborough reported for the Washington Times:
Our welcome has been worn out, Mr. Murtha said on NBCs Today show, adding that Mr. Clinton has been listening to our suggestions. And I think youll see him move those troops out very quickly.
With those comments, Mr. Murtha joined a small but influential list of Democratic lawmakers who have publicly urged the president to change the mission in Somalia.
Finally, on October 6, 1993, Murthas home paper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, reported the following:
Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the House defense appropriations committee, yesterday called upon President Clinton to rapidly withdraw all U.S. armed forces from Somalia.
Murtha, D-Johnstown, released his statement the same day a growing number of House and Senate members were voicing sharp objections to the Clinton administrations decision to send 650 more U.S. soldiers to the African nation.
While conceding that Clinton inherited a very difficult situation in Somalia, Murtha said he did not see any achievable goal or national security interest in this operation.
This search also produced articles with supporting content from the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. Yet, the mainstream media is uninterested in reporting these revelations. Could it be that, as NewsMax suggested, our withdrawal from Somalia is indeed seen as having emboldened Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, and the press dont want to in any way link Congressman Murtha to it?
The following paragraphs from bin Ladens 1996 Fatwa offer some insight to this question:
Few days ago the news agencies had reported that the Defence Secretary of the Crusading Americans had said that the explosion at Riyadh and Al-Khobar had taught him one lesson: that is not to withdraw when attacked by coward terrorists.
We say to the Defence Secretary that his talk can induce a grieving mother to laughter! and shows the fears that had enshrined you all. Where was this false courage of yours when the explosion in Beirut took place on 1983 AD (1403 A.H). You were turned into scattered pits and pieces at that time; 241 mainly marines solders were killed. And where was this courage of yours when two explosions made you to leave Aden in lees than twenty four hours!
But your most disgraceful case was in Somalia; where- after vigorous propaganda about the power of the USA and its post cold war leadership of the new world order- you moved tens of thousands of international force, including twenty eight thousands American solders into Somalia. However, when tens of your solders were killed in minor battles and one American Pilot was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu you left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you. Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge , but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by Allah and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the heart of every Muslim and a remedy to the chests of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut , Aden and Mogadishu.
In addition, a May 1998 installment of PBS Frontline presented bin Laden in a question and answer session with his followers. This key exchange further indicates the importance of Americas withdrawal from Somalia, and how it relates to the war on terror:
Question: Describe the situation when your men took down the American forces in Somalia.
Bin Laden: After our victory in Afghanistan and the defeat of the oppressors who had killed millions of Muslims, the legend about the invincibility of the superpowers vanished. Our boys no longer viewed America as a superpower. So, when they left Afghanistan, they went to Somalia and prepared themselves carefully for a long war. They had thought that the Americans were like the Russians, so they trained and prepared. They were stunned when they discovered how low was the morale of the American soldier. America had entered with 30,000 soldiers in addition to thousands of soldiers from different countries in the world. ... As I said, our boys were shocked by the low morale of the American soldier and they realized that the American soldier was just a paper tiger. He was unable to endure the strikes that were dealt to his army, so he fled, and America had to stop all its bragging and all that noise it was making in the press after the Gulf War in which it destroyed the infrastructure and the milk and dairy industry that was vital for the infants and the children and the civilians and blew up dams which were necessary for the crops people grew to feed their families. Proud of this destruction, America assumed the titles of world leader and master of the new world order. After a few blows, it forgot all about those titles and rushed out of Somalia in shame and disgrace, dragging the bodies of its soldiers. America stopped calling itself world leader and master of the new world order, and its politicians realized that those titles were too big for them and that they were unworthy of them. I was in Sudan when this happened. I was very happy to learn of that great defeat that America suffered, so was every Muslim. ...
Putting it all together, a powerful and influential conservative hawk pressured the president twelve years ago to withdraw American forces from an embattled nation with the net result being the emboldening of the most heinous terrorist organization that has ever threatened the United States. Now, that same conservative hawk is pressuring a different president to make what could end up being the very same mistake, but with potentially more dire consequences.
Is it any wonder that the mainstream media dont want the public to know about this?
Noel Sheppard is an economist, business owner, and contributing writer
http://tinyurl.com/osb8q
Thank you for all those links. But did you see what I mean about how his speech re Somalia seems to have been disappeared?
Similarly, there are no transcripts from the Today re his Somalia remarks.
At the risk of sounding paranoid, this happens so often. The damning things said or done by the Dems tend to disappear from the internet.
It's especially frustrating when a purportedly reputable site like Thomas can't turn up things they used to have.
Yep, there is no doubt that Murtha led the charge to retreat from Somalia.
And what the 9/11 Commission report points out is that AQ was even behind the attacks there that brought down the helicopter.
So they considered it a complete and utter victory. And it (and Beirut) gave them proof of how easy it is to defeat the US.
And Murtha wants to prove that to them once again.
History might not repeat itself. But stupidity sure does.
Thanks. I skimmed some of that.
But what I liked about this is that the OFFICIAL 9/11 Commission said the Somalia withdraw inspired Bin Laden.
And that they went on to say pulling out of Beirut did as well.
Jack is two for two.
The 9/11 Commission Report is full of fun stuff like that. The two staff monographs, available from the Commission's website, are a wonderful read also. And don't skip the endnotes or you miss a lot.
The media loves to use the 9/11 commission report against the President but never finds anything of interest that might be detrimental to their heroes on the left.
Whatever that means!
The more he speaks the more unhinged he becomes.
"The media loves to use the 9/11 commission report against the President but never finds anything of interest that might be detrimental to their heroes on the left."
How true!
You may or may not recall the paragraphs I posted from it wherein they said that Bill Clinton was paying off Al Qaeda with millions of dollars.
I never saw that get picked up as newsworthy anywhere.
The 9/11 committee could hardly have concluded otherwise, given what the head honcho terrorist himself said, not just in that fatwa, but in many of his other writings and speeches as well. He has nothing but contempt for the likes of Clinton & Murtha, despite their attempts at appeasement.
"http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r103:7:./temp/~r103cpDgH0:e123712:
REMOVAL OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES FROM SOMALIA (House of Representatives - November 09, 1993)
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