Memo to Murtha

Before I say anything else, Congressman Murtha, let me thank you -- for your long public service in Washington and, before that, in Vietnam.

And let me commend you, too, for sparking an honest debate. Until now, what has passed for debate on Iraq has been mostly slander – for example, calling President Bush a liar and questioning his patriotism. Yes, questioning his patriotism: because anyone who would lie to get America into a war for reasons unrelated to national security would not be a patriot. He'd be a traitor.

I ask you, sir: Has such a vicious charge ever before been leveled at an American president in a time of war – or even a time of peace?

But you have not taken this low road. Instead, you have said you believe the war in Iraq “cannot be won” and that “it's time to bring the troops home.” This is a discussion worth having.

You also say that “80 per cent of Iraqis want us out.” I'm not sure where you got that figure but it's probably low. I'd guess that close to 100 percent of Iraqis – as well as 100% of Americans – would love to see U.S. troops heading home for the holidays. But some of us think it matters whether we leave Iraq after we've defeated our enemies – or whether we leave Iraq after having surrendered to our enemies.

When you suggest that planning for the war in Iraq was flawed, I think you have a point. American leaders, in the Pentagon and elsewhere, crafted an effective strategy for toppling Saddam Hussein. Once that mission was accomplished, however, they had only a vague idea about how to transform Iraq into a free, independent and self-reliant nation within a short period of time. Maybe that's because no one had ever attempted such a feat before.

Clearly, we should not fail again to plan adequately. So I would ask you about your plans for the aftermath of the defeat you say we must now accept.

For example, it's obvious that if the U.S. military can't stand up to al-Qaeda in Iraq, the fledgling post-liberation Iraqi military won't have a prayer. That means we must plan for the possibility that al-Qaeda will come to power in part or all of Iraq. What, if anything would you propose to do in response to that?

Even if al-Qaeda only manages to shore up its positions in the Sunni areas of western Iraq, we must expect it will use that base to continue attacking Jordan and other countries in the region. Maybe we'd send advisors to help the Jordanian king? But help him do what exactly? Decide when the fight has become hopeless?

I would like to add to the "Memo to Murtha"-

Clearly, no single person has ever suggested that America would keep this level of troops in Iraq forever. The way I see it, we have two choices- we either pull our troops out having failed in the mission or we begin pulling troops out having succeeded in the mission. Your argument for pulling troops out now, is because they are targets and they are dying. Do you not realize, Congressman Murtha, that every American is now a target for terrorists? If we learned anything on 9/11, we should have learned that there are terrorists out there who want us dead. Pulling out of Iraq prematurely will not make Americans any less of a target- in fact, exactly the opposite will happen.

We either pull out Iraq as losers or we pull out of Iraq as victors. The war on terror did not start in Iraq and will not be finished in Iraq. Each and every American must come to the realization that we will be engaged in the war on terror for the rest of our lives. If we choose to give up only 4 years into the fight- our children will be robbed of their freedom. This is unacceptable.

My fellow freepers- feel free to add to the "Memo for Murtha". I will be sending a copy of our memos to Murtha and all of the representatives.

The war in Iraq has always been part of the Global War on Terror. As a former Marine, I find Murtha's position to be ridiculously naive re foreign policy. I don't know what he did in the Corps, but he's got no business being anywhere near a foreign policy discussion. He's an idiot.

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