Murtha is hiding something
I don't think it is out of the realm of possibilty that Murtha knew his kickback and grifting involving his brother's (and his former chief of staff) lobby operation was going to hit the fan.
What better way to head that off, but by coming out against the Iraq war?
Now when people complain about him steering MILLIONS of dollars in cash and contracts to his brother illegally, Murtha can cry "it's because I spoke out agains the war."
He should have been indicted twenty five years ago for Abscam. They let him skate because he ratted out his pals. Big mistake.
Once a crook, always a crook.
Copied from another thread:
You have to understand where Murtha is coming from. Up until 1995, Jack Murtha was an extremely powerful man as the Democrats ruled the world. He chaired committees that controlled the military. Generals would shake in terror when they got a call from Murtha's office.
Now he is in the minority, and the world doesn't stop when Murtha speaks anymore. At age 74, he is starting to realize that he may never again be the capo di capo. That is very frustrating to a man who once wielded such power.
If it takes losing this war to get the Republicans and Bush out, he can somehow rationalize that as being worth the cost. He'll probably even show up when they dedicate the next Wall on the Mall for those who gave it all in vain.
In 1838, a young Abraham Lincoln spoke thus:
"All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years."
"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
Wish he were here today to see his prediction come true.
IMO its pretty clear-- when he was in Nam he screwed up and got some Americans killed. That's why he is so thin-skinned and defensive yet blubbery and irrational--and why he goes to the graveyard at Arlington all the time. Bet he's been to the Wall at midnight too, but he doesn't talk about that.