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Tuesday, November 22, 2005
ON THE HOME FRONT
Murtha removes unfavorable troop poll
Online voters overwhelmingly opposed his call for withdrawal
Posted: November 22, 2005
7:25 p.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
The congressman at the center of the battle last week over withdrawal of troops from Iraq removed the results from his own Internet poll on the subject after online voters overwhelmingly opposed his stance.
Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., posted the poll after he ignited a firestorm in the House that led to Republicans forcing a quick vote on the issue Friday.
While a revised poll page remains on the site, the link to it from his homepage has been removed, making the survey effectively invisible to the public.
A contributor to Web forum Free Republic.com, however, posted results as of 3:34 p.m. Eastern time.
The call for immediate withdrawal garnered just 12 percent of the more than 12,000 votes.
Please indicate which of the following best summarizes your view on what the United States should do in Iraq:
A. We should immediately remove all troops. 1,562 votes, 12.3 percent
B. We should redeploy to the periphery of Iraq as soon as practical to protect troop safety and give the Iraqis incentive to take charge sooner, not later. 3,239 votes, 25.6 percent
C. We should maintain current troop levels until Iraq builds an army to defend and stabilize their country, even if that takes years. 6,726 votes, 53.1 percent
D. We should re-institute the national draft to increase troop levels to where we can seal the Iraqi borders and stop the passage of insurgents and insurgent-supply missions. 1,146 votes, 9 percent
E. None of the above. 3 votes, 0.0 percent
 WND screen capture of Iraq war poll on website of Rep. Jack Murtha |
Following three hours of intense debate Friday, the House voted 403-3 to reject a non-binding resolution to immediately withdraw troops from Iraq.
Responding to Murtha, House Republicans scheduled the quick vote to settle the issue and put lawmakers on the record.
The Republican alternative by Rep. Duncan Hunter of California read: "It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately."
Democrats accused Republicans of changing the meaning of Murtha's proposal. The Democrat hawk has said a smooth withdrawal would take six months.
At his press conference Thursday, however, Murtha stated: "I believe before the Iraqi elections, scheduled for mid-December, the Iraqi people and the emerging government must be put on notice: The United States will immediately redeploy – immediately redeploy."
Democratic New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton apparently interpreted Murtha's stance as a call for immediate withdrawal, saying such a move would be a "big mistake."
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