Kerry, Murtha: Zarqawi Dead, Let's Pull Troops

NewsMax ^ | 9 June 2006 | Nathan Burchfiel

[Aussie Dasher]

As President Bush and Iraqi leaders on Thursday welcomed the announcement that coalition forces had killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, some in the anti-war community used the development to call for troop withdrawals while others downplayed its significance.

U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who was beaten by President Bush in the 2004 presidential race and had recently renewed his call for speedy troop withdrawals from Iraq, on Thursday praised the service members involved in Zarqawi's killing.

Coalition forces "did an incredible job hunting him down and destroying him, and all of America is proud of their skill and commitment," Kerry said.

He called Zarqawi's killing "another sign that it's time for Iraqis to stand up for Iraq ... and run their own country." He said American troops "have done their job in Iraq, and they've done it valiantly. It's time to work with the new Iraqi government to bring our combat troops home by the end of this year."

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada also issued a statement praising the U.S. military and intelligence community. Calling Zarqawi a "cold-blooded killer who got what he deserved," Reid said his death and the naming of Iraqi national security and defense ministers made Thursday "a day to recognize these important achievements."

U.S. Rep. John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who on May 18 said "we have done everything we can do militarily in Iraq," said Thursday in a statement that the death of Zarqawi would "have a significant impact in reducing the amount of violence in Iraq."

But Murtha renewed his call for troop withdrawal, saying that because of the development, "we should be able to substantially reduce our presence in Iraq and redeploy our military outside of Iraq."

But not everyone in the anti-war movement agreed that Zarqawi's death would have a great impact.

"If you look at recent violence, most of the violence now is happening between different religious folks, not necessarily so-called terrorists that are now creating the violence, so I think it's tough to say this is something that's going to turn the tide in Iraq," said Paul Martin, an activist with Peace Action.

The American people, Martin said, are "ready for us to move on and to give this to the Iraqis to deal with and to focus our financial energies on rebuilding the country so they're able to take care of themselves."

Michael McPhearson, a spokesman for Veterans for Peace, said that "if you really think about the makeup of the insurgency, I think you have to realize that there [are] very different people making it up."

"With al-Zarqawi gone, you still have the same dynamics that created the groundswell of anger and agitation by the people there in Iraq," McPhearson said. "Just because al-Zarqawi's gone doesn't change the facts on the ground that people are upset and want us to leave."

McPhearson added that Zarqawi's death might mean "there won't be so many attacks on civilians and Shia by insurgents, but certainly there will be retaliation against American forces with new vigor because their leader's been killed."

Bloggers on the Democratic Underground website criticized Americans who believe the Bush administration's assertion that Zarqawi's death marks a turning point in the Iraq war.

"There will be a bunch of sheeple in America tomorrow morning, who when they wake up from their blissful sleep after watching a bunch of reality shows, they will hear about the Bogeyman Terrorist Zarqawi being dead, and they will suddenly think the world is safer and everything is okay," one blogger wrote.

Others questioned whether Zarqawi even existed in the first place. "Do we even know if this guy ever existed?" one asked, adding: "And even if he is who they say he is, so what?"

[SR 50]

ping

[Allegra]

These treacherous morons disgust me almost beyond words!

And yet, they're so predictable.

And incredibly stupid.

[Allegra]

Victory could be at hand and they want to leave.............

Victory will be at hand when we can wipe Muqtada al-Sadr out as well and dismantle his Mehdi militia.

Things are continually moving forward here, but there is work yet to be done.

Kerry and Murtha are too stupid to understand that.