Murtha claims he was misquoted (Oh, So now we can just Move On dot argh)

Uniontown Herald Standard ^ | 6-28-06 | Staff?

[smoothsailing]

06/28/2006

Murtha claims he was misquoted

U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Johnstown) says he was quoted out of context on two recent occasions.

The first occasion, he said, was coverage in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on his appearance in Florida over the weekend.

Murtha said, "I was recently misquoted following a speech I gave at a Veterans forum at the Florida International University Biscayne Campus on June 24, 2006. During the speech, I made a point that our international credibility was suffering, particularly due to our continued military presence in Iraq and that we were perceived as an occupying force. For illustrative purposes, I provided the example of a recent Pew Poll which indicates a greater percentage of people in 10 of 14 foreign countries consider the U.S. in Iraq a danger to world peace than consider Iran or North Korea a danger to world peace.

Murtha added, "It is imperative that these issues be discussed in an open and informative manner. I will continue to insist that this administration face the true realities of its policies with respect to Iraq and insist that they change direction."

In response to the misquotes, the Web site www.theinfozone.net e-mailed a Miami Herald reporter who also covered the event. The following is excerpted from a story posted on the Web site:

"The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Murtha as saying, 'American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran' to a crowd of more than 200 in North Miami Saturday afternoon.

"In the article, reporter Elizabeth Baier quoted several other of Congressman John Murtha's statements in her article, as well as a quote from others at the event, but did not quote the comments alleged to have been said by Murtha in the first paragraph of her article. Melissa Sanchez of the Miami Herald, replying to an e-mail, says that while Murtha made the comment, 'That was in reference to international polls. It was not so much his own conjecture, but a conclusion drawn from polls in various countries.'

"So this alleged and most controversial statement written by Baier appears to have taken his comments out of context."

Statement on redeploying to the perimeter

In a recent appearance on "Meet the Press," host Tim Russert asked Murtha to explain where our troops could be stationed if they redeployed from Iraq.

Murtha replied: "Kuwait's one that will take us. Qatar, we already have bases in Qatar. (Also in) Bahrain. All those countries are willing to take the United States...

We don't have to be right there. We can go to Okinawa. We can redeploy there almost instantly."

Murtha has repeatedly explained that his plan calls for the redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq at the earliest practicable date and a quick reaction U.S. force and over-the-horizon presence of U.S. Marines to be deployed to the region if needed.

He further explained, "I have said several times that we could deploy a quick reactionary force from Kuwait, Bahrain or Qatar or could deploy a larger contingency of Marines from Okinawa or the United States, if needed.

"We currently have a Marine division headquartered in Okinawa, thus logistics and existing facilities are already in place. Additionally, during the course of this war, Marines at the battalion level or lower have already been deployed from Okinawa to Iraq," Murtha said.

"But let me be clear, these forces should only be deployed to Iraq if our own national security is at risk or if the security of our allies in the region is threatened. These forces should NOT be used to intervene in the case of growing sectarian violence in Iraq. The Iraqis must settle their own civil war," said Murtha.

©The Herald Standard 2006

[decal]

"Murtha claims he was misquoted has done an in-district poll and has found he's running behind Irey now.

There, fixed - no charge.

[smoothsailing]

I'm hanging around for a while, not going to work 'til noon or so.

Nighty Night!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

CLICK GRAPHIC BELOW
to Visit vets4irey.com





Murtha sides up with Code Pink

Code Pink has given $650,000 to the terrorists in Fallujah, participated in war crimes tribunals against America and has called American soldiers "killers" on their website among many treasonous actions. They display signs like "Maimed for a Lie" at Walter Reed Army Medical Center where wounded troops are healing.
Text of Code Pink's statement on meeting Rep. Murtha:
Thank You Congressman Murtha! CODEPINK co-founder Gael Murphy and DC coordinator Allison Yorra met with Congressman Murtha to thank him for his courageous stand on Iraq. We presented him with our pink badge of courage and pink flowers sent by CODEPINK members nationwide.

Murtha's "Cut & Run" Comments on Iraq: "there's no progress at all" "it's worse than it was prewar" "we should immediatley redeploy" "War cannot be won on the ground" "I have said it's a civil war" "We cannot win this militarily. Our tactics themselves keep us from winning,"

Murtha's Comments on our Troops: "Would you join (the military) today?," he was asked in an interview. "No," replied Murtha "And I think you're saying the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying 'I don't want to serve'," the interviewer continued. "Exactly right," said Murtha "we have become a catalyst for violence" in Iraq Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood." at Haditha "I will not excuse murder, and this is what happened" "This is worse than Abu Ghraib" "Hopefully, this is an isolated incident. But we're supposed to be selling ideas of America, ideals of America, and we're losing that war." "These kind of things have to be brought out immediately," he told "This Week," "because if the Marines got away with it, other Marines might think it's okay." "What they're saying to me is we're stretching the military too thin. The army is broken, and we couldn't deploy to a second front if we wanted to." "The troops don't know what to do. They don't have the direction they need in order to supervise the prisoners,"

Guide to Local Media
"Point" the media to

http://www.irey.com
AND
http://vets4irey.com

Locate media in your zip code, gives you links to
YOUR local media with phone, e-mail etc info.

[BJungNan]

What does the reporter say. Do they stick by their story of what Murtha was originally quoted as saying?

Anyone know?

[Republican Wildcat]

Apparently he was "misphotographed" here.

[Snidely Whiplash]

What does the reporter say. Do they stick by their story of what Murtha was originally quoted as saying?

The paper that printed the original story is supposedly going to print a retraction/correction/whatever stating they misquoted Murtha.

SW

[BJungNan]

Thanks, save me a ton of reading. I owe you.

[Just A Nobody]

The paper that printed the original story is supposedly going to print a retraction/correction/whatever stating they misquoted Murtha.

Will it be in tiny print at the bottom of their on-line edition?

I say take a page from their play book and keep pounding away at what he said and ignore any lies corrections they try to promote.

[Just A Nobody]

LOL! You are on a roll tonight!

[Dustbunny]

Kind of hard to misquoted when they have it on tape.

[smoothsailing]

G'Night. :-)

[DakotaRed]

Isn't it odd how a Democrat is always "misquoted" or "taken out of context?" People include a quote to bolster their stance or disoute it. Murtha wasn't disputing this quote."

For all the rats reading and wanting to claim he never said it and it's no big deal quoting some poll, remember the 2003 State of the Union address? Seems there was a 16 word quote in that from British Intelligence that ya'll have been raising caine about ever since.

Bush didn't weasel out of his choice of words, unlike Murtha and his ilk on the left.

[56newblog]

Murtha - Start Squirming - you Worm.. (maggot?)
Remember sometimes you have to eat some of the chit you spit out..Vietnam era vet..

[SR 50]

ping

[Recovering_Democrat]

Here's an idea, John: since you aren't the CinC, why not try shutting your piehole?

Amazing, ain't it, how Democrats think politics ought to stop at the water's edge when a Democrat is in the White House? But let a Republican come along and try to clean up the mess and all of a sudden every jackass liberal who ever marched in a platoon is suddenly hailed as an expert in foreign policy.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[OldFriend]

Murtha sounds like the perfect dem candidate for the US Supreme Court.

[Coop]

It is pleasant to see the wriggling of a venomous creature as it begins to feel the heat.

Indeed. [rubbing hands together gleefully]