...Neither can the administration engage in the delusion that we’ve won in Afghanistan. Last Thursday the President said we’re on the offensive against terrorists in Afghanistan, even as the NATO commander said the opposite is true and made a desperate plea for more troops to stop a major Taliban offensive.
We must recommit to Afghanistan. This administration has cut and run while the Taliban-led insurgency is retaking control over entire areas of the country. They’ve cut and run even as we’ve learned that the mastermind of the most recent attempt to blow up American airliners was an al-Qaida leader in Afghanistan. The same killers who attacked us are still plotting attacks against America and they’re still holed up in Afghanistan...
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/news/news_2006_0909b.html
So we need to cut and run from Iraq in order to redeploy to Afghanistan to make up for Dubya allegedly cutting and running from the real war on terror.
Any questions?
Sept. 27, 2006
Rep. Murtha and Others Hold News Conference on White House Military Policy and to Introduce Veterans Running for Congress as Democrats:
MURTHA:
Well, I want to thank VETPAC for stepping forward to protect the veteran against these scurrilous attacks.
My dad and his brothers served in World War II. My three brothers served in the Marine Corps. They were sergeants and they thought sergeants ran the Marine Corps. And my great-grandfather was in the Civil War on the right side. And his grandfather was in the Revolutionary War.
And they called me unpatriotic. And VETPAC has been here to help straighten this out.
This is outrageous, some of the scurrilous attacks, just because a person disagrees with a policy.
And everything that I've said since November 17th of last year turned out to be true. And the intelligence reports which you just saw, which were leaked to the press, have indicated that we're actually causing terrorism by being in Iraq. We've diverted ourselves away from the real war on terrorism, which is worldwide and police work, and we've put our troops in the middle of a civil war.
And we've reduced the effectiveness of our ground forces in the United States with the $8 billion we're spending on the war itself.
We just passed a defense bill yesterday. We put an extra $70 billion in that bill, and the White House didn't even ask for it.
But when these people that have never been there, sitting on their fat backsides there in the White House and other places, in their air-conditioned office, send troops out there and they don't understand what the mission is, we have to fight back.
And I think it's really gratifying to me to see 51 veterans from the different wars fighting to take back the honor and patriotism that they deserve.
So I'm delighted, and VETPAC honored me today by being here. And they continually try to discredit because of the policy difference. This is not a personal thing. This is a policy difference. And everything I've said has been right.
So I appreciate these folks running. I appreciate the sacrifice these young men and women are making -- a very small proportion of this country.
They're sending people back with less than a year in the United States. They're sending them back to Iraq or Afghanistan. They're calling back IRR people who've been out two or three years. It's a draft, for all intents and purposes.
One of my friends, 60 years old, got a letter said, "You can come back."
(LAUGHTER)
Let me tell you something: I went back when I was 35 and it was no fun. I'll tell you, they wore me down, these young kids. And one guy, 55, said he came back, he might have to go overseas.
So they're short people. They're taking in people that aren't as qualified as they used to be. And the readiness of the forces in the United States means we've got no Army ground forces strategic reserve to meet the challenges if we had somebody that challenged us overseas. We couldn't deploy them.
So, I'm just delighted to be here with these other veterans who are running. And I admire their courage.
I ran the first time in '74. I see the same intensity today that I saw in 1974. Every place I go, I see an intensity they want to change direction of this country.
And the Democrats are unified against terrorism, but we got to change direction in Iraq, because Iraq is actually -- according to this intelligence report, is actually increasing terrorism.
Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
"OK, so the position of the group is that it can't be any worse than it is today?"
A VETPAC staffer intervenes.
That is hilarious, it proves what a bumbling old fool Murtha is. It looks like they have at least one VETPAC staffer who has enough brains to realize what a fool he is.
The pathetic thing is Murtha is not only a member of the House but the ranking member on the appropriations committee and has been for years. The man has to be delusional.