Posted on 11/18/2005 11:31:04 AM PST by Reagan Man
House Republicans sought a showdown Friday with Democrats on a proposal by one of their most senior members to force an end to the U.S. deployment of troops in Iraq.
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., offered the resolution demanding a pullout. The GOP-run House was expected to reject it _ and make a prominent statement about where Congress stands on Iraq _ as the chamber scurried toward a Thanksgiving break.
"We'll let the members debate it and then let them vote on it," said Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the acting majority leader.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's office had no immediate comment.
Murtha, a well-respected Vietnam veteran who voted for the Iraq war, called for the immediate withdrawal of troops Thursday, intensifying the already red-hot debate on Capitol Hill over President Bush's war policies.
Murtha's resolution would force the president to withdrawal the nearly 160,000 troops in Iraq "at the earliest predictable date."
Most Republicans oppose Murtha's plan, and even some Democrats have been reluctant to back his position. Republicans were seeking to force Democrats to stand with the respected 30-year congressman or go on the record against his proposal.
Some members of the House and Senate, looking ahead to off-year elections next November, are publicly worrying about a quagmire there. They have been staking out new positions on the war that has grown increasingly unpopular with the American public, resulted in more than 2,000 U.S. military deaths and cost more than $200 billion.
The House move comes just days after the GOP-controlled Senate defeated a Democratic push for Bush to lay out a timetable for withdrawal. Spotlighting mushrooming questions from both parties about the war, though, the chamber then approved a statement that 2006 should be a significant year in which conditions are created for the phased withdrawal of U.S. forces.
"Our troops have become the primary target of the insurgency," Murtha, a longtime hawk on foreign and military affairs issues, said Thursday. "They are united against U.S. forces and we have become a catalyst for violence. The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion."
A day after his comments, a U.S. field commander in Iraq countered the position of the usually pro-military congressman.
"Here on the ground, our job is not done," said Col. James Brown, commander of the 56th Brigade Combat Team, when asked about Murtha's comments during a weekly briefing that American field commanders routinely give to Pentagon reporters.
Speaking from a U.S. logistics base at Balad, north of Baghdad, two days before his scheduled return to Texas, Brown said: "We have to finish the job that we began here. It's important for the security of this nation."
Republicans pounced, chastising Murtha for advocating what they called a strategy of surrender and abandonment, and Democrats defended Murtha as a patriot, even as they declined to back his view.
"I won't stand for the swift-boating of Jack Murtha," Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, responded Friday. Also a Vietnam veteran, Kerry was dogged during the campaign by a group called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that challenged his war record.
"There is no sterner stuff than the backbone and courage that defines Jack Murtha's character and conscience," Kerry said.
For his part, Kerry has proposed a phased exit from Iraq, starting with the withdrawal of 20,000 troops after December elections in Iraq. A Kerry spokesman said "he has his own plan" when asked if Kerry agreed with immediate withdrawal.
As a Vietnam veteran and top Democrat on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee with close ties to many military officers, Murtha carries more credibility with his colleagues on the issue than a number of other Democrats who have opposed the war from the start.
Bush administration officials have been cautious in responding to Murtha.
"We have nothing but respect for Congressman Murtha's service to his country," White House communications director Nicolle Wallace told NBC's "Today" show Friday. "And I think he spoke from the heart yesterday. We happen to have a real serious policy disagreement with him."
Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, a 29-year Air Force veteran who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for nearly seven years, called Murtha's position unconscionable and irresponsible. "We've got to support our troops to the hilt and see this mission through," he said.
With a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, Murtha retired from the Marine Corps reserves as a colonel in 1990 after 37 years as a Marine, only a few years longer than he's been in Congress. Elected in 1974, Murtha has become known as an authority on national security whose advice was sought out by Republican and Democratic administrations alike.
I predict that about half the 'Rats vote the right way, a third of the 'Rats vote "present" and the rest vote to cut and run.
He doesn't have a plan.
Thanks Fred! I just got home and have several messages on my answering machine about this! I need a few minutes to catch up! Thanks for the pings!
Murtha is running for Pres. or V.P. it would seem.
RE-pub RINOS who attempted to block a recorded vote tonight ...
Member Name DC Phone DC FAX Email
Representative Mike Simpson (R - ID02)
202-225-5531 202-225-8216 http://www.house.gov/simpson/emailme.shtml
Representative James A. Leach (R - IA02)
202-225-6576 202-226-1278 http://www.house.gov/leach/email.htm
Representative Walter B. Jones, Jr. (R - NC03)
202-225-3415 202-225-3286 http://jones.house.gov/html/contact_form_email.cfm
Representative John N. Hostettler (R - IN08)
202-225-4636 202-225-3284 John.Hostettler@mail.house.gov
Representative Roscoe G. Bartlett (R - MD06)
202-225-2721 202-225-2193 http://www.bartlett.house.gov/emailissues.asp
Representative Wayne T. Gilchrest (R - MD01)
202-225-5311 202-225-0254 http://gilchrest.house.gov/contact.asp?ContactType=Form
To show our solidarity as Americans, let's all get together and show each other our support for the candidate of our choice. It's time that we all came together, Democrats and Republicans alike.
If you support the policies and character of President George W. Bush, please drive with your headlights 'ON' during the day.
If you support John Kerry, please drive with your headlights 'OFF' at night.
Nancy's made it clear she's supporting Murtha all the way, even if Murtha sends the Democrat party over the cliff.
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. She considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, but her father was a staunch Republican. One day she was challenging her father on his beliefs and his opposition to high taxes and welfare programs. He stopped her and asked how she was doing in school.
She answered that she had a 4.0 GPA, but it was really tough. She had to study all the time and never had time to go out and party. She didn't have time for a boyfriend and didn't really have many college friends because of spending all her time studying. On top of that, the part-time job her father insisted she keep left absolutely no time for anything else.
He asked, "How is your friend Mary?"
She replied that Mary was barely getting by. She had a 2.0 GPA, never studied, but was very popular on campus, didn't have a job, and went to all the parties. She was always complaining about not having any money, but didn't want to work. Why, she often didn't show up for classes because she was hung over.
Dad then asked his daughter why she didn't go to the Dean's office and request that 1.0 be taken off her 4.0 and given it to her friend who only had a 2.0. That way they would both have a respectable 3.0 GPA. Then, she could also give her friend half the money she'd earned from her job so that her friend would no longer be broke.
The daughter angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair. I worked really hard for my grades and money, and Mary just loafs. Why should her laziness and irresponsibility be rewarded with half of what I've worked for?"
The father slowly smiled and said, "Welcome to the Republican Party."
I really hope so. It's time for the Democrats to put up or shut up. They've had three years of this nonsense, it's time to put everyone on record as to where they stand on this issue.
This vote nails them to the WALL!
Vote or you're JELLO!
I think he was saying no more police actions - as in Vietnam and Korea: if we're going to fight it, fight it to win.
ALRIGHT!!!
I wrote to my congressmen last night telling them to do this. I'm sure he'll read my e-mail next week.
I tried to call the democrat from Fairfax, Jim Moran, but his office was "closed" so I left him a message telling him he better vote for the troops.
I just a reporter on Hardball who said neither party looks good tonight. I take that to mean in MSM speak that the GOP won.
"I won't stand for the swift-boating of Jack Murtha,"
What a gas! This line of rhetoric is a proven election loser. The Swift Boats guys were the nail in the coffin for Kerry. He might as well say “I won’t stand for my record being aired in public”. I don’t know about Murtha but I will give him the benefit of the doubt unless I hear otherwise and say: thank you for your service.
“A Kerry spokesman said "he has his own plan" when asked if Kerry agreed with immediate withdrawal.”
Another proven election loser. “I have a plan”. Great. Thanks for telling us without providing any details. Of course I probably wouldn’t agree with the plan but that is a debate we will never have.
It is good to have the momentum back.
You are exactly right. I know of several instances in the last couple years when people working at the staff level hundreds of miles away from Iraq have been recommended for bronze stars for things as silly as an effective PowerPoint presentation. Unfortunately, I'm not kidding, and I have personally read the proposed citations. Fortunately, I know at least some of those recommendations were disapproved, or reduced to a more appropriate level of commendation.
Hasn't anybody, in this free country without a "free" press, evidently; -- even heard of or got to watch the television ad and blog put out by the Kurdish people of north Iraq?
Where they tell America how grateful they are to us for coming (back) into their country to help them?
...and did you see and hear the reaction she got? How DARE we expect the dems to listen to the words of a soldier!!!
There is a poll on the local TV station in Murtha's district asking the question do you agree with Murtha. WWW.WJACTV.COM
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