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.
Peach ....watch this....the DEMS are going to run for the hills and throw the biggest fit you ever saw.
The Cut&Run Party aka CommieRats Concubine forced to put its future and "integrity" on the line if this vote happens.
Good! Bring It On!!!
They gaddam better not show their yeller bellies around people with real spines...
I'll bet the Dems move for adjournment before allowing this to come to a vote, and if that doesn't work they will try to tie up the House in all kinds of procedural motions.
This resolution will suspiciously be "lost" and the MSM will conveniently forget all about it...
If there is going to be a debate, can someone with ping lists start a live thread?
I need to go make popcorn!
Its a great idea. Get everyone on record now. Lets see who really supports the troops and who wants to cut and run from Iraq. My guess is, around 385 house members would probably say, stay the course. There must be 50 hardcore lefties in the house waiting to make Michael Moore, George Soros and John Murtha happy.
We sure will have a live thread.
I might have to open a bottle of wine to go with my popcorn!! Woo-Hoo!
LET'S ROLL!!
Yep, put these turkeys on record. When forced to put their name to a vote - they know where the American people stand. Lets see how united the DemocRATS front is?!?
Finally, something I can agree with the GOP with.
I say go for it, we need to see where the Congress is on this issue and stop all the harping.
My guess is it will not happen.
please ping me if this gets to the floor.......
Yeah, that sounds like a lot of military experience there, bucko!
</extreme sarcasm>
Oh -- that's an interesting strategy.
It seems the left has forgotten that Osama has mentioned what paper tigers American are and referred to the Mogadishu tragedy when 18 servicemen were killed and Clinton pulled out of the mission.
"There is no sterner stuff than the backbone and courage that defines Jack Murtha's character and conscience," Kerry said.
Well, if Kerry says so, I'm convinced.
You know, it's possible to have backbone and courage and be 100% DEAD WRONG. I always try to understand why people do what they do. What's Rep. Murtha's motivation here? Perhaps he identifies with and cannot stand to see more G.I.s killed. Who knows? But the facts are, no matter what he believes, he is playing right into the hands of the terrorists. Who does he think will be best served by a withdrawal? Sure, some G.I.s might be saved in the short term, but the long term prospects are truly horrendous. Can you imagine what will happen if the new Iraqi government falls to Iranian-backed Shias?
All well and good, but if this backfires on the Republicans...
If they lost this vote, it would be a monumental global disaster.
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