He’s dead, Jim.
Posted on 06/21/2006 4:55:17 PM PDT by .cnI redruM
Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa), imagines himself to be the scourge of the hawks in the Bush administration. Many journalists do, too, because they keep inviting him to appear on talk shows.
So why were the targets of Mr. Murtha's wrath doubled over with laughter during his appearance last Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press?" Rep. Murtha's newfound fame is a product of his call for immediate withdrawal from Iraq, or in the dishonest way he likes to phrase it, "redeployment" from Iraq.
Host Tim Russert asked Mr. Murtha to respond to a question White House political guru Karl Rove had asked rhetorically in a recent speech.
"My question is, what country would take us?" Mr. Rove asked. "What country would say after the United States cut and run from Iraq, 'Yeah, paint a big target on our back and then you'll cut and run from us?'" "We can go to Okinawa," Rep. Murtha responded. "We can redeploy there almost instantly."
Mr. Russert, mindful of the fact that Okinawa, Japan, is 4,899 miles from Baghdad, offered Mr. Murtha an escape, in case he had misspoken. "But it would be tough to have a timely response from Okinawa," he said. But Rep. Murtha dug himself in deeper. "When I say a timely response, you know, our fighters can fly from Okinawa very quickly," he said.
Mr. Murtha has been recommending redeployment to Okinawa ever since his rebirth as a dove last year, so what he said on "Meet the Press" was no slip of the tongue.
Let us be clear about the Murtha "strategy." It is insane. It would be easier to defend Germany from Chicago; Alaska from Miami, or Hawaii from Pittsburgh than to defend Iraq from Okinawa.
It would take 10-12 hours -- and six refuelings -- for F-16s to fly from Kadena AFB on Okinawa to Baghdad (assuming China and India would grant overflight rights, a dubious assumption). Mr. Murtha may regard this as "very quickly," but the Air Force does not.
As Bugs Bunny would say: "What a maroon!"
Another howler is Mr. Murtha's assertion that U.S. troops currently serving in Iraq would be "welcomed" in Okinawa. For decades Okinawans have been seeking a reduction in the U.S. military presence, both because they covet the land on which U.S. military bases sit, and because of a long history of pacifism. The U.S. recently agreed to withdraw 7,000 Marines from Okinawa.
"There is no way we can win (the war in Iraq) militarily," Mr. Murtha said. Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the al Qaida chieftain in Iraq until the Air Force liquefied his internal organs, had a different view:
"Here in Iraq, time is beginning to be of service to the American forces and harmful to the resistance," Mr. Zarqawi wrote in a document captured after his death.
The Bush Administration has "no plan" for dealing with Iraq, Rep. Murtha asserted.
Mowaffak al Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, begs to differ. Writing in the Washington Post Tuesday, he said:
"There is an unofficial 'road map' to foreign troop reductions that eventually will lead to total withdrawal of U.S. troops. This road map is based not just on a series of dates but, more important, on achievement of set objectives for restoring security in Iraq."
If you want to know the truth about Iraq, you should listen carefully to what Jack Murtha has to say -- and believe exactly the opposite.
Mr. Murtha's howlers about Okinawa obscured a more revealing comment he made earlier on CNN. He cited President Clinton's abrupt withdrawal from Somalia after 19 Rangers were killed there in 1993 as an example of the policy the U.S. should follow in Iraq.
Osama bin Laden gave the "change in direction" in Somalia Mr. Murtha applauds as the chief reason why he thought al Qaida could strike the United States with impunity.
"After a few blows... (the U.S.) rushed out of Somalia in shame and disgrace, dragging the bodies of its soldiers," Mr. bin Laden told ABC's John Miller in a 1998 interview.
Because he is a retired Marine Reserve colonel who served in Vietnam, Rep. Murtha is regarded as one of the Democrats' leading strategic thinkers. This, sadly, may be the case.
Mr. Murtha sounds less like a Marine colonel these days, and more like a male Cindy Sheehan. Has he become senile? Or was he always this stupid?
In either case, voters in his district should take a close look at Diane Irey, the Republican who hopes to put an end to the embarrassment to Pennsylvania Jack Murtha has become.
Maybe someone should take a closer look at the names of people and organizations that have donated to his campaign. Maybe he isn't crazy, just corrupt.
Thanks. I did not know that.
Oh dear. Where to begin.
Never mind.
Here's a tidbit for you to ponder:
John Murtha is a DEMOCRAT.
I'll bet he's a friend of Murtha's posting from Okinawa.
Keep him out there and promote him as a spokesman for the views of his party. And the rest of the bunch too. The GOP hasn't been out there with big mouths for a reason- they want these wackos out there every night saying what they are saying, and are likely encouraging them:)
OMG -- I kept looking for the sarc/off alert.
Here I thought the post was total humor but it turns out the floater was serious.
BTTT
Very true. I'll save the nukes for later though =)
He’s dead, Jim.
| 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," |
Please tell us more about how the dims would fight the war if they achieve power.
They just can't help themselves, they just keep falling for it.
Thanks for the pings!
I just think a lot of people are talking about things without checking the facts.
I guess you must be one of them. You need to grow up first.
In case you haven't followed the conflict you should know that the terrorists themselves have pegged Iraq as the cornerstone of their effort.
"We can go to Okinawa," Rep. Murtha responded. "We can redeploy there almost instantly."
Murtha let a top secret out of the bag. Our new bombers, which can fly at the speed of light, haven't even been built yet and he's already talking about them. I'm surprised the NYT hasn't broken the story yet.
You know, we are all having a good yuk about Murtha, but rather than this leach out on day 4 after the remarks were made, why did the Administration not come out immediately and expose Murtha for the fraud he is. Not to want to emulate the Previous administration, but Clinton had a rapid response team to immediately respond to its critics. The Republicans need something similar. I know they are trying to behave like adults, but they must and should respond more quickly and more vigorously. This is, regrettably, hardball politics.
Thanks for the ping!
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Bump
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