Here’s the actual text. I suggest we all read this and argue the actual points.
The Honorable John P. Murtha
November 17, 2005The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. The American public is way ahead of us. the United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq, but it is time for a change in direction. Our millitary is suffering. The future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interest of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf Region.
General Casey said in a September 2005 Hearing, “the perception of occupation in Iraq is a major driving force behind the insurgency.” General Abizaid said on the same date, “Reducing the size and visibility of the coalition forces in Iraq is a part of our counterinsurgency strategy.”
For 2 1/2 years I have been concerned about the U.S. policy and the plan in Iraq. I have addressed my concerns with the Administration and the Pentagon and have spoken out in public about my concerns. The main reason for going to war has been discredited. A few days before the start of the war I was in Kuwait – the military drew a red line around Baghdad and said when U.S. forces cross that line they will be attacked by the Iraqis with Weapons of Mass Destruction – but the US forces said they were prepared. They had well trained forces with the appropriate protective gear.
We spend more money on Intelligence than all the countries in the world together, and more on Intelligence than most countries GDP. But the intelligence concerning Iraq was wrong. It is not a world intelligence failure. It is a U.S. intelligence failure and the way that intelligence was misused.
I have been visiting our wounded troops at Bethesda and Walter Reed hospitals almost every week since the beginning of the War. And what demoralizes them is going to war with not enough troops and equipment to make the transition to peace; the devastation caused by IEDs; being deployed to Iraq when their homes have been ravaged by hurricanes; being on their second or third deployment and leaving their families behind without a network of support.
The threat posed by terrorism is real, but we have other threats that cannot be ignored. We must be prepared to face all threats. The future of our military is at risk. Our military and their families are stretched thin. Many say that the Army is broken. Some of our troops are on their third deployment. Recruitment is down, even as our military has lowered its standards. Defense budgets are being cut. Personnel costs are skyrocketing, particularly in health care. Choices will have to be made. We can not allow promises wo have made to our military families in terms of service benefits, in terms of their health care, to be negotiated away. Procurement programs that ensure our military dominance cannot be negotiated away. We must be prepared. The war in Iraq has caused huge shortfalls at our bases in the U.S. Much of our ground equipment is worn out and in need of either serious overhaul or replacement. George Washington said, “To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.” We must rebuild our Army. Our defecit is growing out of control. The Director of the Congressional Budget Office recently admitted to being “terrified” about the budget defecit in the coming decades. This is the first prolonged war we have fought with three years of tax cuts, without full mobilization of American industry and without a draft. The burden of this war has not been shared equally; the military and their families are shouldering this burden.
Our military has been fighting a war in Iraq for over two and a half years. Our military has accomplished its mission and has done its duty. Our military captured Saddam Hussein, and captured or killed his closest associates. But the war continues to intensify. Deaths and injuries are growing, with over 2,079 confirmed American deaths. Over 15,500 have been seriously injured and it is estimated that over 50,000 will suffer from battle fatigue. There have been reports of at least 30,000 Iraq civilian deaths.
I just recentlly visited Anbar Province Iraq in order to assess the conditions on the ground. Last May, 2005, as part of the Emergency Supplemental Spending Bill, the House included the Moran Amendment, which was accepted in Conference, and which required the Secretary of Defense to submit quarterly reports to Congress in order to more accurately measure stability and security in Iraq. We have now received two reports. I am disturbed by the findings in key indicator areas. Oil production and energy production are below pre-war levels. Our reconstruction efforts have been crippled by the security situation. Only $9 billion of the $18 billion appropriated for reconstruction has been spent. Unemployment remains at about 60 percent. Clean water is scarce. only $500 million of the $2.2 billion appropriated for water projects has been spent. And most importantly, insurgent incidents have been increased from about 150 per week to over 700 in the last year. Instead of attacks going down over time and with the addition of more troops, attacks have grown dramatically. Since the revelations at Abu Gharib, American casualties have doubled. An annual State Department report in 2004 indicated a sharp increase in global terrorism.
I said over a year ago, and now the military and the Administration agrees, Iraq can not be won “militarily.” I said two years ago, the key to progress in Iraq is to iraqitize, Internationalize and Energize. I believe the same today. But I have concluded that the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is impeding this progress.
Our troops have become the primary target of the insurgency. They are united against U.S. forces and we have become a catalyst for violence. U.S. troops are the common enemy of the Sunnis, Saddamists and foreign jihadists. I believe with a U.S. troops redeployment, the Iraqi security forces will be incentivized to take control. A poll recently conducted shows that over 80% of Iraqis are strongly opposed to the presence of coalition troops, and about 45% of the Iraqi population believe attacks against American troops are justified. I believe we need tu turn Iraq over to the Iraqis. I believe before the Iraqi elections, scheduled for mid December, the Iraqi people and the emerging government must be put on notice that the United States will immediately redeploy. All of Iraq must know that Iraq is free. Free from United States occupation. I belive this will send a signal to the Sunnis to join the political process for the good of a “free” Iraq.
My plan calls:
-To immediately redeploy U.S. troops consistent with the safety of U.S. forces.
-To create a quick reaction force in the region.
-To create an over-the-horizon presence of Marines.
-To diplomatically pursue security and stability in Iraq.This war needs to be personalized. As I said before I have visited with the severely wounded of this war. They are suffering.
Because we in Congress are charged with sending our sons and daughters into battle, it is our responsibility, our OBLIGATION to speak out for them. That’s why I am speaking out.
Our military has done everything that has been asked of them, the U.S. can not accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. IT IS TIME TO BRING THEM HOME.
I have said this before, we need to talk to the people who are there. Pew research is a privately funded and respected polling agency. The results are interesting. Exceprt:
”
WHEN IT COMES to the future of Iraq, there is a deep disconnect between those who have firsthand knowledge of the situation — Iraqis and U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq — and those whose impressions are shaped by doomsday press coverage and the imperatives of domestic politics.
A large majority of the American public is convinced that the liberation of Iraq was a mistake, while a smaller but growing number thinks that we are losing and that we need to pull out soon. Those sentiments are echoed by finger-in-the-wind politicians, including many — such as John Kerry, Harry Reid, John Edwards, John Murtha and Bill Clinton — who supported the invasion.
American soldiers are also much more optimistic than American civilians. The Pew Research Center and the Council on Foreign Relations just released a survey of American elites that found that 64% of military officers are confident that we will succeed in establishing a stable democracy in Iraq. The comparable figures for journalists and academics are 33% and 27%, respectively. Even more impressive than the Pew poll is the evidence of how our service members are voting with their feet. Although both the Army and the Marine Corps are having trouble attracting fresh recruits — no surprise, given the state of public opinion regarding Iraq — reenlistment rates continue to exceed expectations. Veterans are expressing their confidence in the war effort by signing up to continue fighting.”
Read the whole thing:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-boot23nov23,0,1306469.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
And what did Murtha say again??
Frodo’s Link
Oh yeah I forgot this. The sky is falling all over Iraq and other Democratic / MSM absurdities.
excerpt:
The Left will keep screeching that the sky is falling all over Iraq, even as the previously oppressed citizens vote in ever-larger numbers and form the region’s newest democracy. They will insist on seeing disaster in every newsbreak and failure at every turn, because they do not believe that the US can do any good outside of its own borders or that the American national interest can also benefit Iraqis, Afghanis, and others who have their first taste of true freedom thanks to the efforts of the Anglo-American coalition. The soldiers and Marines know better, even if the journalists by and large won’t cover anything but the bombs.
read the whole thing:
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/005827.php
Comment: What was the precentage of voter turnout in the last balloting in Iraq? What was the percentage in the election you participated in? Yeah I thought so. Sounds like a quagmire to me.
I forgot this one as well. “Howe to lose a War”. We seem to be heading in this direction if you believe the MSM and Democrats.
Has the US really lost our stomach for this WOT?
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/57943.htm
Frodo – the OTHER three parts of his plan. Didn’t see any of them included in the proposed legislation. It wasn’t a vote on Murtha’s plan. Only one quarter of it!
You mention voting numbers as positive points, which they certainly are. Not only that, but they’re pretty clear evidence that the Iraqi people are behind the idea of democracy. Shouldn’t their voting totals indicate a willingness to take back control of their country?
Another vote of high importance. Recently the Iraqi government voted in favor of something you should be interested in:
Iraqi Leaders Call for Pullout Timetable
I saw the pull out vote but the man in charge (President) said publicly that this is a bad idea. We will see how that shakes out.
The other 3 parts are being discussed by the brass in Washington. If I had time I would find the link. But it is part of the long term plan.
The point is Murtha did call for a imediate withdrawl, and the other points you point out.
I think, and I am not alone, that imediate pull-out is a good way to lose the war. The MSM with its biased reporting is trying to make that a reality.
Any thing short of victory, and I believe we are getting close, is defeat. Do not be so anxious to be defeated. The tide is turning but you would never know it by watching the news or listening to the Democrat talking heads in DC.
There are many many links I will take the time later to post that paint a picture that is very positive about Iraq. Why do we never see this on the news??
There are reporters (Michael Yon, http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/)who are not afraid to go outside the green zone, like you mentioned in another post recently, and they like the military have a different view of the status of things in Iraq than what the MSM and Democrats are trying to portray to the American Public. 10 years from now we may all have different opinion of the war and like Pres. Lincoln and Pres. Trueman/Eisenhower a different opinion of the leaders that made the tuff choices and did not back down when public opinion went against them.
Frodo I got this from Andrew Sullivan:
“In contrast to the Pentagon’s stock answer that there are enough troops on the ground in Iraq, the commanders said [to a Senate committee] that they not only needed more manpower but also had repeatedly asked for it. Indeed, military sources told Time that as recently as August 2005, a senior military official requested more troops but got turned down flat. There are about 160,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq, a number U.S. commanders in the region plan to maintain at least through the Iraqi national assembly elections on Dec. 15. But the battalion commanders, according to sources close to last week’s meeting, said that because there are not enough troops, they have to “leapfrog” around Iraq to keep insurgents from returning to towns that have been cleared out. The officers also stressed that the lack of manpower—rather than of protective armor or signal jammers—posed one of the biggest obstacles in dealing with roadside bombs, which have caused the majority of U.S. casualties in Iraq. The commanders, according to the meeting sources, said there are simply “never enough” explosives experts on the ground. So far, no officer has been willing to go on record to complain about the need for more troops. But there is one positive sign: the Army recently decided to double the number of explosives experts to 2,500 over the next few years.”
Whether or not you agree with the war Bush and Co are not able to win it. To me that is the bottom line at this point getting more people killed even if for a good cause does not change the fact that under rumsfeld the war is lost. It is time to learn from this mistake and move-on.
The officers also stressed that the lack of manpower—rather than of protective armor or signal jammers—posed one of the biggest obstacles in dealing with roadside bombs, which have caused the majority of U.S. casualties in Iraq.
So the anti-soldier/Sheehan types, by harrassing military recruiters, are causing the deaths of soldiers over seas. And the media and Democrats who are putting such a negative and unwarranted spin on Iraq, thus, causing recruitment to go down are also responsible for the deaths of soldiers in Iraq. Very enlightening.
Thanks for the heads up Karl :- )
RT:
Good comeback. The only problem is the army was having trouble recruiting before Cindy Sheehan. I have a feeling many potential recruits are people like me who would like to use the army to pay for school, but if it is a choice between torturing a bunch of cab drivers or working two jobs to pay for school I would rather work two jobs.
I really have considered joining the reserves, but at this point the reserves wind up just being the poorly trained version of the regular army. Losing a war tends to make recruiting harder.
Sheehan is not anti-soldier. Her son was a soldier and he died. She’s against the war. Remember this chant from the 60s?
“We’re not against the troops, we’re against the war”
Wrap your head around that one. There are people who feel this way, and they’re not delusional…I’m not delusional.
Cindy Sheehan has nothing to do with recruiting shortfalls. It’s the same thing as blaming the workers for layoffs at GM.
It’s never management…oh, no. To a Republican, it’s NEVER management. Always everything BUT!
You have feel sorry for the republictims, they have all these great ideas if the press would just leave them alone. Or if realty would just stop getting in the way maybe some of their ideas woul work out.
I grow tired of the debate. There is no pint. I can not change your mind and you can not change mine. If you can not look in the direction my finger is pointing, rather than bite it off because of the direction it is pointing in, the debate is over.
If you can not see the bias in the media I can not work miracles and give you sight. If you can ot see the folley of early withdrawl from Iraq and waiting to respond by waiting to be attacked again I can not help.
We differ and I grow of the same old arguments here. If you need pro wr types to post here so you can re-justify beliefs so be it. I no longer need to try and justify mine here. I grow tired of the whole thing. Winning an argument here is not important, winning a war on terror is.
It is too bad we do not see this reported (and you never will by the MSM) you must really read the whole thing I know … I know preaching to the choir again.:
If you only look at one suggestion of mine this is it, but it is actually 3 (sorry):
http://www.savingbabylon.com/
http://www.chiefwiggles.com/
http://www.operationgive.org/
http://heirsofhammurabi.blogspot.com/
http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Subpenny1/
http://www.boredathenians.com/2005/11/good-news-from-iraq.html
http://findingabalance.blogspot.com/2005/11/more-good-news-from-iraq.html
http://chrenkoff.blogspot.com/2005/09/good-news-from-iraq-part-35.html
Note link above is one of 35. Read them all if you have a few hours to spare.
Here is the whole series:
http://chrenkoff.blogspot.com/2005/09/all-good-news-all-in-one-spot.html
http://goodnewsfromthefront.com/
I could put hundered maybe even thousands more but why? Your minds are made up by the fabrications of opinions formed by the MSM and all the rest. I feel like I am casting perls at the feet of swine. What is the point of that? Why bother? If you really care about America read some of the links above. I will say this one last time “I may not agree with your opinion but I will fight to the death for your freedom to say it.” The soldiers are doing that now. Give them some support now and when they come home. Both are important.
PS Karl you do not need to feel bad for me. I feel fine :).
But I have so much compassion that I need to spread it around 🙂
Happy thanksgiving everyone
Happy Thanksgiving all.
Rumor has it that Rep. Murthe may face an ethics inquiry? If true, this is a most interesting developement.
If he did something wrong, then have at it. Keep in mind though Paul, how many ‘ethics inquiries’ have been carried out within this congress, and why it might be more or less than should have taken place.
Right now the standard is this…if it’s a Republican, Congress isn’t investigating anything. If you’re a Republican, a DA has to indict you before you’re dinged up at all.
If they put on a full court press on Murtha and politicize something small, it’s wrong. He should be evaluated under the same standards as they applied to Tom Delay and Bill Frist!
It seems interesting how touchy the adminsitration is about Iraq critisism. They went a little overboard on Joe Wilson given that he(joe wilson) was being ignored anyway. Now Murtha who outside of DC is just a blip on the radar. The admin behaves like some guy in a bar who cannot let anything go and gets in a lot of fights.
From a political standpoint it looks like the real problem for the republicans is going to to be the Abramof scandal. It is pretty hard to be the party of social values when your leadership is facing indictment.
Corruption is even considered bad in the Bible!
I’m sure the GOP will not remember those parts when the Abramoff dragnet comes down. Just a few ‘bad apples’, shit happens, they asked Jesus for forgiveness – nothing more needs to be said.
The facts are biased. Seems like the 06 elections might go well for Dems, makes me think now might be a good time to fillabuster Alito, he seems like bad news, and hopefully get a majority in the senate.
Just a little mistake:
November 25, 2005 — 11:04 AM EST // link)
Anthony “Big Tony” Moscatiello implicates Jack Abramoff’s business partner Adam Kidan in the 2001 gangland murder of Gus Boulis. The money for the murder was allegedly paid out of the business accounts of SunCruz, the casino boat company Kidan and Abramoff jointly owned.
In August, Kidan and Abramoff were indicted for bank fraud stemming from their purchase of SunCruz.
— Josh Marshall
Must reads/sees (video) about this issue. Who do you believe??
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004240.htm
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004241.htm
Again are we getting the whole story? Cetainly not from the media andsome politcally opertunistic Democrats.