Bush, Murtha And The Tipping Point
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics, The War On Terrorism, WarWe all knew it was going to come eventually.
Murtha had known he would set off an explosion. He did. His arrival on the House floor was greeted with cheers from fellow Democrats, by dagger glances from Republicans. A near riot ensued. An Ohio backbencher named Jean Schmidt, eager to demonstrate coldbloodedness, was given time by GOP leaders to relate a phone call from a Marine whom she said wanted “to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do.” Furious Democrats charged down the aisles, fists in the air, shouting that Schmidt’s words had to be stricken from the record. “You guys are pathetic!” yelled Rep. Martin Meehan of Massachusetts, while Rep. Harold Ford of Tennessee charged into the GOP side to confront them. The melee was so intense that it brought the soothing presence of Rep. Tom DeLay from his secure undisclosed location, and Schmidt eventually apologized. By a vote of 403-3, the House ultimately rejected a bowdlerized version of Murtha’s resolution, which the GOP had crafted (without Murtha’s permission) to sound as cravenly antiwar as possible. Seeing the obvious trap, virtually every Democrat, including Murtha, voted against it.The drama on the floor was a shabbyâ€â€?at times, farcicalâ€â€?finale to a season that nevertheless had produced something serious: a transformation of the politics of the war in Washington. Some of the change had little to do with the war per se. From the bungling of Katrina disaster relief to the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, the White House had faced a run of bad news that would buckle support for any of the president’s policies. But as they watched the continued deadly attacks by Sunni insurgentsâ€â€?and the continued erosion of Bush’s numbers as a war leader and honest manâ€â€?Democrats were encouraged to up the ante in Congress. “The fact is, Bush’s war policy has failed,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, a former Clinton spin doctor who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “It’s failed! Who better to say so than Jack Murtha?”
And here’s Murtha’s perspective on Iraq:
But fresh allegations that the government was secretly torturing Sunnis won’t help encourage that sect to take part in the December balloting. And few members of Congress return from visits to Iraq buoyant about the likelihood of ending the insurgency any time soon without a massive infusion of additional American troops that, according to Murtha, would require the reinstitution of the draft. “I saw how discouraged these commanders were,” the congressman told NEWSWEEK. “They say what the White House wants them to say, but they don’t have enough troops to secure the border.”
So by now, what do you all think of Murtha? Is he part of the “cut and run” crowd or does he have a point?
All thoughts welcome and appreciated.
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November 21st, 2005 at 8:45 am
John Murtha, Democrat from Pennsylvania, has come out against the Iraqi War with a good report. Blog site Moderate Republican has a good discussion about this topic. While I commend Murtha, hold him in high esteem, and agree with his view of the war in Iraq, I must question his idea about immediate redeployment of troops. “My plan calls for immediate redeployment of 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, and to diplomatically pursue security and stability in Iraq”. “Immediate Redeployment” was a poor choice of words. Regardless, he was correct in his general evaluation of the war.
We should set a time table and put the Iraqis on notice that we will be leaving as soon as the new government is installed. For sure, we should leave next year. We gave the Iraqi people the most precious gift in the world. Namely, they have an opportunity to form a more perfect union. Now, it is time we start thinking about our own homeland security. We need to secure our borders, waterways, and airports. And, we need to address terrorist cells in America. Those that want to do us harm should be expelled from America and we should develop a secure and humane immigration policy that is consistent with our need for workers in all fields.
November 21st, 2005 at 9:13 am
As I said in a previous thread, Murtha is at least close to being right about the U.S. having done all it can - I don’t think we’re quite at that point yet but with Iraq’s constitution ratified and the first round of elections under that constitution coming up, we’re awfully close.
I hope Fineman is right about this whole episode having a transformative effect on Iraq war politics, at least if that means the Democrats returning the pre-war intelligence flap to the back burner where it belongs. Our Iraq policy should be a response to the war as it stands now, and at least Murtha is speaking to that instead of merely piling on with the “Bush lied” meme.
November 21st, 2005 at 9:52 am
Just ran across a great post at Bull Moose (bullmooseblog.com) called “The Third Camp”. Moose argues that folks like McCain, Biden, Warner and Graham are pragmatists who are trying to figure out how to win the war, if possible. After listening to Murtha, I’m convinced he falls in this camp too, although he views the war as unwinnable. The Third Camp is open to this possibility but hasn’t rejected the idea that all is not yet lost.
November 21st, 2005 at 10:31 am
I just don’t see that we are not winning the war, but in the end I think it is the Iraqi army that is going to win the war and they are getting stronger all the time. It has been obvious to me since the decision to put an interim government in charge that Iraqization was the policy and that it would be the Iraqi people who would pull Bush’s irons out of the fire. I had my doubts that the Iraqi’s would fight but if what I read on Bill Roggio’s and Michael Yon’s blogs is accurate then we have made significant progress in the last year. Violence was way down for the referendum compared to the Jan elections. Lets see what happens next month. I think Murtha and the discouraged public are reacting to the anti war media barrage, not the reality on the ground in Iraq. I couldn’t believe the emotional impact of TV coverage when I visited the US for much of 04. No wonder people are fed up. Treat traffic deaths like that and the sales of horses would skyrocket.