California Conservative

PA Democratic Congressman John Murtha appeared on Sunday’s Meet the Press.  Here is a sampling of what he said and the truth behind his misguided rhetoric:

Murtha: On the floor the other day, you may have heard this, one fellow says, “We’re fighting this war.” We’re not fighting this war. One percent of the American people, these young men and women are fighting this war, with heavy packs, with 70 pounds of equipment, with helmets on in 130 degrees. That’s who’s fighting this war. And they say “stay the course.” There’s no plan. You open up this plan for victory, there’s no plan there. It’s just “stay the course.” That doesn’t solve any problem.

• As of June 12, 2006, all services exceeded their recruiting goals. Navy: 100%; Marine Corps: 105%; Air Force: 100%; Army: 108%.
• Staying the course is a plan, and here it is (President’s plan for Iraq)
• It isn’t 130 degrees year round in Iraq
• US Soldiers can handle 70 lbs.
• Everyone fights in the war on terror, if not as a soldier, by whom they support. Ask a soldier whose been to Afghanistan or Iraq if saying “We cannot win in Iraq” is fighting on the enemy’s side.

Murtha: It’s worse today than it was six months ago when I spoke out initially. When I spoke out, the garbage wasn’t being collected, oil production below pre-war level—all those things indicated to me we weren’t winning this, and it’s the same today, if not worse. Anbar Province. There’s not one project been done in Anbar Province. Two million people live there. They have no water at all, no oil production, they have no electricity at all in that province where is the heartland of the defense. The first six months we went in there, no—there—not a shot was fired, so it shows you how it’s changed.

FACT: CENTCOM reports:

Al Anbar Province

Construction started on a water project that will produce, treat and provide water to approximately 200,000 residents of Fallujah, Al Anbar Province. The statement of work for this project requires construction of a 9,600 m3/day water production and treatment plant, including intake cribs, generators, filtration and chlorination systems, pumps, piping, and perimeter security walls. A storage reservoir and approximately 6.2 km of transmission piping to the Askari sector of the city will also be installed. The $2M project is funded by the Commander’s Emergency Response Program, or CERP.

Construction begins on a Water Pump Station project in Fallujah, Al Anbar Province that will be completed mid-February and will pump storm water from the southern area of Fallujah—prone to flooding during the rainy season—to the Euphrates River. The $354K project is funded through the Commander’s Emergency Response Program—grass roots funds coordinated between community leaders and their maneuver unit commanders for more immediate relief of local community needs.

Murtha: It’s getting worse. That’s why I feel so strongly.

FACT:

• · 27 million Iraqis free from Saddam’s reign of terror
• · Elected government voted in by the people of Iraq, new Constitution in 3 years
• · Saddam Hussein captured and on trial
• · Uday and Qusay Hussein both dead
• · Abu Musab al-Zarqawi dead
• · Information damaging to al-Qaeda found in dead al-Zarqawi’s pocket results in 452 raids in a combined effort by 75,000 Iraqi army and police backed by US troops, 104 dead insurgents, priceless intelligence.
• · Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie says “ this is the beginning of the end of Al Qaeda in Iraq.”

Murtha Responds to Carl Rove:

Rove: Like too many Democrats, it strikes me they are ready to give the green light to go to war, but when it gets tough and when it gets difficult, they fall back on that party’s old pattern of cutting and running.

Murtha response: He’s sitting in his air conditioned office with his big, fat backside, saying, “Stay the course.” That’s not a plan. I mean, this guy—I don’t know what his military experience is, but that’s a political statement.

This guy’s sitting back there criticizing—political criticism, getting paid by the public taxpayer, and he’s saying to us, “We’re, we’re winning this war, and they’re running.” We got to change direction, that’s what we have to do. You can’t, you can’t sit there in the air conditioned office and tell these troops they’re carrying 70 pounds on their back inside these armored vessels and hit with IEDs every day, seeing their friends blown up, their buddies blown up, and he says “stay the course.” Yeah, it’s easy to say that from Washington, D.C.

FACT:

• Rove’s big, fat backside is smaller than Murtha’s.
• Murtha also sits in an air conditioned Congress and gives interviews from air conditioned offices.
• Wars on not won with sentimentality and the troops are prepared for casualties.
• White House has a detailed plan for Victory in Iraq that is being executed daily.
• Murtha’s War Hero Status Called Into Question
  January 13, 2006
  A Cybercast News Service investigation also reveals that one of Murtha’s former Democratic congressional colleagues and a fellow decorated Vietnam veteran, Don Bailey of Pennsylvania, alleges that Murtha admitted during an emotional conversation on the floor of the U.S. House in the early 1980s that he did not deserve his Purple Hearts…

Murtha: When we went to Beirut, I, I said to President Reagan, “Get out.” Now, the other day we were doing a debate, and they said, “Well, Beirut was a different situation. We cut and run.” We didn’t cut and run. President Reagan made the decision to change direction because he knew he couldn’t win it. Even in Somalia, President Clinton made the decision, “We have to, we have to change direction. Even with tax cuts. When we had a tax cut under Reagan, we then had a tax increase because he had to change direction. We need to change direction. We can’t win a war like this.

FACT: “Changing direction” is code for “cut and run”, and Murtha has quite a history of cutting and running.

Murtha: And what I mean by stay and pay, and I’m talking about the hardship on the families, the hardship on the troops. And there’s no plan, that’s the thing.

Fact: Murtha voted against $427.4 billion Defense spending bill  passed overwhelmingly by the House on June 20, 2006, which funds the war on terror.

Cross-posted at Amy Proctor’s Blog

Technorati Tags: John Murtha, Haditha, Marines, CENTCOM

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 21st, 2006 at 6:49 pm and is filed under Author: Amy Proctor, Iraq, Military. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.