So What's With This Murtha Guy?

I read up on him on wikipedia, and from what I gather, he's a conservative pro-military Democrat. What I don't get is why he has become so pacifist lately. Clearly, he has served honorably in the Marine Corps for a long time, and he supported the invasion, so why this sudden change of mind? The only reason that makes sense is because what he heard when he spoke with soldiers in Iraq disillusioned him, but I hear many more politicians say that there is progress being made, and that patience is needed (an opinion that I myself hold). So, can anyone give me any good explanations, because I just don't understand it.
Thanks.

[Spitfire101]

He has a book out "From Vietnam to 9/11". It may help you understand him a little better. Bottom line is - he's a politician - he smiles at the little kids while he steals their lollipop. That goes for all politicians.

Originally Posted by Spitfire101

He has a book out "From Vietnam to 9/11". It may help you understand him a little better. Bottom line is - he's a politician - he smiles at the little kids while he steals their lollipop. That goes for all politicians.

Good point, but I would expect someone like him be the last person in the world to be a poster-boy for the anti-war movement. I mean, the guy definetely has credibility, you can't argue with that.

[Spitfire101]

Yes he does have credibility. If you followed the media coverage, you have probably noticed that he didn't actually speak out until some "facts" came out in the open about this war. We all have the right to change our mind. Only he knows what his motives are - the rest of us can only guess.

Maybe he figured out that the war in Iraq has finally turned into a quagmire such as in Vietnam back in the 70's-60's, That no weapons of mass destruction were ever found, and that the military manpower to accomplish the job was a fiasco from get go, and that they miscalculated the insurgency, that its turned into a military industrial complex with companies like HALIBOURTON winning NO BID contracts, that are deep in bed with Cheney. Maybe Murtha got tired of watching these "CHICKENHAWKS" make war when they actually either never served, or served in the Guard to keep from going to Vietnam, while sending many young men to their fates now. Maybe Murtha got tired of listening to comments like "I had more important things to do than to join the military", such as what Cheney was commented on saying when asked why he never joined the military. I don't know. Just maybe it finally sunk into him what really is going on with this war in Iraq.

Originally Posted by Spitfire101

Yes he does have credibility. If you followed the media coverage, you have probably noticed that he didn't actually speak out until some "facts" came out in the open about this war. We all have the right to change our mind. Only he knows what his motives are - the rest of us can only guess.

Maybe he figured out that the war in Iraq has finally turned into a quagmire such as in Vietnam back in the 70's-60's, That no weapons of mass destruction were ever found, and that the military manpower to accomplish the job was a fiasco from get go, and that they miscalculated the insurgency, that its turned into a military industrial complex with companies like HALIBOURTON winning NO BID contracts, that are deep in bed with Cheney. Maybe Murtha got tired of watching these "CHICKENHAWKS" make war when they actually either never served, or served in the Guard to keep from going to Vietnam, while sending many young men to their fates now. Maybe Murtha got tired of listening to comments like "I had more important things to do than to join the military", such as what Cheney was commented on saying when asked why he never joined the military. I don't know. Just maybe it finally sunk into him what really is going on with this war in Iraq.

Originally Posted by Spitfire101

Yes he does have credibility. If you followed the media coverage, you have probably noticed that he didn't actually speak out until some "facts" came out in the open about this war. We all have the right to change our mind. Only he knows what his motives are - the rest of us can only guess.

[USMC Chuter]

Tool

[cincymarsdad]

I don't know what he's thinking. I know barely what I'm thinking.

I do think that a precipitous withdrawal NOW in Iraq would lead to FAR more deaths later, and not much later, than staying the course.

Democracies are not suited for long, grinding, exhausting operations like Iraq. They want Hollywood in-and-out "clean" dramatic Victories.

The parallels to Iraq are not Viet Nam, where a clearly hostile, well supported enemy was acting against us in a sanctuary, but the Phillipines, Nicauragua, and the Banana Wars, which received little media attention back when. I seem to recall something called "The Small Wars Manual", or something like that.

Insurgencies are nothing new. This one is not new.

Whatever the reason for getting IN to Iraq needs to be left to History. We need to focus on how to WIN in Iraq - losing Iraq is simply not an option IMHO. What Murtha has said puts him outside the mainstream of the Democratic Party. In my opinion, whatever his credentials, he is wrong, critically wrong, on his central tenet.

[AmericanGirl]

Maybe he figured out that the war in Iraq has finally turned into a quagmire such as in Vietnam back in the 70's-60's, That no weapons of mass destruction were ever found, and that the military manpower to accomplish the job was a fiasco from get go, and that they miscalculated the insurgency, that its turned into a military industrial complex with companies like HALIBOURTON winning NO BID contracts, that are deep in bed with Cheney. Maybe Murtha got tired of watching these "CHICKENHAWKS" make war when they actually either never served, or served in the Guard to keep from going to Vietnam, while sending many young men to their fates now. Maybe Murtha got tired of listening to comments like "I had more important things to do than to join the military", such as what Cheney was commented on saying when asked why he never joined the military. I don't know. Just maybe it finally sunk into him what really is going on with this war in Iraq.

Comparing Iraq to Vietnam is like comparing a Ford Escort to a Rolls Royce. They are two DIFFERENT wars. No maybe they didnt find weapons of mass destruction, but the technology to make them was there. As for Halliburton, no I dont like it, but its done now and you cant spend your life crying over spilt milk.
If you spend too much time thinking about what "should have could have, would have" been, then you arent focused on the future and the solution. There are no easy answers, but we are in the middle of a war on terror and I would much rather our country be fighting those lunatics over there than in my back yard here killing innocent civilians. Iraq will only become a quagmire, if we pull out our troops before the country is ready to stand on its on, a lot of good men and women have died over there, and letting Iraq fall into civil war and become a playground for terrorist groups like Al Qaeda would mean all their sacrifices would have been in vain.

[Spitfire101]

When it comes down to it, we here are just "the little people". We can't change other people's actions. When it comes to politicians, it's known to be a standard procedure for any of them to talk the talk. Just as I stated before, they smile at your kids and steal the lollipops while doing so. The comment that was made her about not being able to change the past is most certainly true. Focus on the future and come up with solutions.
For selfish reasons, I would love to see ALL our troops pulled out, because this war does effect me. Every time hubby deploys, I don't sleep much throughout the whole year and my health takes a dip because of it. (I'm getting a little tired of plugging the grey hair...there's so many of them now.) But I also realize that pulling all our guys and gals out of the region would be the biggest mistake ever done in history. We've got to finish what we started and at least give Iraq the capability and tools to hold its ground. One thing we always have to remember - we may not support the war, but we all better damn well support our troops!

[cincymarsdad]

I copied this from a blog site. The author is a Marine major who was attached to the H&S Company of 3/25, which was deployed in the Haditha area in 2005. I'll leave the post as anonymous as I posted without asking his OK. I think he would have given it. Heck, maybe he reads this place and is going to chew me out. I don't think so.

A Man Will See What He Wants to See

And will disregard the rest.

Congressman John Murtha has been in the news a lot recently, mostly bad mouthing the military and saying how hopeless it is for us.

I have no idea where he got that idea from. When he came to visit our battalion in Hadithah Dam, Al Anbar Province, Iraq, we told him an entirely different story.

This is a picture of him with some army guy I don't know, our battalion commander and the battalion sergeant major.

There's no telling what our CO told Rep. Murtha. But I am pretty sure he didn't tell him that we need to cut and run. We had a dog and pony show with samples of how much our equipment had improved in the short time we had been there, especially regarding armored vehicles. I'm sure he bragged at our recent permanent presence in the city of Hit.

And I'm pretty sure no one told him that we needed to be pulled back home before finishing the job we were doing.

But a man will hear what he wants to hear. See what he wants to see. And make any kind of crazy claim to support his political agenda.

His aides walked about handing out little keychain fobs with his name on them. I didn't keep it, wish I had now, so that I could mail it back to him with appropriate comments of disapproval.

He and the other congressman, who's name I don't remember because I didn't get a key chain fob with a name on it, had some really hot-looking aides with them. It caused a small stir when they came to the top of the dam.