SO WRONG FOR SO LONG: How the Press, the Pundits--and the President--Failed on Iraq (2013 Edition) by Mitchell Greg

Author:Mitchell, Greg [Mitchell, Greg]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Sinclair Books
Published: 2013-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

Murtha Speaks Out

November 17, 2005

A few days ago, newspaper editorial pages were merely trailing their readers in calling for change in direction in Iraq. Now they are even behind Congress.

Earlier this week, even pro-war Democrats in Congress, such as Senators Biden and Clinton, asked Bush if he could, please, at least come up with some kind of long-term timetable. It wasn't much and it didn't pass, but that's still more than we have seen from all but a few editorial pages. The New York Times, for example, once again Thursday morning came out against any withdrawal or a timetable for exiting.

Now, how will newspapers respond to the angry, moving statement by conservative Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) today? The crusty, hawkish former Marine called for an Iraq pullout, starting not in, say, 2007, but ASAP, and introduced a bill to this effect. “Our military has done everything that has been asked of them, the U.S. can not accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily,” Murtha said. “It is time to bring them home.”

Wisely, he called it a “redeployment,” not a pullout, and he said it was not exactly "immediate," but could be largely accomplished by the middle of next year. Asked at a press conference if this did not amount to "cutting-and running," Murtha replied that the war had been handled haplessly from the start, and new polls show that even most of the Iraqis want us out.

In response, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said, "it is baffling that he is endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore."

But Rod Dreher, the conservative columnist, quickly posted this at NRO Online, the National Review site: “If tough, non-effete guys like Murtha are willing to go this far, and can make the case in ways that Red America can relate to -- and listening to him talk was like listening to my dad, who's about the same age, and his hunting buddies -- then the president is in big trouble. I'm sure there's going to be an anti-Murtha pile-on in the conservative blogosphere, but from where I sit, conservatives would be fools not to take this man seriously.”

This man: After serving in the Marines in the early 1950's, he re-enlisted in 1966 and served in Vietnam, earning a Bronze Star. Today, in a not-so-veiled response to Vice President Cheney's recent attacks on the patriotism of antiwar critics, Murtha said: "I like guys who got five deferments and (have) never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done."

And on President Bush: "You know, the president said it's tough to win a war. You know, it's tough to WAGE a war. That's where the fallacy's been. To WAGE this war is where the problem's been."

Murtha's statement puts the issue squarely and fairly to editorial and opinion writers. Rise to the challenge. Don't just sit on the fence. Consider his concluding passage: "This war needs to be personalized. As I said before, I have visited with the severely wounded of this war.

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