Comments on: MURTHA: OLD SOLDIERS SHOULD JUST FADE AWAY

By: DaveG

DaveG — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:15:55 +0000

Murtha has the same plan the Republicans have. You just cannot admit it.

And apparently, neither can he.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 22:25:26 +0000

I don’t agree with your conclusions but I just wanted to leave a quick note giving you props for your tone. It was refreshing to read legitimate criticism of Murtha’s views without challenging his patriotism, ect. I hope more bloggers follow your lead.

By: :: Political Musings :: » Call It What It Is

:: Political Musings :: » Call It What It Is — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 05:01:49 +0000

[...] Rick Moran , in a post titled Old Soldiers Should Just Fade Away, picks up this theme and runs with it: This is the crux of Murtha, Kerry, and the Congressional Democratâ€™s critique of the war. If they honestly believe that keeping troops in Iraq is a futile exercise, why not run on that idea in November and see if the American people agree with it? What are they afraid of? They constantly tell us that the American people agree with them in the polls. Well, letâ€™s put that idea to the test and have them run on their belief that every American who dies in Iraq is a waste and that the troops should hightail it out of there. [...]

By: wuzzagrunt

wuzzagrunt — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 04:47:01 +0000

Murtha’s plan to redeploy combat troops “over the horizon” in Okinawa may have something to recommend it. Let’s test it out by redeploying FEMA personnel and Nat’l Guard units to, let’s say, Denmark and see how quickly they can respond to a major hurricane in the Gulf and southeastern US coasts.

It could work!

By: PC

PC — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 03:31:09 +0000

You do not like old soldiers? Why not? Murtha has the same plan the Republicans have. You just cannot admit it.
You prefer guys with like five deferments…I forgot.

By: Bill Arnold

Bill Arnold — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 01:59:21 +0000

What would make military sense would be a benchmark-driven withdrawal. For example, Iraqi military killing 2 times as many insurgents as non-Iraqi coalition forces for 3 months in a row would merit a 40K troop withdrawal, etc. (numbers completely made up). I don’t know how many democrats have suggested something like this, and if they have, whether it’s been dishonestly paraphrased as advocation of phased withdrawal.

As it stands, with no publically-known benchmarks for determining when the US can withdraw troops, withdrawals anywhere near (and prior to) election time in 2006/08 will be perceived by many as politically motivated, and it will be hard to argue the point with them.

By: Rick S

Rick S — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 01:46:55 +0000

Perhaps this is a kind of Freudian slip. Okinawa would make s a good over the horizon fallback position durring the Vietnam war. Maybe Murtha has lost his marbles and REALLY thinks Iraq IS Vietnam.

By: Scrapiron

Scrapiron — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 23:03:49 +0000

Saying Murtha was a former marine is the same as saying Lee Harvey Oswald was a former marine. (stolen from Linbaugh) Most current and former marines (once a marine, always a marine) are truly loyal Americans, but some fall by the wayside. Murtha fell when he adopted the left wing dim-wit, anti-american position, the same just not as fatal as Oswald. Brain dead or senile? I didn’t know, but felt that Murtha was not a combat ‘leader’ type marine, just a pencil pusher. Still upholding his position of pencil pusher.

By: Maggie's Farm

Maggie's Farm — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 21:57:05 +0000

Mon. Night Links

Become illegal and cash in: P/T PunditThe history of the inheritance tax. View from 1776I am Pasquale Orsini. Shape of Days - nice piece of writing.What is Murtha really thinking? And how can he get so much press if he doesn’t make sense? Rick Moran

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 20:03:20 +0000

Murtha’s plan makes sense if you believe that things are going downhill in Iraq and will only get worse. Unfortunately, the facts don’t support that contention.

Many people in the military, including me, used to have a lot of respect for Murtha for the reasons you cite. Haditha has destroyed that and now many despise him, especially his fellow Marines. He really blundered by opening his mouth about Haditha and convicting the Marines involved in front of the world before the investigations were complete. It was an ultimate betrayal and he lost the support of most in the military because of that. You see, by coming out and saying publicly that the Marines were guilty, he’s prejudiced not only the jury pool, but public sentiment. If it turns out he is wrong and the investigations show the Marine’s used appropriate force, then people around the world will scream coverup because Murtha already convicted them. The damage is done now, and even if those Marines are innocent, they will have a life-long taint of guilt on them because of Murtha’s premature comments. If they are guilty as Murtha says, then I hope they burn for it, but Murtha will have made finding a military jury much tougher for both the defense and prosecution.