From the LA Times today, November 17, 2005
“The American public is way ahead of the
members of Congress,” Murtha said. “The United States and coalition
troops have done all they can in Iraq. But it’s time for a change in
direction.
“Our military is suffering. The future of our
country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course,” he said,
adding: “It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in
the best interest of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or
the Persian Gulf regime.”
Citing one of Bush’s key
justifications for the war � the concern the president raised that
Saddam Hussein’s regime was developing chemical, nuclear and biological
weapons â�� Murtha said, “The main reason for going to war has been
discredited.”
U.S. forces have found no evidence in the 32 months since they invaded Iraq to support Bush’s argument, he noted.
“It’s a U.S. intelligence failure,” Murtha said.
Murtha, who represents a
blue-collar district in southwestern Pennsylvania, said the wounded
troops with whom he has visited were demoralized not by criticism of
the war, but by “going to war with not enough troops and equipment to
make the transition to peace.”
Within the military, he said,
recruitment is down, even though the military has lowered its
standards, “personnel costs are skyrocketing, particularly in
healthcare,” equipment is worn out, and bases at home are facing “huge
shortfalls.”
“Our military has been fighting this war in Iraq
for over two and a half years. Our military has accomplished its
mission and done its duty. Our military captured Saddam Hussein,
captured or killed his closest associates, but the war continues to
intensify,” Murtha said.
He cited U.S. military deaths
approaching 2,100, serious injuries to more than 15,500 other troops,
and an increase, rather than a decrease, in the number of attacks on
U.S. forces there.
“Our troops have become the primary target
of the insurgency,” uniting insurgents and becoming a catalyst for
violence, Murtha said. “We need to turn Iraq over to the Iraqis.”
Murtha said that before the Iraqi elections scheduled for mid-December,
Iraq must know that “the United States will immediately redeploy. No
schedule which can be changed, nothing that’s controlled by the Iraqis.
This is an immediate redeployment of our American forces because they
have become the target. All of Iraq must know that Iraq is free, free
from a United States occupation.”
Asked at what point this
could be accomplished safely for the troops, he said, “Six months would
be a reasonable time to get them out of there.”
