After Losing Son In Iraq, Retired Colonel Wages Challenge For Vet's House Seat

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
January 16, 2008
Pg. 9
By Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The father of a Marine killed in Iraq announced Tuesday that he is running for the House seat held by the only Iraq war veteran in Congress.
Thomas Manion, a Republican who recently retired as a colonel in the Marine Reserves, is unhappy with positions Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., has taken against the war.
Manion's son, 1st Lt. Travis Manion, 26, of Doylestown, Pa., died April 29 during his second Iraq tour while living with an Iraqi unit he was leading and training. Manion said his son's death was a wake-up call to step forward and serve.
"My son was about this country, so I'm sure he'd be very proud that I'm stepping forward and stepping on the field, as he was, to try to make a difference for our country," Manion, 53, said in a phone interview.
Adam Abrams, Murphy's spokesman, said in a statement that the freshman Democrat is "bringing people together — Democrats, Republicans and independents" — to work for his district.
"There will be plenty of time for politics later," Abrams said.
Murphy, 34, served as a military lawyer in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. Seizing on voters' discontent with the Iraq war, Murphy in 2006 beat then-congressman Mike Fitzpatrick with less than 51% of the vote. The competitive district includes a part of Philadelphia and its suburbs.
In office, Murphy has been out front in the Democrats' fight to get troops out of Iraq and was vocal in his opposition to President Bush's "surge" plan announced early last year. As part of the plan, 30,000 additional soldiers and Marines were stationed in the country.
Although more troops died in 2007 than in any other year in the war, the death count declined substantially by the end of the year, and fighting was calmed in parts of the country. The Iraqi government, however, has been criticized for making less political progress than was promised.
Manion, a pharmaceutical executive, said his son had expressed confidence in the decision to increase troop levels before he died. While "nobody wants the war to end as much as I do," Manion said stability in Iraq is essential for stability in the Middle East, and U.S. military leaders should be given an opportunity to make that happen.
 
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