Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
By LIZ SIDOTI - Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - (AP) A U.S. field commander in Iraq countered
calls by a usually pro-military congressman for withdrawal of Americans
fighting there Friday, while Democrats defended Rep. John Murtha as a
patriot even as they declined to back his view.
"Here on the ground, our job is not done," Col. James Brown,
commander of the 56th Brigade Combat Team, told reporters at the Pentagon.
Speaking from a U.S. logistics base at Balad, north of Baghdad, two
days before his scheduled return to Texas, Brown said: "We have to finish
the job that we began here. It's important for the security of this nation."
The withdrawal demand by Murtha, a veteran Pennsylvania Democrat,
lent more intensity to the increasingly hot Iraq debate. Some members of the
House and Senate, looking ahead to off-year elections next November, are
publicly worrying about a quagmire there.
"Our troops have become the primary target of the insurgency,"
Murtha, a longtime hawk on foreign and military affairs issues, said
Thursday. "They are united against U.S. forces and we have become a catalyst
for violence. The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed
policy wrapped in illusion."
Republicans pounced, chastising Murtha for advocating what they
called a strategy of surrender and abandonment.
"I won't stand for the swift-boating of Jack Murtha," Sen. John
Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, responded Friday. Also a
Vietnam veteran, Kerry was dogged during the campaign by a group called the
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that challenged his war record.
"There is no sterner stuff than the backbone and courage that
defines Jack Murtha's character and conscience," Kerry said.
For his part, Kerry has proposed a phased exit from Iraq, starting
with the withdrawal of 20,000 troops after December elections in Iraq. A
Kerry spokesman said "he has his own plan" when asked if Kerry agreed with
immediate withdrawal.
As a Vietnam veteran and top Democrat on the House Appropriations
defense subcommittee with close ties to many military officers, Murtha
carries more credibility with his colleagues on the issue than a number of
other Democrats who have opposed the war from the start.
"Our military has accomplished its mission and done its duty," the
30-year lawmaker told reporters at news conference with American flags
arrayed behind him.
"It's time to bring them home," he said.
Bush administration officials have been cautious in responding to
Murtha.
"We have nothing but respect for Congressman Murtha's service to his
country," White House communications director Nicolle Wallace told NBC's
"Today" show Friday. "And I think he spoke from the heart yesterday. We
happen to have a real serious policy disagreement with him."
Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, a 29-year Air Force veteran who was a
prisoner of war in Vietnam for nearly seven years, called Murtha's position
unconscionable and irresponsible. "We've got to support our troops to the
hilt and see this mission through," he said.
Said House Speaker Dennis Hastert: "They want us to retreat. They
want us to wave the white flag of surrender to the terrorists of the world."
Referring to President Bush, Murtha had said, "I resent the fact, on
Veterans Day, he criticized Democrats for criticizing them."
The GOP-controlled Senate on Tuesday defeated a Democratic push for
Bush to lay out a timetable for withdrawal. Spotlighting mushrooming
questions from both parties about the war, though, the chamber then approved
a statement that 2006 should be a significant year in which conditions are
created for the phased withdrawal of U.S. forces.
Murtha estimated that all U.S. troops could be pulled out within six
months. He introduced a resolution Thursday that would force the president
to call back the military, but it was unclear when, or if, either GOP-run
chamber of Congress would vote on it.
On the Senate floor Thursday, Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.,
called on Bush and the White House to stop what he called an orchestrated
attack campaign.
"It's a weak, spineless display of politics at a time of war," said
Reid, who spoke while Bush was in Asia.
With a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, Murtha retired from the
Marine Corps reserves as a colonel in 1990 after 37 years as a Marine, only
a few years longer than he's been in Congress. Elected in 1974, Murtha has
become known as an authority on national security whose advice was sought
out by Republican and Democratic administrations alike.
Murtha's shift from an early war backer to a critic advocating
withdrawal reflects plummeting public support for a war that has cost more
than $200 billion and led to the deaths of more than 2,000 U.S. troops.
WASHINGTON - (AP) A U.S. field commander in Iraq countered
calls by a usually pro-military congressman for withdrawal of Americans
fighting there Friday, while Democrats defended Rep. John Murtha as a
patriot even as they declined to back his view.
"Here on the ground, our job is not done," Col. James Brown,
commander of the 56th Brigade Combat Team, told reporters at the Pentagon.
Speaking from a U.S. logistics base at Balad, north of Baghdad, two
days before his scheduled return to Texas, Brown said: "We have to finish
the job that we began here. It's important for the security of this nation."
The withdrawal demand by Murtha, a veteran Pennsylvania Democrat,
lent more intensity to the increasingly hot Iraq debate. Some members of the
House and Senate, looking ahead to off-year elections next November, are
publicly worrying about a quagmire there.
"Our troops have become the primary target of the insurgency,"
Murtha, a longtime hawk on foreign and military affairs issues, said
Thursday. "They are united against U.S. forces and we have become a catalyst
for violence. The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed
policy wrapped in illusion."
Republicans pounced, chastising Murtha for advocating what they
called a strategy of surrender and abandonment.
"I won't stand for the swift-boating of Jack Murtha," Sen. John
Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, responded Friday. Also a
Vietnam veteran, Kerry was dogged during the campaign by a group called the
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that challenged his war record.
"There is no sterner stuff than the backbone and courage that
defines Jack Murtha's character and conscience," Kerry said.
For his part, Kerry has proposed a phased exit from Iraq, starting
with the withdrawal of 20,000 troops after December elections in Iraq. A
Kerry spokesman said "he has his own plan" when asked if Kerry agreed with
immediate withdrawal.
As a Vietnam veteran and top Democrat on the House Appropriations
defense subcommittee with close ties to many military officers, Murtha
carries more credibility with his colleagues on the issue than a number of
other Democrats who have opposed the war from the start.
"Our military has accomplished its mission and done its duty," the
30-year lawmaker told reporters at news conference with American flags
arrayed behind him.
"It's time to bring them home," he said.
Bush administration officials have been cautious in responding to
Murtha.
"We have nothing but respect for Congressman Murtha's service to his
country," White House communications director Nicolle Wallace told NBC's
"Today" show Friday. "And I think he spoke from the heart yesterday. We
happen to have a real serious policy disagreement with him."
Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, a 29-year Air Force veteran who was a
prisoner of war in Vietnam for nearly seven years, called Murtha's position
unconscionable and irresponsible. "We've got to support our troops to the
hilt and see this mission through," he said.
Said House Speaker Dennis Hastert: "They want us to retreat. They
want us to wave the white flag of surrender to the terrorists of the world."
Referring to President Bush, Murtha had said, "I resent the fact, on
Veterans Day, he criticized Democrats for criticizing them."
The GOP-controlled Senate on Tuesday defeated a Democratic push for
Bush to lay out a timetable for withdrawal. Spotlighting mushrooming
questions from both parties about the war, though, the chamber then approved
a statement that 2006 should be a significant year in which conditions are
created for the phased withdrawal of U.S. forces.
Murtha estimated that all U.S. troops could be pulled out within six
months. He introduced a resolution Thursday that would force the president
to call back the military, but it was unclear when, or if, either GOP-run
chamber of Congress would vote on it.
On the Senate floor Thursday, Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.,
called on Bush and the White House to stop what he called an orchestrated
attack campaign.
"It's a weak, spineless display of politics at a time of war," said
Reid, who spoke while Bush was in Asia.
With a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, Murtha retired from the
Marine Corps reserves as a colonel in 1990 after 37 years as a Marine, only
a few years longer than he's been in Congress. Elected in 1974, Murtha has
become known as an authority on national security whose advice was sought
out by Republican and Democratic administrations alike.
Murtha's shift from an early war backer to a critic advocating
withdrawal reflects plummeting public support for a war that has cost more
than $200 billion and led to the deaths of more than 2,000 U.S. troops.