Mr. Dorrance goes on to debunk more of Murtha's tall tales:In "Confessions of a 'Defeatocrat' " [Outlook, Oct. 15], Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) made a number of inaccurate claims about Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Defense Department.
By selectively quoting from the secretary's recent address to the American Legion, Murtha claimed that Rumsfeld has faulted Democrats "for believing that 'vicious extremists can be appeased.' " Yet Rumsfeld did not mention congressional Democrats in his remarks -- in fact he didn't mention any critics of the Iraq war. His remarks were an effort to remind people of the similarities between past and current periods in U.S. history, so that a mentality of dismissing real and gathering threats does not undermine our nation's ability to prevail in the war on terror.
But keep on spinning those tall tales, Mr. Murtha. Even while you're babbling incoherently to your dog while sitting on your rocking chair on your front porch come November 8th.That is, if your dog will have you.Murtha's claim that the Defense Department has "a new military blueprint to keep 140,000 troops in Iraq through 2010" is a mischaracterization of comments made by Gen. Pete Schoomaker, Army chief of staff. The Army plans for a variety of contingencies. Schoomaker's comments on the Army planning for potential scenarios in Iraqis are one example of this. None of this should be understood as a forecast for the commitment of U.S. forces.
Murtha claimed that Gen. Eric Shinseki's recommendation for "several hundred thousand troops . . . was ignored." As Gen. Richard Myers, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, noted in congressional testimony in June 2004, Shinseki provided no recommendation on troop levels to the Joint Chiefs. Despite Shinseki's public comments, there was thus no recommendation to ignore.
