5. Rep. Murtha's abuse of the earmarking process remains unchecked: Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) has drawn scrutiny for channeling millions of federal dollars, much of it in defense contracts, to his (formerly) hard-luck district.
Despite his best efforts at thwarting our troops' efforts, despite his ongoing attempts to kill their morale, even to the point of accusing them of cold-blooded murder, Congressman Jack Murtha finally came to admit defeat, stating the other day that the surge is working, and that our troops are winning.
MURTHA’S DOUBLE TALK CANT HIDE HIS FLIP - FLOP - FLIP ON THE WARPlease volunteer for William Russell for Congress at http://williamrussellforcongress.com.
Johnstown, PA – November 30, 2007: William Russell the Republican for Congress had this to say after Murtha’s trip debrief news conference.
"Thank you John Murtha for admitting the surge under the leadership of General Petraeus is working."
"I agree, the American people are impatient with the central government and as Mr. Murtha stated, it close to dysfunctional. But enough about the Pelosi - Murtha led Congress.
The Central government in Iraq is taking charge with leaders who have been braving large scale assassination attempts, threats to their families, and an infrastructure ravaged and neglected by Saddam's regime and sabotage by Islamic Radicals. They are rebuilding an army and police forces, getting control of foreign national criminals in their presence, and have actually passed major reforms. Can the same be said of our Democratic majority in the House?"
"The $14 Billion per month that Murtha says is taking its toll on training and equipping our military here at home is not the issue. It is the political games that Murtha and Obey are playing with military budgets that is causing the Department of Defense to short change training and equipping functions in order to ensure the success of the surge and support our Soldiers on the front lines. "
"Murtha wonders why the next rotation of troops is not ready to back fill those currently deployed while he holds up the funding necessary to equip and train them."
"When Murtha cites the Abu Ghraib photos as being the best recruiting tool for Al-Qaida, he is too modest. He has completely forgotten about his endorsement of Al-Qaida's recruiting efforts by publicly accusing United States Marines of cold-blooded murder of Iraqi civilians. Murtha gave the United States Congress's stamp of approval to the enemy's propaganda and placed American service men and women in greater danger of attack by giving credence to the enemy's message on the Arab street.
"We are eagerly awaiting Murtha's apology to the exonerated Haditha Marines for placing them in greater danger, ruining their careers, and undermining their comrades."
"I agree that we should step up our diplomatic and political efforts to help the Iraqi's establish political and economic control. Thanks to the security provided by the surge, the Iraqi civil entities are gaining control. If we had followed the advice and position of Murtha and his Democratic colleagues, we would not have the opportunities we currently have.
"Rather than pit domestic political and economic policies against our military and political objectives in the war against Islamic Radicalism, why don't we focus on synchronizing those policies so we can keep our troops safer and bring them home from a peaceful theater? Mr. Murtha has proven time and again that he will not support our Soldiers in the fight. I stand ready to support them and help achieve victory and security for our future"
"It's no wonder John Murtha wants to try to distract 12th District voters from his record. But no matter how much rhetoric and double talk he puts out, it won't change the fact that the only person in this race who's flip-flopped on important issues after receiving massive campaign donations is John Murtha."
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Larry Stiles, USMC-Vietnam Veteran
Campaign Manager
William Russell for Congress
P.O. Box 630
Johnstown, PA 15907
http://williamrussellforcongress.com
Phone: 814.243.8662