What real statemanship is.... (and what it isn't)

Check out the video on Eric Cantor's web page (click on "Historic Debate"). There you will see shining examples of statesmanship, untainted by the politically expedient caterwalling to which we have become so accustomed as of late.

There has been opposition voiced to our efforts in Iraq based on the notion that our troops have been fighting a politically-correct war, with both hands tied behind their backs. This has, in their view, led to unnecessary American casualties, and a war drawn out far longer than it would otherwise have been. At the same time, these people have not thought about capitulation, surrender, cut and run, and/or "redeployment;" rather, their point is that we haven't gone far enough to achieve victory in the most efficient manner possible. There are, of course arguments to be made on their behalf.

But, to the democrats and willing RINOs--the Murthas, the Pelosis, the Kerrys, (and yes, the Hagels)-- opposition to our efforts in Iraq has never been, nor is now, about "supporting the troops" nor of the successful completion of their mission.

Rather, it has, and has always been about a Machiavellian quest to obtain and to maintain power, no matter the cost, no matter who or what is jeopardized in the process; even to the extent of throwing the security of their own nation under the bus to achieve their nefarious political ends.

Some have been afraid to say it, but I'll say it unabashedly and scream it from the rooftops:

The "antiwar" democrats (and their willing RINO accomplices), who offer capitulation as the only alternative, are TRAITORS, in the most pejorative sense of the word.

They deserve no quarter, and deserve to be called out for who they are.

It's about time that the light of truth is shown upon these cockroaches for all the world to see.

Take Britt Hume, for instance:

That sound bite from John Murtha suggests that it’s time a few things be said about him. Even the “Washington Post” noted he didn’t seem particularly well informed about what’s going on over there, to say the least. Look, this man has tremendous cachet among House Democrats, but he is not — this guy is long past the day when he had anything but the foggiest awareness of what the heck is going on in the world.

And...

And that sound bite is naivete writ large, and the man is an absolute fountain of such talk, and the fact that he has ascended to the position he has in the eyes of the Democrats in the House and perhaps Democrats around the country tells you a lot about how much they know or care about what’s really going on over there.

Amen, Britt.

h/t Newsbusters

****UPDATE****
A must read from Rick Francona can be found here.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Murtha continues to labor

to show Pennsylvanians the depth of their mistake in reelecting him.

As this editorial on Investors Business Daily clearly reveals:

. . . Sen. Hillary Clinton, who was for the war before she was against it, has denied she supports cutting off any money for U.S. forces. But she has admitted she would cut off funds to our Iraqi allies to "get their attention." Such a move would likely lead to a collapse of the fledgling Iraqi democracy and a withdrawal of U.S. forces amid chaos similar to what happened when the 1974 Watergate babies cut off aid to our allies in South Vietnam.

If Clinton and Murtha et al. have their way, we may yet see U.S. helicopters lifting off our embassy roof in Baghdad and a jihadist bloodbath like the killing fields of post-Vietnam Cambodia. If her husband's cowardly withdrawal from Somalia after the bodies of U.S. soldiers were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu inspired Osama bin Laden to plan 9/11, imagine what a Democrat-led defeat in Iraq might spawn.

Clinton would leave us with an Iraq as the new base camp for terror, replacing Afghanistan under the Taliban. She has already warned the Bush administration that it must come to the Democratic majority in Congress for permission to deal with an Iran that is providing high-tech explosives to kill American soldiers and developing nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them.

It's not that the Democrats think we're losing or that the war is unwinnable. They simply don't want to win it. As House Minority Leader John Boehner said of Murtha's proposals: "While American troops are fighting radical Islamic terrorists thousands of miles away, it is unthinkable that the United States Congress would move to discredit their mission, cut off their reinforcements and deny them the resources they need to succeed and return home safely."

At his press conference last week, Bush warned Congress against tying his hands on the war: "I make it very clear to the members of Congress, starting now, that they need to fund our troops and make sure we have the flexibility necessary to get the job done."

Give us the tools and we'll finish the job, said Winston Churchill in the dark days before our official entry into World War II. America delayed its entry into both world wars, but once in, we were committed to win. Hillary thinks that applies only to her campaign, not to the war on terror.

Neville Chamberlain's naivete may have helped bring on World War II, but at least he supported his country when war began. Norway's Vidkun Quisling and France's Vichy government under Marshal Petain may have collaborated with the Nazi enemy, but after their countries' defeats, not before.

We'd have to go back to Benedict Arnold to find Americans as eager as Murtha & Co. to see an American defeat on the battlefield.

They are working on the game plan of al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri. In October 2005, Zawahiri outlined al-Qaida's plan in a letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, late head of al-Qaida in Iraq:

"The first stage: Expel the Americans from Iraq. The second stage: Establish an Islamic authority . . . over as much territory as you can spread its power in Iraq . . . in order to fill the void stemming from the departure of the Americans."

John Murtha and his perfidious friends are working on creating that void and completing Zawahiri's first stage. They are the appeasers Churchill warned about who hope that by feeding the Islamofascist tiger, it will eat us last.

What must be stressed in order to keep all of this in context is that Murtha and his Democrat allies know all of this. They want footage of helicopters lifting the last desperate people off the roof of the US embassy in Baghdad to be broadcast all around the world - so long as they can blame it on a president of the other party.

That the consequences of their actions will be to finally convince the islamofascists that America has finally reached the level of corruption and weakness which will allow it to fall into their hands like the proverbial overripe fruit and so invite the kind of terrorism into America's cities which has become commonplace in the cities of Israel and Iraq does not seem to matter to Murtha and his accolytes.

Murtha: From 'Hawk' to Defeatist

John Murtha has sold his soul to the anti-war devil. It's common knowledge that he's writing legislation that would lead to defeat in Iraq. This Washington Post article now provides a glimpse into Murtha's legislation.

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, will formally outline the Democrats' plan today to antiwar groups agitating for binding action against the war. Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), a subcommittee member who helped arrange the Internet event, said the plan is aimed at tamping down calls from the Democrats' liberal wing for Congress to simply end funding for the war.

The Murtha plan, based on existing military guidelines, includes a stipulation that Army troops who have already served in Iraq must be granted two years at home before an additional deployment, Marines must be given 14 months at home, and any troops sent to Iraq must be those deemed fully trained and equipped under existing military standards. The idea is to slowly choke off the war by stopping the deployment of troops from units that have been badly degraded by four years of combat.

"They won't be able to deploy troops unless they extend troops overseas. And if we limit the extension, then it'll be very difficult for them to continue this surge, which the American people are against and the Iraqis don't want," Murtha said yesterday on National Public Radio.

Murtha isn't letting the success of the President's surge plan get in the way of his sellout to anti-American anti-war groups. As I said here, Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia's top commanders have run like scared little boys to Tehran. Does this matter to Murtha? Absolutely not. He isn't about to let positive facts on the ground get in the way of his selling his soul to anti-American groups like Code Pink, UFPJ and NION.

I hope that President Bush takes this time to expose Murtha's plan while telling the American people that the source of Iraqi violence has fled to Tehran. That would turn people against Murtha's plan in a heartbeat.

Murtha's plan is based on his need for the limelight. He's now exposed as the most pacifistic Marine in history. He's obviously more concerned with having his time in the spotlight than he is with getting policy right. This also proves that he's the Democrats' point man in their quest to lose the Iraq war. They're invested in defeat because they can't win in 2008 if Iraq is a success.

Another reason why they're trotting John Murtha out for this online press conference is to keep the anti-war Left's campaign contributions flowing in. This legislation also guarantees these organizations' cooperation for their GOTV operation in 2008.

The good news is that this legislation doesn't stand a chance of being considered, much less adopted, by the Senate. In fact, if the House passes this legislation, they'll put a noose around every freshman's neck that votes for it.

It's time that the people of PA-12 put Murtha out of our misery. He's a defeatist and a pacifist at a time when we need a can-do warrior. This is a perfect example of why Murtha MUST GO!!!

Technorati: John Murtha, Jim Moran, Nancy Pelosi, Code Pink, UFPJ, NION, Defeatocrats, Senate Election 2008, President Bush, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

What hath Murtha wrought?

John Murtha: NO WORSE ENEMY!

Justin Sharratt - My Son
by Darryl Sharratt

I am the father of L/Cpl Justin Sharratt. On August16th, 2003 the dreams of a little boy became reality. My son Justin enlisted in the United States Marine Corps after high school graduation. Since the age of six, Justin dreamed of a military career. The combat boots, camouflage fatigues and helmet he wore as a child would soon become his uniform of the day as a United States Marine. To serve and protect the United States of America from all enemies both domestic and foreign; a duty he did not take lightly.

Justin’s first combat tour of duty was the city of Fallujah, Iraq. It was here, in the heat of the Iraqi desert, a boy became a man. Sharratt, Stone, Mitchell, Stevens and Wolf soon became ‘brothers by different mothers.’ In a battle known as “Hell House” they fought toe to toe with Iraqi insurgents bent on the destruction of U. S. Marines. They formed a bond forged in the furnace of combat; a bond that will last a lifetime. Semper Fidelis.

Upon his return from Iraq Justin joined us while on leave. He was transformed into the man all fathers dream and hope they will be. While on leave, Justin broke his ankle and was put on medical leave. It was at this time I realized what it meant to him to be an infantry rifleman, a grunt. He stared me in the eyes and said “Dad, all I want to do is get my ankle healed. I have to return to Iraq with 3-1 Kilo Company. The guys are counting on me to cover their six and I will never let them down.” Discussion ended—my son the warrior.

The city of Haditha, Iraq was the destination of 3-1 Kilo Company on Justin’s second deployment. Known to be a hot bed of Iraqi insurgency, the Marines of 3-1 Kilo Company could only envision what to expect. Seasoned from their tour in Fallujah, most of the Marines were on their second Operation Iraqi Freedom deployment, many their third. They were experienced combat veterans, drilled on the Rules of Engagement yet sensitive to their alien environment and the Iraqi populace.

On November 19, 2005, a convoy of four Marine humvees was ambushed on a city street in Haditha. A massive IED explosion ripped the fourth humvee in the column apart. One Marine was killed and two were seriously wounded. 3rd platoon, 3-1 Kilo Company, my son’s unit, was now in a firefight for their lives. There was no time for rage or revenge. Justin needed to apply his Marine Corps training and experience to preserve the lives of his fellow Marines. All the Marines in 3rd platoon responded in like manner- to preserve the lives of fellow Marines. Reinforcements were called in and an ambulance was needed to attend the wounded. Marines were positioned to defend their precarious position and a comm link was established to FOB Sparta. All done in the best of Marine Corps tradition and training while taking enemy fire.

In the aftermath of this engagement, 24 Iraqis were killed. A U.S. Congressman has called these Marines murderers. Time magazine has enlisted the propaganda of foreign journalists to sell its political agenda. Iraqi civilians have been schooled in making false statements. An Iraqi girl missed a day of school because she was afraid the bomb blast would injure her. Interesting reading, but I truly believe the American people can see through this barrage of media conjecture. I ask you not to prejudge my son, not to prejudge these Marines. They have served this country with honor, truth and diligence. I say unto you. the Few, the Proud, the Marines………..

War is a tragic thing. The enemy we are fighting has had centuries to prepare. They wear no uniforms, fight by no Rules of Engagement or follow the Geneva Convention. Using civilians as human shields is a common practice and their hatred for non-Islamic cultures is endemic.

The United States government has taken 12 months and spent millions of dollars and countless man-hours investigating the Haditha engagement. On December 21st, 2006, four NCOs and four officers were charged with violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. My son, LCpl Justin Sharratt faces three counts of unpremeditated murder. This is not the forum to discuss these charges but my son stands strong in the fact he followed the Rules of Engagement, protected his fellow Marines and did nothing wrong. All of these men are innocent of these charges. In the aftermath of 9-11, these men have risen to honorably serve their country. Some have given a lifetime of dedicated service, others were just beginning. They have demonstrated to the world there is “No better friend, No worse enemy” than a U.S. Marine.

For now, the handshakes will be tighter, the hugs will be longer and the tears sliding down my face are not a sign of weakness- they affirm a father’s love for his Marine son.

Darryl Sharratt Canonsburg, Pa.

www.justinsharratt.com

Never forget. Always remember.

Murtha: A "slow bleed" for our troops?

How do you sabotage a war effort for political gain, but keep your hands clean at the same time?

Ask Jack Murtha.

Top House Democrats, working in concert with anti-war groups, have decided against using congressional power to force a quick end to U.S. involvement in Iraq, and instead will pursue a slow-bleed strategy designed to gradually limit the administration’s options.

Led by Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., and supported by several well-funded anti-war groups, the coalition’s goal is to limit or sharply reduce the number of U.S. troops available for the Iraq conflict, rather than to openly cut off funding for the war itself.

You see, this way they can bleed our troops and have the conditions under which they fight deteriorate gradually, with no one being the wiser.

And then blame it on Bush.

I don't want to hear one more fucking word how the dems "support" our troops.

Not. One. More. Fucking. Word.

Traitorous blood-sucking bastards.

I hope they rot in hell.

(h/t And Rightly So; also see My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy)

--------------------------------------------------------

Murtha "joins chorus"-- sings horribly.

It appears that the senile old seditious coot John Murtha is mad at Australian P.M. John Howard for being more of an American than he is.

US veteran joins chorus of

outrage at Howard

Michael Gawenda Herald Correspondent in Washington
February 14, 2007

THE leading critic of the Iraq war in the US House of Representatives has demanded that John Howard stay out of US domestic politics.

He defended the presidential contender Barack Obama's suggestion that if Mr Howard was keen on the war, he should send more Australian troops to Iraq.

John Murtha, a decorated Marine veteran who is close to military commanders (I still want to see the list of military commanders that Murtha is "close to"--ed), and who galvanised leading Democrats into demanding a phased withdrawal from Iraq, said he appreciated that Australia had been a good ally, but that it was US soldiers whose lives were being sacrificed in Iraq and US taxpayers who were paying for the war.

Murtha to Howard (much as a wife beater to a neighbor who has called him on it): "Hey--I'm doing a good job of betraying my own country and selling out its soldiers, thank you! I don't need no stinkin' Aussie to wreck my buzz!"
Question: If Murtha is so concerned about the money we're spending and about our soldiers, why is he so hell-bent on our defeat and on undermining their mission at every turn?

It is precisely because Australia has been such a staunch ally in the GWOT that Murtha has his fatboy panties in a wad.

What's the matter, Jihad Jack-- does the truth that Prime Minister Howard Speaks hit a little too close to home?

Murtha not only has "joined the chorus" of America-haters and seditionists who advocate for our defeat for political gain;

Hell--he's the fucking conductor.
-------------------------------------------

Murtha's Thuggish Threats...

That's the byline to this OP-Ed in the New York Post:

Then the thuggish, ethically challenged Murtha weighed in - saying it would be a "mistake" to deny her request, "since she decides on the allocations for the Department of Defense."

He'd be the expert.

Murtha's history of manipulating defense appropriations for personal gain is long and distinguished. In a 1989 defense bill, then-Speaker Tom Foley was shamed into redlining a Murtha-authored provision requiring the speaker have a C-20 jet available at all times.

The Pennsylvania Association for Individuals With Disabilities, a charity founded by Murtha's longtime aide, has a board of directors largely made up of lobbyists and contractors who've received millions off Murtha-directed government largesse. In turn, notes The Washington Post, those same officials "have kept Murtha's campaigns flush with cash."

Despite such egregiously hamhanded behavior, Murtha now chairs the House Defense Appropriations Committee, a position he evidently envisions using in the same invidious fashion.

"I don't need to pressure them. I just tell them what they need to do," Murtha said of his efforts to secure from the Pentagon a plane for Pelosi.

Like we said: thuggish.

Was somebody saying something about a "culture of corruption"?

Yep... and I believe that PA-12 voters have enabled it to go on for at least two more years. Hopefully for the last time.

Jack Murtha supports our troops...

Like an arsonist supports firefighters.

The U.S. Marines accused of murder and other charges in the case of the Haditha killings in Iraq cannot get a fair trial, says retired Air Force Lt. General Thomas McInerney.

Commenting on Rep. John Murtha's outrageous charges that the Marines of Kilo Company had committed cold-blooded murder of civilians in Haditha on November 19, 2005, McInerney said that the Pennsylvania Democrat's declaration "has certainly prejudiced the case."

In an exclusive interview with NewsMax.com, the general who served 35 years in the United States Air Force as a pilot, commander, and Joint Force Commander and retired from military service as Assistant Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force said: "The Marine Corps leadership who informed Murtha of this have, I feel, used undue command influence and these people cannot get a fair trial."

According to military law experts a charge of undue command influence, which is akin in civilian courts to the pollution of a jury pool from pre-trial publicity, is quite valid. If an appeals court determines undue command influence existed, all related punitive or legal proceedings can be overturned.

In United States v. Thomas, 22 MJ 388, 394 (CMA 1986) the court held that unlawful command influence was an error of constitutional dimension. Specifically, Thomas applied the test for constitutional error and held that an appellate court may not affirm the findings or sentence "unless it is persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt that the findings and sentence have not been affected by the command.

This can be good news, in much the same way that a technicality can cause the charges against an already innocent man to be dropped; however, even if the charges are dropped based on a technicality, it still does a monumental disservice, since such a technicality does nothing to exonerate these soldiers from a crime that was not committed in the first place:

McInerney said the real issue "is the way the information was [obtained] through information deception by terrorists and forwarded to Time Magazine. We cannot have terrorists using disinformation on our troops and our system and our military overreacting to it."

"We need to give our people more latitude and not put handcuffs on them. This is despicable conduct by our leadership over there and I think that we've got to get with it and tell America what needs to be done.

"These poor guys [the Marine defendants] have been under a cloud for over a year and they still do not have an Article 32 hearing [to determine if a court martial is warranted] and that tells you something.

"I am very, very displeased with the Marine Corps on this issue."

As reported previously by NewsMax.com, Haditha Accusations Unmasked, the Marine Corps has adopted highly restricted rules of engagement based on false information about the Haditha incident, a fact that disturbed Gen. McInerney.

Not only are there spurious charges, thanks in no small part to Murtha's rantings in his no-holds barred quest for majority leadership in the House, but the charges also served to handcuff our soldiers currently in harm's way:

"Now every time they fire a weapon they have to fill out paper work," he said. "When guys are being fired upon in combat the oversight is unbelievable. We cannot fight a war like that. We just cannot have such perfect, strict peacetime thinking in wartime rules of engagement. We're not taking care of our people."

This, he said "is one of the reasons why we have not had more decisive results [on the ground in Iraq].

And I can point to one corrupt, fat-backsided, megalomaniacal congressman from PA-12 for allowing that to happen.

Can anyone say, "Jihad Jack" Murtha?

Murtha--a legend in his own mind?

It would appear that Jack Murtha has his own version of a web cam:

JOHNSTOWN - U.S. Rep. John Murtha took a few minutes following a Wednesday press conference to take reporters sitting in three different counties on a live tour of his Washington, D.C., office through a video conferencing system.

One wonders how they got a lens wide enough to contain Murtha's entire big phat backside. But I digress.

Spinning the camera from his office, Murtha centered the picture first on a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt. “My favorite president,” he said.

Murtha's favorite president? Perhaps Murtha was a bit dyslexic while reading his history books in grade school. Mr. Murtha--President Roosevelt charged up San Juan Hill; not down it.

From there it was on to a portrait of Marine Sgt. Michael Strank, a Johnstown man who was in the famous photograph of the Feb. 23, 1945, flag raising on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima.

Again, does anyone else see a major disconnect here? Mr. Murtha, you are definitely getting senile. After heavy casualties, the Marines took Suribachi--they didn't redeploy to Newark!

Another stop on the tour featured a model of the USS Bonhomme Richard, a Navy aircraft carrier active in three U.S. conflicts, including World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Sorry, Jihad Jack. You're not fooling anyone here. Why don't you be honest with yourself and get some momentos fitting of your real mettle.

Like a flag of France, for instance.
----------------------------------------------

****UPDATE****

ibid.






Filed under Murtha Watch, The Fifth Column, FOT-WA

Will these idiots ever get it right?

From here:

There hasn't even been a broad political shift in favor of the doves. The most important war critics are military types like Jack Murtha, Chuck Hagel and Jim Webb, who hate this particular war but were superhawks in other circumstances.

Jack Murtha never--I REPEAT NEVER-- has been a "superhawk."

• Murtha advocated for our surrender from Lebanon after the Beirut bombing of Marine barracks.
• Murtha advocated for a cut-and-run "strategy" from Somalia, after the now-infamous "Blackhawk Down" incident.
  

And now he wants to cut and run from Iraq. During each one of these instances, the net result was that, seeing that we were nothing but "paper tigers." our enemies became emboldened to attack again and again and attack harder. Totally oblivious to the aims of and dangers presented by our enemies, Murtha continues to elect the coward's way out--a motus operandi that has netted disastrous results.

The only "hawkish" bent that Murtha has ever had was to give millions of dollars in sweetheart defense contracts to those who would reward him handsomely with campaign contributions so as to enable him to keep his sorry "fat backside" in his House seat.

But I guess the Left needs their "hawks," even wannabe ones, to try to give their "surrender at any cost" stance credibility.

Note the operative word--Try.

Pelosi, Murtha Visit Iraq, Schedule Phony Photo Ops

The SF Chronicle is reporting that Nancy Pelosi is meeting with al-Maliki today. Here's what we know:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has traveled to Iraq for a quick fact-finding visit that will include a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The congressional delegation traveling with the Democratic speaker from San Francisco includes Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ike Skelton, (D-MO), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. John Murtha, (D-PA), who more than a year ago urged President Bush to withdraw American forces from Iraq and is chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that oversees the military budget.

After endlessly criticizing the Iraq War, Pelosi and Murtha have finally made a trip to Iraq. This is merely for show. Don't think that this is about gathering information. It's about them getting a photo-op, then adding the words "I just returned from Iraq" to their endless criticism of the President Bush's policies.

The AP has quoted Ms. Pelosi in this article:

"We come out of the meeting with a greater understanding of the others' point of view," Pelosi, (D-CA), said, in brief remarks after the meeting. She said the delegation also came "to convey to our troops the appreciation of the American people for what they're doing, to applaud their patriotism."

I'd love to hear Ms. Pelosi explain how she and Murtha can demoralize the troops and embolden the terrorists in one breath then say that they want to "convey to our troops the appreciation of the American people" and "applaud their patriotism" with their next breath. She must know that they're undercutting the troops' mission and that that can't have a positive effect on the troops.

It's downright infuriating to hear Pelosi's and Murtha's mantra of "We support the troops but not the mission." It isn't just Pelosi's and Murtha's mantra, either. It's the Democrats' mantra, too. Frankly, it's insulting, especially in light of Sen. Feingold's announcement that he's scheduled a hearing on whether Congress "has the authority to cut off funding for the U.S. military campaign in Iraq."

"I will soon be introducing legislation to use the power of the purse to end what is clearly one of the greatest mistakes in the history of the nation’s foreign policy."

This hearing is purely show. He knows that Congress has the power of the purse and can stop funding the war at any time. His framing this hearing that way is disingenuous to the max. If Ms. Pelosi is right that the "American people" "appreciate their patriotism and what they're doing" so much, why is Sen. Feingold introducing legislation that will prevent them from doing what they're trained to do?

Let's not forget what Gen. Petraeus testified to during his confirmation hearing:

"If we are to carry out the Multinational Force Iraq mission in accordance with the new strategy, the additional forces that have been directed to move to Iraq will be essential, as will greatly increased support by our government’s other agencies, additional resources for reconstruction and economic initiatives, and a number of other actions critical to what must be a broad, comprehensive, multifaceted approach to the challenges in Iraq," Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

In other words, pacifists like Feingold, Murtha and Kucinich are either saying that (a) they think that Gen. Petraeus is lying under oath; that (b) he's just the Bush administration's mouthpiece; that (c) they don't care about defeating the terrorists in Iraq or (d) all of the above. That's hardly the way to show appreciation to genuine patriots.

I'd add that it's obvious from Gen. Petraeus' history in Iraq that he's an advocate of the President's plan. He used the same policy to clean up Mosul, which is a genuine Iraqi success story. The least Feingold, Pelosi and Murtha should do is give this policy a chance.

One thing that the politicians have lost track of is that the American people demand that the government to protect us from future terrorist attacks. Leaving Iraq in defeat won't prevent future terrorist attacks; it will encourage terrorists to increase the number of attacks. President Bush's role as Commander-In-Chief mandates that he do that. The AUMF that the House and Senate passed in the days immediately after 9/11 mandates President Bush to do that, too.

If Feingold and others cut off funding for the troops, they'll essentially be telling the American people that the Constitution's mandating the protection of the American homeland is limited in scope, something that they'd have a difficult time defending.

If Pelosi, Murtha and Feingold stop funding the war, terrorist attacks will happen. When they do, the blood of Americans will be on their hands because they will have made it easier for terrorists to operate and plan.

Pelosi and Murtha going to Iraq, like much of what Democrats do, is purely show. They went there with their 'verdict' rendered. They're just gathering anecdotal information which they'll use to justify the policies they've been held since Thanksgiving, 2005. They should be ashamed of themselves for calling this a fact-finding trip because they aren't there to gather information. They're there for a couple photo ops and a couple meaningless soundbites. Frankly, they wouldn't know a new fact if it bit them in their sizable backsides.

Technorati: Pelosi, Murtha, Maliki, Petraeus, President Bush, Mosul, Surge, Constitution, Commander-In_Chief, Feingold, CentCom, Terrorists, Homeland Security

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

The Legend of Sir Murtha...(with apologies to Monty Python)

(click pic for full size)

Bravely bold Sir Murtha rode forth to Fallujah!
He was not afraid to die, O brave Sir Murtha!
He was not at all afraid to be killed in nasty ways
Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Murtha

He was not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp
Or to have his eyes gouged out and his elbows broken
To have his kneecaps split and his body burned away
And his limbs all hacked and mangled, brave Sir Murtha!

His head smashed in and his heart cut out
And his liver removed and his bowels unplugged
And his nostrils raped and his bottom burnt off
And his penis...
(Well that's enough music for now, lads...)

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brave Sir Murtha ran away - No!
Bravely ran away, away - I didn't!
When danger reared its ugly head
He bravely turned his tail and fled - No!
Yes, brave Sir Murtha turned about
And gallantly he chickened out
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat
Bravest of the brave, Sir Murtha.

Murtha: Run away!!! FOR GOD SAKES--RUN AWAYY!

What the hell is with this assclown? Is he in Al Sadr's pocket?

Not only has Jack Murtha advocated for immediate pullout from Iraq, thus ensuring U.S. defeat, he's trying to engineer it.

Murtha urges leaving Saddam’s palaces

By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 24, 2007 6:38:09 EST

Democratic Rep. John Murtha, a leading critic of President Bush’s Iraq policy, on Tuesday urged a “responsible phased” withdrawal of U.S. troops to begin from within Saddam Hussein’s palaces.

"Responsible phased" withdrawal. Heh. Like it is the responsible thing to do to accept defeat.

What's next? I wouldn't be surprised to hear Jack Murtha say, "Yep, get out of Saddam's palaces. Then, bend over and kiss Sadr's ass, while you're at it! Then beat your chests and say, "We were wrong to get rid of Saddam!" and then..."

Thanks, PA-12... for giving us two more years of this traitorous, senile gasbag.

Murtha smells victory in defeat...

I could have written this headline last May.

Democrats reject Bush's 'way forward'
WASHINGTON — Democrats launched an immediate counterattack against President Bush's new Iraq strategy Wednesday. Rep. John Murtha vowed to try to block Bush's plan from his perch as chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee.

"Escalating our military involvement in Iraq sends precisely the wrong message, and we oppose it," the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate said in a statement released after the speech. (read the rest here)

Bush could have come up with a plan tonight that would literally not only have immediately delivered victory in Iraq and GWOT, but would have simultaneously ended world hunger and cured the problems of AIDS, global warming, and missing socks; but even if he did, democrats, being the defeatist, power-hungry bastards that they are, would have none of it. Far from having the best interest of our nation at heart, they are all too willing to sell it out to our enemies, lest they allow Bush to have a political victory through American victory in the war.

Goddamn it--I WILL CHALLENGE JACK MURTHA'S PATRIOTISM.

Either get on the team and support your nation during a time of war, or move the hell out.

Elitist, self-serving Bastards. The whole lot of them.

Regarding the President's speech tonight...

A great rundown of the speech can be found here.

My favorite part, and the one that gives me the most hope?

"And there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have. Our military commanders reviewed the new Iraqi plan to ensure that it addressed these mistakes. They report that it does."

WOOOT!

Our son has told us that the Rules of Engagement (ROE's) for National Guardsmen are so tight that they cannot fire upon terrorists that are fleeing, even though they had just been fired upon. The only thing they can do is fire a flare over the offender's shoulder.

Support will come for this war when the ROE's are such that it allows our soldiers to do their job.

Support will come with success.

And success will come, despite Jack Murtha's death wish for disaster in Iraq.

Oversight? Or micromanagement?

True to form, megalomaniacal congressman Jack Murtha, rather than focusing on defeat for our enemies in the GWOT, is trying his level best to engineer our own defeat

(emphases mine):

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. John Murtha said Tuesday that he planned to hold hearings on closing down the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and threatened to "cut off the money" to make it happen.

"This is an eyesore to the country," the veteran congressman, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, said of the facility, where about 400 detainees from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are kept.

Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said Congress could easily effect the change he seeks.

"We just cut off the money," he said.

An eyesore to the country? Does Murtha think we should house our enemies at the Waldorf Astoria?

As Mark asserted, the Guantanamo Bay argument is just another in a long string of disconnected, inane strawman issues used by the left in their endless attempts to focus attention away from the larger aims of our war effort; as well as to drain support for our troops' mission and the successful prosecution of this war. Charge after charge of abuse at Guantanamo has been leveled, from "Koran flushing" to prisoner abuse. Each charge has been debunked or at worst isolated and non-systematic; and, despite the types of prisoners being housed there, some, rather than abuse, have reported quite the contrary.

Like it or not, we are at war. The fact that our side quits or concedes on any front will in no way assuage our enemies nor hinder their determination to do us harm. In fact, quite the opposite is true. For Murtha to attempt to micromanage and usurp the CIC role, just because he can, suggests the height of extra-Constitutional self-aggrandizement to the absolute detriment of the interests of this nation and of the safety of its citizenry.

---------------------------
Also posted at Psycmeistr's Ice Palace and Blogs for Bush.

Murtha to Bush: "I Won't Let You Win This War"

While Jihad Johnny didn't make that specific statement, that's what his latest scheme amounts to. Here's what the WSJ is reporting:

But Mr. Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, believes the November election results show voters want Congress to be more of a check on Mr. Bush's handling of Iraq. His goal is to build bipartisan support by focusing the debate on whether increasing troop levels would be too much of a strain on the military.

This is nothing more than a subtle way of limiting the President's military options. They approved the AUMF to wage war in Iraq, which is their Constitutional responsibility. Now, however, they're essentially stepping into the role of Commander-In-Chief, telling the President that they have final say on military policies. That hardly seems like a Legislative Branch prerogative.

Let's also call this for what it is: this is John Murtha's slimy way of saying he won't let the President win the war while pretending to support the troops. As Leo said,"Murtha supports our troops like an arsonist supports firefighters."

Another 'benefit' for the Democrats is that they can prevent the President from winning in Iraq without cutting funding. Rest assured, this won't sit well with conservatives. Rest assured, this will be the conservatives' rallying cry because we won't settle for anything less than full military and political victory in Iraq.

We shouldn't have to settle for the Vietnamization of Iraq. The debate shouldn't have focused on whether we should "immediately redeploy" to Okinawa. The debate should've been about what should be done to defeat the terrorists while installing a democracy in one of the baddest 'neighborhoods' in the Middle East.

The truth is that John Murtha and like-minded Democrats don't have the steadfastness to win wars. It's like they're deathly afraid of winning militarily when it really matters. In my opinion, they should be ashamed to call themselves Democrats. There are some of us who remember that Democrats used to be hawkish. Today's Democrats, with Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller being the exceptions, are short on hawks but long on ish when it comes to military matters.

There used to be a time when Democrats like JFK, Harry Truman, FDR, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Scoop Jackson and Hubert Humphrey cared about winning wars. There was a time when jackasses like Murtha would've been relegated to the back bench of the Democratic Party.

It's time that more people contacted their representatives and told them that they demand that we win the war in Iraq, that we don't want Democrats to create a new Vietnam through their defeatist policies.

One last thing: I won't tapdance on whether John Murtha is a patriot. He isn't. Forgive me if I don't think it's patriotic to tell our troops that you won't let them win a war.

Technorati: John Murtha, Defeatocrats, JFK, Truman, FDR, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Scoop Jackson, Hubert Humphrey, Immediate Redeployment, Okinawa

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Well...we tried to warn you...

See here and here.

It harkens me back to a Bible passage...

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth devil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."

Matthew 7:16-21

So, PA-12. You ready for another round of this clown in 2008?

Stuck on Stupid? (So you were expecting something else?)

Welcome to Jack Murtha's (and yes, your) world (all emphases mine)...

In 2001, Murtha announced the creation of Scialabba's nonprofit agency for the disabled in Johnstown, Pa. The next year, with Scialabba still on his staff, Murtha secured a half-million dollars for the group, the Pennsylvania Association for Individuals With Disabilities (PAID), and put another $150,000 in the pipeline for 2003, according to appropriations committee records and former committee aides. Since then, the group has helped hundreds of disabled people find work.

But the group serves another function as well. PAID has become a gathering point for defense contractors and lobbyists with business before Murtha's defense appropriations subcommittee, and for Pennsylvania businesses and universities that have thrived on federal money obtained by Murtha.

Lobbyists and corporate officials serve as directors on the nonprofit group's board, where they help raise money and find jobs for Johnstown's disabled workers. Some of those lobbyists have served as intermediaries between the defense contractors and businessmen on the board, and Murtha and his aides.

That arrangement over the years has yielded millions of dollars in federal support for the contractors, businesses and universities, and hundreds of thousands in consulting and lobbying fees to Murtha's favored lobbying shops, according to Federal Election Commission records and lobbying disclosure forms. In turn, many of PAID's directors have kept Murtha's campaigns flush with cash.

To residents of PA-12, the Tribune-Democrat and others. You have helped to install a political majority whose ostensible aim is to clear up corruption in Washington, yet you have again elected a dinosaur politician who is the literal embodiment of that corruption!

But, yeah, I know--it's the pork, stupid:

In turn, the lobbyists and businesses associated with PAID have become supporters of Murtha's campaigns, contributing a total of nearly $125,000 in the past three election cycles, when Murtha raised a total of $7.2 million, according to campaign records. And those same players have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at three lobbying shops with close Murtha ties: the PMA Group, Scialabba's KSA Consulting and Ervin Technical Associates.

But yeah, I know--it's the pork, stupid:

Under Murtha's watch, for instance, Windber Medical Center has been transformed from a struggling hospital outside of Johnstown into a burgeoning cancer research center, thriving on Defense Department funding. Hospital officials have paid the PMA Group some $380,000 in lobbying fees since signing on in 2001. And hospital employees have financed Murtha's political campaigns to the tune of nearly $25,000.

So, you wanna clean up Washington, eh? Did you ever stop to think that all the pork that Murtha's sending your way is the same money that comes out of your paycheck???? That you're being robbed blind by a Machiavellian fat-cat middleman who continues to tell you it's a good thing while pissing all over your leg?

But Yeah, yeah I know... it's the pork, stupid:

After PAID's founding, Scialabba approached Kuchera to get involved. Kuchera jumped, not only joining the group's board but ramping up hiring of disabled workers, who now compose a third of the 200 employees in his company's defense business. The federal government picked up Kuchera's $7 million training bill. This year, Murtha earmarked $1.3 million for Kuchera's chemical and biological weapons detection research.

Kuchera employees donated more than $31,000 to Murtha in the past three election campaigns, according to federal election records. Between 1990 and 2000, contributions totaled $1,000. And congressional lobbying disclosure forms tally $140,000 in payments since 2001 from Kuchera to Ervin Technical Associates, whose chairman is former representative Joseph M. McDade (R-Pa.), a close Murtha ally.

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's the pork, stupid.

Well, as Forrest Gump once said, "Stupid is as stupid does."

Congratulations, PA-12. At least for the next two years, you have become stuck on stupid.

Jihad Jack continues to "support" our troops...

You can always count on Jack Murtha to lend his support for the troops' efforts:

Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, said on CNN's "The Situation Room" that the United States has already lost the Iraq war.

"Militarily we have lost -- there is no question about it, we cannot win this militarily," the lawmaker said.

Murtha, who has advocated withdrawing all U.S. forces from Iraq, also said the U.S. has missed its opportunity to stabilize the war-torn country.

"There is no way the United States can solve this problem," Murtha said. "We have gotten so far out and we have missed our opportunity, if we ever had an opportunity early on, to stabilize Iraq. Since we didn't do it then, it cannot be done now."

The congressman also sharply criticized the recommendation of sending more troops to Iraq.

"They don't have an achievable mission -- a defined mission which they can point to," he said. "What's the point in sending another 40,000 troops?"

Yep...

You can always count on "Jihad Jack" Murtha to support the troops.





Their troops.