Dems in Denial: Murtha Dismisses Progress in Iraq
John Murtha apparently couldn’t find any troops to accuse of murder today, so he went back to his standard talking points.
House Democrats’ point man in the war-funding showdown with the White House today dismissed U.S. military gains in Iraq and vowed to tighten the purse strings until President Bush accepts a pullout plan.
“Look at all the people that have been displaced, all the [lost] oil production, unemployment, all those type of things,” said Rep. John P. Murtha, chairman of Appropriations defense subcommittee. “We can’t win militarily.”
The Pennsylvania Democrat conceded violence was down dramatically and some normalcy restored on Iraq’s streets, but he said U.S. victory remains unattainable as long as Baghdad fails to pass national reconciliation laws.
“To change the political law, it doesn’t seem to me you need the military stability,” Mr. Murtha told reporters on Capitol Hill.
The dim view of U.S. military progress in Iraq and a resolve to force a pullout have been echoed by the two top Democrats on Capitol Hill — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.
The funding standoff will force the Pentagon to make budget cuts at bases in the U.S. to cover the costs of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, including sending furlough notices to as many as 100,000 civilian employees, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said.
She said the furlough notices could start going out before the Democrat-led Congress returns from a two-week Thanksgiving break.
“We are calling on Congress … to send the president supplemental war funding without arbitrary surrender dates and without micromanaging the war before they leave for their next vacation, which is going to be around the Christmas holidays,” Mrs. Perino said.
“I think that Americans have seen what our troops have been able to do this year,” she said. “We’ve got a long way to go, but they have started to make some significant gains, and to pull the rug out from under them now seems irresponsible.”
House Democrats last week passed a $50 billion emergency war-spending bill that mandated a U.S. pullout start in 30 days with a goal of almost all troops leaving Iraq by December 2008.
Mr. Bush promised to veto the bill and Senate Republicans blocked the bill in a procedural vote Friday.
John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, represent a trifecta of stupid. I wouldn’t trust the “Defeatocrats” to oversee a paintball game, much less a war. After the Democrats are through grand standing, “The Decider” will still get every penny of the war funding with no strings attached.
-Chris Jones
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