Posted on 01/02/2006 5:36:07 PM PST by jmc1969
Rep. John Murtha, a key Democratic voice who favors pulling U.S. troops from Iraq, said in remarks airing on Monday that he would not join the U.S. military today.
A decorated Vietnam combat veteran who retired as a colonel after 37 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Murtha told ABC News' "Nightline" program that Iraq "absolutely" was a wrong war for President George W. Bush to have launched.
"Would you join (the military) today?," he was asked in an interview taped on Friday.
"No," replied Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending and one of his party's leading spokesmen on military issues.
"And I think you're saying the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying 'I don't want to serve'," the interviewer continued.
"Exactly right," said Murtha, who drew White House ire in November after becoming the first ranking Democrat to push for a pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq as soon as it could be done safely.
"Let me tell you, war is a nasty business. It sears the soul," he said, choking up. "And it made a difference. The shadow of those killings stay with you the rest of your life."
Asked for comment, a Defense Department spokesman, Lt. Col. John Skinner, said: "We have an all-volunteer military. People are free to choose whether they serve or not."
"Our freedom of speech in this country allows all of us the opportunity to voice an opinion. It's one of our great strengths as a nation," he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at alertnet.org ...
he's apparently "had it" with the USA. he is now ranting about Bush being responsible for Katrina. you have to see this to believe it.
he still has not told us where he is going when he leaves the country.
I would rejoin and go to Iraq if they would take me, however, 63 yos don't seem to be a priority on their lists! Murtha is a scumbag and a disgrace to the name Marine. I was in the Army but my uncle, god rest his soul, was a captain in the Marines in WWII. Would never talk about his war stories except to say he got malaria and several other diseases and was discharged for it in late 1943. He chafed at the bit that he couldn't go back in. He was the main reason I joined the service but the Marines turned me down(I was too small)so I joined the army. God bless America, and f**k the liberals.
i served 24 years in the Navy (4 yrs active and 20 reserve), retired as a Chief, and i can guarantee you i would never disparage my fellow men and women in uniform. they all deserve our complete support and admiration.
Rep. Murtha: Please read tag line.
It is pathetic when political activism takes over the mind to shadow patriotism and duty.......
Our Marines have high standards.
They wouldn't take you Congressman.
IMO, Murtha is senile. The Democrats are using him to attempt to convince Americans not to serve this country. It's their repeated effort to lose this war. It is why I look at them as nothing other than Traitors any longer.
Fortunately, Murtha's time has run out. He's joined the ranks of Cindy Sheehan, John Kerry and all that came before them. The only question is which Democrat with service the Democrats will trot out next to disgrace himself/herself and that uniform he/she wore. We know they have plans to run some people in congressional races, but they won't be successful. But who will their next national point person be? Expect they'll drag out another.
If ventura is leaving the country, think he can be convinced to give Alec Baldwin a lift?
Ventura saying that post 9-11 america is causing us to "lose freedoms". he cites as an example - Howard Stern "forced" to move to satellite radio. I am not making this up.
very true and appreciated.
And Kosovo/FRY/Bubba's war was just dandy and proper.
From another VN vet to Mutha, and to LTC Kenny;
ESAD.
I don't think that's possible. Have you seen Alec Baldwin lately? Jesse would throw his back out trying to carry that guy.
I wonder if Murtha reflects on how this might demoralize the men and women fighting in the middle east and all over the world,....and how his remarks, as a leader in congress, works against the interest of the United States. Murtha has turned into a Pelosi/Reed clone. Despicable.
John Murtha is a despicable piece of shit. I am sick of hearing what a great hero he was, Duke Cunningham was a hundred times more of a hero, and no one lauded him after he disgraced himself. Murtha continues to disgrace himself almost daily with his near-treasonous comments. I just wish the spineless worms in the Congressional GOP would take to the floor and take back all the phony praise they heaped on this creep last month.
this Ventura interview by Donny Deutsch was the best advertisement encouraging people to seek out help for mental illness I have ever seen.
Murtha and Mother Sheehan should appear at commie events together. Draw twice the crowd (10 x 2 =20) Makes for better media coverage, they don't have to crop so much out of the photos.
Murtha's like, what, 85 years old? Of COURSE he can't join up now. And asking him what he'd have done 30 years ago if he felt the way he does now is a classic example of the big "so what?" Unless he has a time machine. Old idiot.
"Murtha told ABC News' "Nightline" program that Iraq ...was a wrong war (that) President George W. Bush Clinton to have had launched."
I don't think this is the case. I believe democrat ideology has so taken over his thinking that it has distorted his perception of what is right and wrong. That is what democrat ideolgy does. It redefines wrong as perceived right and in tandum with communist ideology adopts the notion of the dialect that the end always justifies the means. So to Murtha, to turn his back on his countrymen is right in his eyes. This is the sine quo non of the democratic thought process.
Someone did just that,
and the RINO party made her apologize.
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