Posted on 11/19/2005 12:50:54 AM PST by Former Military Chick
WASHINGTON - The House on Friday overwhelmingly rejected calls for an immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq, a vote engineered by the Republicans that was intended to fail. Democrats derided the vote as a political stunt.
"Our troops have become the enemy. We need to change direction in Iraq," said Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a Democratic hawk whose call a day earlier for pulling out troops sparked a nasty, personal debate over the war.
The House voted 403-3 to reject a nonbinding resolution calling for an immediate troop withdrawal.
"We want to make sure that we support our troops that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will not retreat," Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said as the GOP leadership pushed the issue to a vote over the protest of Democrats.
It was the second time in less than a week that President Bush's Iraq policy stirred heated debate in Congress. On Tuesday, the Senate defeated a Democratic push for Bush to lay out a timetable for withdrawal.
Murtha, a 73-year-old Marine veteran decorated for combat service in Vietnam, issued his call for a troop withdrawal at a news conference on Thursday. In little more than 24 hours, Hastert and Republicans decided to put the question to the House.
Democrats said it was a political move and quickly decided to vote against it in an attempt to drain it of significance.
"A disgrace," declared House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
"The rankest of politics and the absence of any sense of shame," added Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat.
Republicans hoped to place Democrats in an unappealing position - either supporting a withdrawal that critics said would be precipitous or opposing it and angering voters who want an end to the conflict. They also hoped the vote could restore GOP momentum on an issue - the war - that has seen plummeting public support in recent weeks.
Democrats claimed Republicans were changing the meaning of Murtha's withdrawal proposal. He has said a smooth withdrawal would take six months.
At one point in the emotional debate, Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, told of a phone call she received from a Marine colonel.
"He asked me to send Congress a message - stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message - that cowards cut and run, Marines never do," Schmidt said. Murtha is a 37-year Marine veteran.
Democrats booed and shouted her down - causing the House to come to a standstill.
Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., charged across the chamber's center aisle screaming that Republicans were making uncalled-for personal attacks.
"You guys are pathetic! Pathetic!" yelled Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass.
Democrats gave Murtha a standing ovation as he entered the chamber and took his customary corner seat.
The fireworks, as lawmakers rushed toward a two-week Thanksgiving break, came just days after the GOP-controlled Senate defeated a Democratic push for Bush to lay out a timetable for withdrawal. Spotlighting questions from both parties about the war, senators approved a statement that 2006 should be a significant year in which conditions are created for the phased withdrawal of U.S. forces.
Murtha has proposed his own resolution, which would force the president to withdraw the nearly 160,000 troops in Iraq "at the earliest practicable date." It would establish a quick-reaction force and a nearby presence of Marines in the region. It also said the U.S. must pursue stability in Iraq through diplomacy.
The Republican alternative simply said: "It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately."
"It's just heinous," Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., said of the Republican move.
"This is a personal attack on one of the best members, one of the most respected members of this House, and it is outrageous," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, however, said the resolution vote was not a stunt. "This is not an attack on an individual. This is a legitimate question."
"They've been itching for a fight for a long time," Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said of the Democrats.
Bush, traveling in Asia, also fired back at his critics, saying a troop withdrawal would be "a recipe for disaster."
Most Republicans oppose Murtha's call for withdrawal, and some Democrats also have been reluctant to back his position.
A growing number of House members and senators, looking ahead to off-year elections next November, are publicly worrying about a quagmire in Iraq. They have been staking out new positions on a war that is increasingly unpopular with the American public, has resulted in more than 2,000 U.S. military deaths and has cost more than $200 billion.
A U.S. field commander in Iraq countered the position of the congressman who usually backs the Pentagon.
"Here on the ground, our job is not done," said Col. James Brown, commander of the 56th Brigade Combat Team, when asked about Murtha's comments during a weekly briefing that American field commanders give to Pentagon reporters.
"Hey! I wesent that wemawk about the Fwench Fag!" - Barney Fwank (D) Massachusetts
As difficult as it is to believe, what you say is so true.
I have pondered many times as to not only why this is true, but HOW it can become a politically tenable position. I think I have the answer.
The Democratic constituencey is composed of public sector employees, teachers, welfare and other recipients of tax-transfer payments, journalists, and union bosses. In short, these are people for whom PROSPERITY IS SOMETHING WHICH HAPPENS TO EVERYBODY ELSE.
Unlike the contractor, or the car salesman, the construction worker, or anyone who depends on commercial activity for their livlihood and their economic status, these people must vote in those who would vote for, what they receive monetarily. Upturns in economic activity is a tide which raises all boats...except theirs. ENVY is the operative emotion here. This huge and growing constituency has to sit back in stasis economically while EVERYONE ELSE benefits disproportionately, in their eyes, from GDP growth.
This is why policies like tax cuts which "go to" our nation's employers and investors are seen as anathema to their interests, as they are indeed mired in a zero-sum predicament, IMHO.
Just because someone serves many years in the military and the reserves does not make them a hero. Unfortunately, some officers and senior enlisted remain in the military because they know darn well they can't make it in civilian life. During my 26 years I encountered many more than my share of these zeros. As for the present dust up with Mr. Murtha, he was whining to Chrissie Boy Mathews about the war long before now. He claims to have 37 years in the Marines and he's a Lt. Col.? A real rate grabber! I'm not questioning his service, remember Adm. Stockdale, things happen to the brain in many people when you get older. As for Imus's butt buddy, Mr. Ford, he needs to go back and hide in the woodpile as he is not ready for grown up conversations/
Our troops are always the "enemy" to enemy forces when we invade a nation, you old fool. I can't believe this guy is a veteran.
My oh my, how painfully difficult it is for the Dims to be asked to vote on their own trash talking words.
Now they're on public record, "Yes, I voted against the immediate troop withdrawal, BUT I've spent months criticizing the war effort and suggesting immediate withdrawal."
Oh boy!
Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., charged across the chamber's center aisle screaming...
A thread last night said that Murtha received his purple hearts for two wounds, one above his left eye and another one on his cheek. Neither involved hospitalization.
Democrat Screams are the true barometer of Success.
"Personally, I want to see him get the nomination so we can utterly destroy him statewide."
My sentiments too. No doubt he will get the DUmmies nomination.
"One simple question: If Clinton were President and we were fighting in Iraq, would Murtha and his merry band of Liberal pals be waving the white flag?"
The DUmmies have politicized this war. They want us to lose. The answer to your question is no.
Hoisted on their own petard.
Welcome to FR.
Nice post.
The democrats rhetoric rings hollow because THEY are empty
shells filled with hate and guilt.
It was entertaining to see all those Democrat feathers flying. They don't take backfires well, do they?
All true but don't omit government workers from the list. I have a friend who works for the federal government. He is a staunch DimRat because, he says, he gets better pay increases under Rat administrations. Quite a deep thinker and patriot. LOL.
Recent Gallup poll on Presidennt Bush said:
................Approve......Disapprove
Economy.........37.............61
HUH?
Probably the dumba$$e$ equate high gas prices for a few weeks with a bad economy. And, of course, the high gas prices were whose fault?
You did great! Welcome to FR and keep your insights coming as they are thoughtful and backed up with facts.
The NO and PRESENT are pretty much Progressive Caucus. Surprise!
I wonder how many house members have one of those "Out of Iraq Now" bumper stickers on their car.
The significance of the vote is that the dems can run around yelling "Out of Iraq Now" but don't have the guts to go on the public record by voting to Get Out of Iraq Now.
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