the rest ----
I expect that kind of rhetoric from the washed-up anti-war rabble that congregate on street corners to relive their glory days — not from retired Marine colonels.
Murtha's call last year for a cut-and-run strategy in Iraq was one thing — irresponsible and unwise, but basically just stating a policy position. This is different.
What a nice New Year's treat for the beheaders and suicide bombers to know that a decorated Marine and lawmaker thinks the U.S. military is not only "broken" but not worth joining. Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi will no doubt use Murtha's words to inspire his band of thugs to hold out longer and kill a few more Americans assuring them that ultimately we will wilt like Murtha.
Why would Murtha not want to be part of a military that in the past four years has liberated 50 million souls and heroically brought aid to tsunami and earthquake victims, saving untold lives? Surely he knows that all was chaos in New Orleans in the wake of Katrina until Gen. Russell Honore's 1st Army and the 82nd Airborne came to town and provided relief and a security presence.
Evidently, Murtha doesn't think this is noble work.
Or, rather, the congressman doesn't like the way Iraq is going, so he disparaged the entire military — forgetting about our sailors working tirelessly to keep the seas open, Marines bravely guarding our embassies and soldiers standing watch in Korea and elsewhere to protect the democratic from the despotic.
Thirty-seven years in the Marine Corps should have taught Murtha that our military has historically been and continues to be the world's greatest meritocracy. No other institution has allowed people to climb the ranks and reach their potential regardless of their socioeconomic status like the U.S. military.
Similarly, Jack Murtha should know that millions of men and women have personally benefited from the discipline, training and structure of the military and used the traits learned in uniform to make countless contributions to civil society after their service.
If Murtha wouldn't want to be a part of a military that did in Afghanistan in three months what the Red Army couldn't do in seven years and that put genocidal maniac Saddam Hussein behind bars and his brutal sociopath sons in the ground, I am glad he is not.
But he's surely undermined military recruiting. Think he'll resign his committee assignments relevant to the military?
Last year, despite a media that overemphasizes the negative aspects of the war and an organized anti-recruitment effort, the Marine Corps exceeded its recruiting goals by 2 percent. The Navy and Air Force met their goals. The Army, which fell short of expectations last year, is exceeding them in Fiscal Year 2006 (which started in October).
Fortunately for the United States, a turncoat blowhard like Murtha won't stop the tens of thousands of good men and women inspired to serve this great nation.
Kieran Michael Lalor is the founder of Eternal Vigilance Society (eternalvigilancesociety.org), an independent organization supporting leaders who put protecting the nation ahead of politics.