Senior Representative calls for immediate withdrawal of troops

In a press conference televised minutes ago, senior Dem. Rep. John Murtha calls for the immediate withdrawal of US troops in Iraq. Stating that the war is not going as advetised.




Murtha stated in his press statement that the equipment being used over there is wearing out and needs to be repaired. He also stated that it takes over 18 years for a new military platform to make it to the forces.

Apparently the military is getting poorly equipped and there is not enough money to replace it. Running a continued war on top of the disasters that have hit, are creating a terrible burden on the tax payers.

Related News Links:
www.cnn.com
[url=http://www.tribune-democrat.com/cnhi/tribunedemocrat/homepage/local_story_321105804.html?keyword=leadpicturestory]www.tribune-democrat.com[/url ]

[edit on 17-11-2005 by valkeryie]

[edit on 20-11-2005 by asala]

And what the heck does this guy think is going to happen when troops leave? Is the american pubic really prepared to sit by while groups of iraqis rape murder,, disembowl and herd each other into concentration camps? All the while knowing that none of it'd be happening so chaotically f the US hadn't even started the war?

Is this guy actually so blind as to not see that if the US leaves, and then an islamic republic ala Iran starts up, that there will be great aggitation to get invovled again? Or that syria will also lay its claim to parts of iraq?

How exactly does this representative propose to deal with the kurdish question? The kurds aren't going to stay within iraq, they'll declare independence, and then the kurds in turkey will aggitate to join Kurdistan, and there there'll be a civil war in turkey, a US ALLY. Heck, the turks might even put the kurds into death camps. Is this guy going to say 'let those kurdish women and children die and rot in those camps, isolationism is best'?

Nygdan, the U.S. Government never cared about the African people who get slaughtered, killed, etc and by the lack of interest from the public they do not care either.

If the U.S. left, you'd see the media spend less time on it and over there and the public as per-normal would go back to caring about themselves. As they do so well.

I also don't see immediate withdrawal as a solution... Personally I think that we ought to help them establish a representitive democracy, and then let them take it...

either that, or trade the entire country to Iran, in return for dropping interest in Nuclear power.

Or maybe, separate the country into the 3 factions, and let them be distracted by inter country war, rather than try revenge on us, for leaving such a mess...

The problem is, how stable will it be?

You will have those three factions at odds with each other until they can all grow up. Which has yet to happen in hundreds of years, I highly doubt it will with the U.S. troops there.

It is likely Iran, Syria, et al will also invade and attempt to start a Civil War once the U.S. leaves in hopes to grab land, oil and also any technology the U.S. leaves.

Just more gum flapping, its not going to happen no matter how many people demand the troops be brought home. People really need to face up to the sad fact that we are in Iraq and will be there for an unspecified ammount of time as per the commanding party in office and the lack of any exit strategy, plan of withdrawl, or even any intenent to ever leave the country.

We're not leaving for a whole slew of reasons:

It would leave Iraq in a worse state than we found it.
It would look like the current administration was admitting it was mistaken to invade in the first place.
We don't have the oil yet.
It would make at least half of Iraq an Iranian client state.

I could think of hundred's more. Going to Iraq was a mistake, but pulling out would be a bigger mistake. Sadly, unless and until we get new leadership, or the current leadership begins to re-examine certain policies (debaathification and the disbandment of the military) SOON, we might find that people calling for total withdrawl now were amazingly prescient when we pull out 6 years from now.

Basically, we're all in the same boat now, like it or not. Whether or not you supported the war in the first place, Bush and co. threw in your chips all the same. This would have been made explicitly clear (and possibly will) to the citizenry had we had a draft.

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., is no slouch. He's a decorated Marine who served as an intelligence officer in Vietnam, and is known to speak with authority on military matters.

First elected to Congress in 1974, Murtha is known as an ally of uniformed officers in the Pentagon and on the battlefield. The perception on Capitol Hill is that when the congressman makes a statement on military issues, he's talking for those in uniform.

I especially like how he responds to Cheney's criticism.

"I like guys who've never been there that criticize us who've been there. I like that. I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done."

Whether you agree or disagree, this guy's words carry weight.

Hawkish Democrat Calls for Immediate Iraq Pullout

if we leave now, we'll leave Iraq in a bigger mess than it was when we decided to overthrow their government. it will be less stable, and more dangerous than it was. with it's road system, bridges, water purification systems, electrical systems, ect...in worse shape. and, it will be more at risk to falling to the islamic fanatics than it was.

the million dollar question that I have yet to hear anyone answer, is just what can we do to keep ourselves from finding the same situation two years from now, or five, or even 10! either they are griping about how we shouldn't be there to begin with, or they are acting like things are just hunky dorey and all is going so well, we will just keep with the status quo! well, we've invested something like $9 billion dollars into the country and it's worse off than it was before we went in! I don't think what we are doing is really working out too well. And sometimes I get the feeling that part of the problem is that some in washington never really wanted it to work in the first place.

I think what we are gonna end up with is a replica of the old afghanistan in the middle east, maybe closely alligned with Iran, maybe, if we're lucky, not.....maybe they will decide to go back to their age old animosties and be too busy fighting each other that we won't have to worry.....

If not, well, we will have plenty to worry about!

outside of going into the country to begin with, pulling out now, before we have it stabalized......, how we are to do that, don't really know.....is the stupidist idea of the century in my opinion! and if we do that, this will be one american that will hang her head in shame!!! We've created the mess, it is up to us to clean it up....or are we just a bunch of spoiled brats who lack a mommy to do it for us.

more than likely, the costs of this war are now starting to put a pinch on the wealthier americans pockets, ooops, you want who to give up those nice tax breaks to help pay???? well, time to pull out I guess then! if you listen real closly to the rhetoric from the politicians, from the press, from the powers that be, just as they were so gun hoe about going into the country, now well, it's more of a how can we get out of this as fast as we can. either they are worried about their bank accounts, or they are worried about the next election. they've found out that the moral americans aren't gonna let them slide by and steal the oil from the iraqis, or torture their prisoners, or make if another territory of the US. it takes all the fun out of war.

it almost makes me want to keep voting the whole lot of them back into office with a note sent to them......you made the mess, you're stuck there, until you clean it up.....try back next year!!

[edit on 17-11-2005 by dawnstar]