Way back in November 2005, when Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) first started talking publicly about the need for troop redeployment from Iraq, Republicans were momentarily stunned. Murtha was a fairly conservative Dem, a leading congressional voice on military matters, and a decorated war hero. He had experience, stature, and bi-partisan cred. Rod Dreher, responding to Murtha at the National Review Online, said he was “sure there’s going to be an anti-Murtha pile-on in the conservative blogosphere, but from where I sit, conservatives would be fools not to take this man seriously.”
As it turns out, conservatives were fools, the pile-on went way beyond right-wing blogs, and Murtha became one of the most reviled Dems in the country.
And now the smear machine is picking back up again. Murtha is taking the lead on what Dems are calling the “readiness strategy.” Instead of cutting off funding for the war, Murtha’s plan would use the appropriations process to limit or sharply reduce the number of U.S. troops available for the Iraq conflict — deployment of troops would be based on the Bush administration meeting certain levels of adequate manpower, equipment, and training for the troops. Moreover, Murtha wants to limit the time and number of deployments by soldiers, Marines and National Guard units to Iraq, making it tougher for Pentagon officials to find the troops to replace units that are scheduled to rotate out of the country.
On its face, there’s not much to disagree with. Do Republicans support sending troops into combat without adequate equipment and training? Of course not — and Murtha’s plan would ensure that doesn’t happen.
As Tim Russert asked Tony Snow yesterday, “Congressman Murtha will say, ‘I want to limit tours in Iraq to 12 months, and I want to make sure anyone who goes there is fully trained and has the equipment necessary to do the job.’ What’s wrong with that?” (Snow didn’t have much of an answer.)
At this point, war supporters can take on Murtha’s policy on the merits, or they can try and smear Murtha personally. Guess which way they prefer.
As BarbinMD put it, “[T]he long knives have come out and the smear of John Murtha is officially on.”
Robert Novak: “Murtha has shaped party policy that would cripple Bush’s Iraq troop surge by placing conditions on funding. That represents the most daring congressional attempt to micromanage ongoing armed hostilities since the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War challenged President Abraham Lincoln…. It seems all but certain that Democrats will pass what Murtha frankly calls an attempt to prevent funding of the surge. Improbable though it may seem, blunt and brassy Jack Murtha is moving close to command over U.S. policy on Iraq.
The Beltway Boys: “And this Murtha resolution is clever in that it pretends to be pro-troops and anti-war, in reality would deny troops that are already in the field fighting for their lives the reinforcements they need in order to survive and possibly win.”
Investor’s Business Daily: “The party of John Murtha shamelessly seeks to defund and defeat U.S. troops on the battlefield and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The Congress the terrorists wanted is doing their bidding. Now it’s the House of Representatives’ turn, led by Rep. John Murtha, who believes the fine young men and women we send to defeat terror and our sworn enemies are cold-blooded killers. We find it scary that the Democratic and terrorist game plans are indistinguishable.”
The Journal Edition Report: “John Murtha is talking about two in particular, which could be very damaging. He’s talking about limiting National Guard deployments, and he’s talking about putting, quote, unquote, “readiness requirements” on the troops–i.e., if they are not outfitted with the latest armor kit, they can’t go over. Well, if that’s taken seriously, it going to make it almost impossible for the president to prosecute the war. And he’s going to have to get serious about asserting his constitutional authority to disregard those kinds of conditions.
Brit Hume: “That sound bite from John Murtha suggests that it’s time a few things be said about him…Look, this man has tremendous cache among House Democrats, but he is not — this guy is long past the day when he had anything but the foggiest awareness of what the heck is going on in the world.
Aside from the notion that he’s a senile terrorist sympathizer, Murtha seems just fine with his right-wing critics.
Look, Murtha’s strategy asks that the troops have the equipment and training they need before going into battle. If war supporters want to argue that this is a mistake, let them make the case. Indeed, I’m anxious to hear it.
But in the meantime, this reflexive hatred and Swiftboating of a hero suggests that Murtha is onto something and Bush’s allies are scared.
Jeez, haven’t these guys ever heard the phrase, “Never let ’em see you sweat”?