John Murtha: The Surge Is Working

Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, who this summer characterize hope for the surge's success as "delusional," is back from a visit to Iraq.

And he says the surge is working.

Of course, the Democrats already pirouetted away from their earlier "the surge won't work" line to "It doesn't matter if the surge works" -- a line they can take refuge in no matter what happens in Iraq.

But it's still heart-warming to hear the lion of the anti-war Left come back and recognize reality.

Comments

[Tylerh]

Almost four thousand brave Americans dead, over twenty thousand more wounded enough to take off the battlefield. Oh, and since I'm of that breed that seems to have vanished with Reagan -- a fiscal conservative -- I'll toss out one more number: two trillion dollars.

For what? Iraq has several million internal "displaced persons." Feel free to dispute that number, because that's the point: the security and governance situation is so bad that no *knows* how many internal refugees there.

And what makes you think the modest improvements of recent months, thankful as I am for them, were (1) the result of the Surge and (2) will persist?

Numerous commentators think much of the decrease is due to the current wave of ethnic cleansing is winding down ( which would explain the large number of internal displaced persons). Will the reduced levels of violence continue if Moqtada al-Sadr (or his Iranian masters) changes his mind (again) and his Mehdi Army resumes attacks on US personnel?

To be clear, I am glad that violence and US Troop deaths are declining. I hope and pray this trend continues.

But even the current level of "progress" does not justify the cost in shattered American families to this conservative patriot. The Surge is simply another episode of a failed Mesopotamian policy, albeit a less spectacular failure than other recent episodes.

We need to get our Army out of Iraq so that we can focus again on the folks who actually caused 9/11 (hint: none were Iraqi)

[Andy Favor]

That is very interesting. But I am more concerned about the renewed strenghth of Al Quaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Osamba Bin Laudin, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, is alive and well and gaining strength from what I can tell.

[Richard]

I second Tylerh!

[MrWhipple]

A third for Tylerh.

Add to that:

• Half a million dead Iraqis
• Half our returning troops suffering from PTSD
• 6,000 troops who have returned from Iraq have committed suicide
• Desertion rates among active military up 80% since 2003
• The Army is only able to meet its recruiting goals by increasing wavers for previous arrests, drug use, etc.
• Not enough National Guard at home to help with disasters (like the SoCal wildfires)
• Active and reserve units' equipment in shambles and needing to be replaced ($$$$$$)

In short: the Iraq war has achieved very little at a massive cost in dollars and human lives and well-being.

No wonder 70% of Americans want out. The only thing keeping the other 30% is pride or delusions of an American empire.

[Quang]

The Marines Corps wants to leave Iraq to the U.S. Army to occupy so it can go fight Al Qaida in Afghanistan.

There was a lull in the fighting in Vietnam between the Paris Peace Accords signing in Jan. 1973-Jan. 1975 before all &%$# broke loose. But by then, the US had gotten all of its POWs like John McCain back so who cared, right?

Quang,

Those of us who fought in your Country cared as much as you; futher in many combat situations cared a hell of a lot more than your countryman. So before you start deminishing the role of the U.S. I suggest you look inward regarding the effectiveness of your fighters, resources provided to the war effort and the general ability of the people of South Viet Nam to protect themselves. Why couldn't you guys defend yourselves from your own countrymen. We gave the South more money, more resources, more equipment than Ho and his boys could ever dream of; yet the South couldn't hold its own Country. Considering I can no longer walk normally, sleep at night, or live with back pain that are a result of protecting you guys.....I think I cared too much and we should have let you guys fight your own war. Given your battle field performance...it probably would have been the shortest war in history!!!

[Dan Chmielewski]

Wow, a slight improvement and the chest thumping begins. The vast majority of the American people think the Iraq war was a mistake, that the president mislead the country into war and that they want our troops out sooner than later.

I'd like to know Matt and Quang, if either of you believe Karl Rove's spin that the Democrats were the ones that pushed Bush into War too soon in 2002? Kinda tough to rewrite history in the age of the Internet and YouTube, but Karl sure is trying.

[Thanks, Baghdad Dan]

Dan:

Blah, blah, blah, blah.

It doesn't matter to you how much things improve in Iraq. You will go to your grave bleating "It was a mistake! It was a mistake!"

People like you are irrelevant to the debate because you'll never re-consider your position in the face of changing facts.

[Dan Chmielewski]

I'm laughing at the "in the face of changing facts" line. You mean changing facts like Iraq has WMDs; Iraq has a nuclear program; we're going in to install Democracy; we're fighting them there so we don't fight them here? Which is the fact we went to war on son?

I'm irrelevant to the debate along with 65 percent of the country. And before I forget, Murtha issued a clarification to his comments from Friday:

“The military surge has created a window of opportunity for the Iraqi government,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said. “Unfortunately, the sacrifice of our troops has not been met by the Iraqi government and they have failed to capitalize on the political and diplomatic steps that the surge was designed to provide.

“The fact remains that the war in Iraq cannot be won militarily, and that we must begin an orderly redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq as soon as practicable.”

[Thanks, Baghdad Dan]

You crack me up, Dan. You're like a guy who is in a hole, and when someone finds a promising way out, you say it doesn't matter because it's his fault we're in the hole anyway.

Murtha's "clarification" sounds more like back-pedaling to appease the anti-war lefties like you. It doesn't even make sense. "Even they we're winning militarily, we can't win militarily. And even if we do, it won't matter anyway."

Hard to lose an argument like that.

And I see you tossed in one of your surgically extracted polls. Funny how you only trumpet friendly poll results.