Murtha is a key player in the House. And it's Broder's article.
washingtonpost.com
Iraq Toll Hits a Nerve With Murtha
Veteran Hawk Says Some Bush Strategists Have to Go
By David S. Broder
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 27, 2003; Page A07
washingtonpost.com
John P. Murtha, who came to the House of Representatives in a 1974 special election, was the first Vietnam War veteran to enter Congress. A Bronze Star holder, the old Marine has been one of the Pentagon's best friends, looking out for the military budget as ranking Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee on defense.
It was, therefore, anything but a routine moment when the normally publicity-shy Pennsylvanian joined dovish House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at a Sept. 16 news conference criticizing the administration's handling of the war in Iraq and its aftermath.
When Murtha called for the scalp of the military planners, saying, "Somebody has to go. Somebody has to be held responsible," it had the impact of the best man telling the bridegroom to clean up his act.
What brought the crusty 71-year-old carwash owner to this unexpected point was a series of hearings and briefings, two personal inspections of the front, and his five visits with Iraq war veterans being treated in military hospitals for their wounds.
As Murtha said at the news conference, he had gone to Bethesda Naval Medical Center to cheer up a young Marine demolitions expert who had lost an eye and a hand when a bomb exploded.
"He paid a heavy price," Murtha said, "and some bureaucrat in Washington needs to start paying the price before we can get this thing straightened out. We can't allow the bureaucrats to get off while these young people are paying such a heavy price."
In an interview yesterday, Murtha declined to point to any individual for dismissal, saying that some he had regarded as architects of the Iraq strategy had phoned him after the news conference to say they were not the decision-makers. "The president has to decide who should go," Murtha said. "To show they've really changed, they have to get rid of somebody."
As a hawk, Murtha supported the resolution authorizing war with Iraq, just as he had done 11 years earlier when the first President Bush turned to him for help. He was convinced on a visit to Kuwait with Pelosi, just before the start of the fighting, that U.S. intelligence on Saddam Hussein's chemical and biological weapons was correct.
"They showed us on the map the red line where they expected those weapons to be used when we entered that territory," he said.
That intelligence error was one failure of command, but not the only one, Murtha said. He was dismayed to discover that -- two years after one of his staff members had raised the issue with the Pentagon -- the military had failed to supply all the troops in Iraq with upgraded body armor that has bullet-stopping ceramic inserts.
"Every single wounded person I met at Bethesda or Walter Reed [hospital] after Afghanistan and Iraq said, 'If I had had Kevlar, this wouldn't have happened to me,' " Murtha said. He cited other shortages of equipment that also contributed to U.S. casualties.
Despite his criticisms, Murtha said he will support Bush's request for $87 billion in appropriations for military operations and reconstruction in Iraq. A private meeting last week with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian official in Iraq, convinced him "they are becoming more realistic" about the challenge they face.
Murtha is lobbying other Democrats, saying it is "urgent" that more funds be sent to repair the electricity and water systems in Iraq and reduce the staggering level of unemployment. But he said he is finding increasing concern among members of both parties about the long deployments of Reservists -- and that he shares the feeling. "The Reservists are stuck" in long tours of duty that virtually no one had anticipated, he said. "In fact, we have a draft. We cannot sustain this force."
He said the whole situation is worrisome. "People are beginning to see this will take a long time. . . . I was nervous from the beginning. I only voted for it because I said to [Vice President] Cheney and the president, 'You have to go to the U.N.,' and when they did that, what the hell could I do?" |
