Nothing to Fear but Victory Itself
BY JAMES TARANTO
Best of the Web
Friday, January 6, 2006
Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, who became a media darling in November by calling for immediate withdrawal from Iraq (though he voted against his own proposal when Republicans brought it to the House floor), elaborated on his views last night, reports National Review's Byron York:
<<< Representative John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has come to national prominence since his call for a quick withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, said Thursday night that he worries about "a slow withdrawal which makes it look like there's a victory."
Appearing at a town meeting in Arlington, Virginia, with fellow Democratic Rep. James Moran, Murtha said, "A year ago, I said we can't win this militarily, and I got all kinds of criticism." Now, Murtha told the strongly antiwar audience, "I worry about a slow withdrawal which makes it look like there's a victory when I think it should be a redeployment as quickly as possible and let the Iraqis handle the whole thing." >>>
Does anyone still want to say it is unfair to characterize Murtha as rooting for American defeat? The "town meeting," by the way, was sponsored by the far-left outfit MoveOn.org, "which said that 'Congressman Moran has extended a special invitation to MoveOn members in his district and nearby.' " Moran is the Democrats' answer to Pat Buchanan, as we noted in 2003:
A Democratic congressman who opposes the liberation of
Iraq is blaming the Jews for threatening Saddam Hussein's
hold on power. "If it were not for the strong support of
the Jewish community for this war with Iraq we would not
be doing this," the Connection newspapers of northern
Virginia quoted Rep. Jim Moran as saying last week. "The
leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough
that they could change the direction of where this is
going and I think they should."
The good news is that the "antiwar" movement is not serious. If it were, it would not have to rely on fringe figures like Murtha, Moran and Cindy Sheehan.
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