WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. John Murtha says he should have spoken out sooner...
For a year the Pennsylvania Democrat and Vietnam veteran agonized over his doubts about the Iraq war before deciding to break with the Bush administration and call for withdrawing U.S. troops.
"I probably did not speak out soon enough," Murtha told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "I should have, but I was always so used to doing things behind the scenes and getting something done, getting a reaction from the executive branch."
Murtha, 73, is to be awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston on Monday for his bold pronouncement last November that U.S. troops should be pulled out of Iraq. The Democratic hawk and retired Marines Reserves colonel surprised the administration and drew the ire of conservatives.
As the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, Murtha was often called on by presidents for his advice. Attending early planning meetings with Pentagon officials, he thought they were too optimistic about how the Iraqi people would respond to an invasion.
"They quit inviting me to meetings," he said. "I don't get too many calls from the White House any more."
Murtha said he's content with his new role as an outsider because he feels he is helping to cause change. He received 18,000 phone calls, letters and other forms of communication in the first few days after he made his statement, the vast majority of them in support, he said.
If Democrats win a majority in the House in November, which Murtha predicts will happen, the Republican administration should be prepared to answer tough questions about the war, he said.
"It will be a stunning thing to them, and then the investigations will start," Murtha said.
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