Don't just dismiss John Murtha...

When we went to war in Iraq, most Americans believed the primary focus of our mission was to eliminate a maniacal dictator who possessed and/or was seeking to acquire WMD.

Additionally, we were told that the former President of Iraq funded and otherwise aided global terrorist attacks. Some have argued that he contributed to the 9/11 planning as well as the Oklahoma City bombing.

Saddam and virtually all important members of his government are dead or in jail. He is no longer a threat to the United States.

John Murtha made the statement yesterday that the time to end US occupation of Iraq has arrived. Many knee-jerk reactionaries will dismiss him as another in a long-line of liberal Democrats who oppose war as a matter of policy.

However, Congressman Murtha ought not be dismissed so casually without proper and careful thought concerning his point of view. He is, after all, a retired United States Marine with combat experience in numerous war zones. This man has seen war, and has watched people die as a result of war. George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and most of the GOP Senators have not. Sean Hannity has not, Rush Limbaugh has not. John Murtha has paid the price which affords these men the opportunity to live the lives they do, and he has earned the right to speak and be heard.

For 2 ½ years I have been concerned about the U.S. policy and the plan in Iraq. I have addressed my concerns with the Administration and the Pentagon and have spoken out in public about my concerns. The main reason for going to war has been discredited. A few days before the start of the war I was in Kuwait – the military drew a red line around Baghdad and said when U.S. forces cross that line they will be attacked by the Iraqis with Weapons of Mass Destruction – but the US forces said they were prepared. They had well trained forces with the appropriate protective gear.

We spend more money on Intelligence than all the countries in the world together, and more on Intelligence than most countries GDP. But the intelligence concerning Iraq was wrong. It is not a world intelligence failure. It is a U.S. intelligence failure and the way that intelligence was misused.

TThe threat posed by terrorism is real, but we have other threats that cannot be ignored. We must be prepared to face all threats. The future of our military is at risk. Our military and their families are stretched thin. Many say that the Army is broken. Some of our troops are on their third deployment. Recruitment is down, even as our military has lowered its standards. Defense budgets are being cut. Personnel costs are skyrocketing, particularly in health care.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the real possibility that al Qaeda could move into Iraq and fill the void left empty by the removal of U.S. forces. On the other hand, it is not an absolute certainty that they will. Perhaps the Iraqi people will display a sense of nationalism and pride long since lost and forgotten in France, Germany and Spain.

However, America cannot simply continue to bear the overwhelming costs of this war almost unilaterally on an indefinite basis. Our homeland my be no safer today than it was on 9/10/2001, given the reluctance of our government to implement strict immigration controls or racial profiling. Our economy hangs on the balance, due to the ever-increasing costs of war, natural disaster, new drug benefit spending, new spending on public schools, and on, and on. Is there no limit to the spending programs that our government believes it can fund, either through taxes, printing money, or borrowing from foreign governments?

We must rebuild our Army. Our deficit is growing out of control. The Director of the Congressional Budget Office recently admitted to being “terrified” about the budget deficit in the coming decades. This is the first prolonged war we have fought with three years of tax cuts, without full mobilization of American industry and without a draft. The burden of this war has not been shared equally; the military and their families are shouldering this burden.

the key to progress in Iraq is to Iraqitize, Internationalize and Energize. I believe the same today. But I have concluded that the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is impeding this progress.

Given all of the failed promises made by George Bush, including his desire to limit government and install Constitutional judges to the Supreme Court, at what point does a rational, thinking person begin to doubt his decisions regarding Iraq given the growing divide between his words and actions on virtually all other issues that he has faced in the past 5 years?