Here’s a round up of some comments from Rep. John “Cut and Run” Murtha…
"Our welcome has been worn out," Rep Murtha told NBC's "Today" show."
"They're subdued compared to normal morale of elite forces," Murtha said. "Obviously, it was a very difficult battle. A lot of people were killed, but it was a brutal battle."
"Murtha said the U.S. had to no choice but to pull out now, explaining, "There's no military solution.”
"Murtha said he did not ‘see any achievable goal or national security interest in this operation."
Mr. Murtha joined a small but influential list of Democratic lawmakers who have publicly urged the president to change the mission."
"We should get out as quickly as possible,' and in the middle of July I said, `Get our troops out because this could deteriorate into a very tragic situation."
"The one thing I heard repeatedly from our troops that this body has got to keep in mind came from the mouths of the young marines, who said, `Congressman, three of the last four Christmases I have been deployed. I have been away from my family."
"The marines did not even have the resupply capabilities necessary because they have been continually deployed. That is because of a lack of funding for the Marines to keep adequate preparations for these kinds of missions. We cannot keep committing our troops in a vacuum."
These are not statements about Iraq.
These are statements made by Murtha in 1993 in response to the massacre in Mogadishu. Murtha was one of the main forces behind President Clinton’s retreat from Somalia. Despite the media portrayal of Murtha as a “war hawk”, Murtha has a history of calling for leaving the battle before the mission is complete.
Now Murtha is calling for President Bush to do what Clinton did in Somalia. Murtha said the following in an interview on CNN’s Situation Room Friday…
"The thing that disturbed me and worries me about this whole thing is we can’t get them to change direction. And I said over and over in debate, if you listen to any of it, in Beirut President Reagan changed direction, in Somalia President Clinton changed direction, and yet here, with the troops out there every day, suffering from these explosive devices, and being looked at as occupiers — 80 percent of the people want us out of there — and yet they continue to say, "We’re fighting this thing."
Poor choice to use for comparison Murtha. Now you have reminded everyone what part YOU played in the strengthening of al Qaeda. You have tipped your hand to reveal that YOU helped embolden Osama bin Laden. All because you advocated the “cut and run” from Somalia when the going got tough.
Here’s a little reminder of what bin Laden took away from our hasty retreat from Somolia courtesy of a 1998 interview with ABC's John Miller…
"Our people realize[d] more than before that the American soldier is a paper tiger that run[s] in defeat after a few blows," the terror chief recalled. "America forgot all about the hoopla and media propaganda and left dragging their corpses and their shameful defeat."
And the 9/11 Commission – the same group that developed national security recommendations you and your fellow Liberals are going to campaign on – also believed that our failure to complete the mission in Somalia only encouraged Bin Laden and his cohorts.
"In August 1996, Bin Ladin had issued his own self-styled fatwa calling on Muslims to drive American soldiers out of Saudi Arabia.The long, disjointed document condemned the Saudi monarchy for allowing the presence of an army of infidels in a land with the sites most sacred to Islam, and celebrated recent suicide bombings of American military facilities in the Kingdom. It praised the 1983 suicide bombing in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. Marines, the 1992 bombing in Aden, and especially the 1993 firefight in Somalia after which the United States “left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you.”3 Bin Ladin said in his ABC interview that he and his followers had been preparing in Somalia for another long struggle, like that against the Soviets in Afghanistan, but “the United States rushed out of Somalia in shame and disgrace.”
So given your role in the incident that served as a main motivator for Osama bin Laden and his attacks against America, can we point our fingers at you (like you have done to our soldiers in Iraq) and call you a cold-blooded murderer for the deaths on September 11, 2001 and the 2500 soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan?
As usual, a mega hat tip to DB and the excellent research at Sweetness & Light!
Others blogging...
Blackfive - Murtha Jumps the Shark
Squiggler - Defeat Murtha! – UPDATED
Flopping Aces - Murtha Can’t Keep His Mouth Shut
In the Bullpen - Murtha: Change Direction Like Lebanon, Somalia
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