"The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. The American public is way ahead of us. The United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq, but it is time for a change in direction. Our military is suffering. The future of our country is at risk. We can not continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interest of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf Region."     - Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.)

Murtha Is Right
If anyone other than John Murtha had called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, it wouldn't have been that big a deal. Murtha not only supported the war, he has been one of the biggest supporters of the Pentagon in Congress, praised by none other than Paul Wolfowitz for his "wonderful" support for the astronomical sums sucked up by the War Party in their never-ending quest for our tax dollars.

Debating Iraq: A Murtha Moment and the Slide to An Exit
The “debate” was a transparent maneuver by the Bush lovers to set up a straw man with a phony resolution to prove how stupid the usually hawkish Murtha was to suggest that redeployment and withdrawal was now called for to save what face we can in a losing war in Iraq.

Ed Naha: 'Murtha of mercy, is this the end of Little Caesar?'
When the entire Democratic criticism blitz was brought up, Murtha quipped: "I resent the fact on Veterans' Day, he (Bush) criticized Democrats for criticizing them. This is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion! The American public knows it. And lashing out at critics doesn't help a bit."  After praising Bush I and the goals of the first Gulf War, he noted: "This outfit doesn't want to hear any suggestions. It's frustrating, and the troops are paying the price for it."

Stephen Pizzo: 'Penny wise, pound foolish and other reasons Murtha is right'
And therein lies the theory behind this administration's "fight them over there or here," argument. US troops are being used (misused) as this administration's solution for domestic terrorism. They are being used to attract terrorists to Iraq, where it's more convenient for the terrorists and wannabe terrorists to shoot and blow up Americans. They are, you might say, "sacrificial kids." Is that how we "support the troops?" By dangling them thousands of miles from home like bait to attract terrorists away from our homeland? Is that why we have and raise kids in America now, to chum for terrorist?

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, NOT OUR PRESIDENT
President Bush and his bodyguards, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld, have had a busy week denouncing critics of the war as "irresponsible ... reprehensible ... dishonest ... hypocritical." The idea behind that polysyllabic barrage is that not supporting our only president and the troops he has sent into harm's way in Iraq is a monstrous lack of patriotism.