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 News from Around the Americas | December 2005 
Murtha Disputes 'Staying the Course' Policy
 Associated Press
| | A protester watches a presidential helicopter fly overhead in Baltimore, Maryland. As President Bush launched a new effort Wednesday to gain public support for the Iraq war, a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found most Americans do not believe he has a plan that will achieve victory. (Gail Burton/AP) |
Latrobe, Pa. - Most US troops will leave Iraq within a year because the Army is "broken, worn out" and "living hand to mouth," US Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., told a civic group.
Two weeks ago, Murtha called for US troops to leave Iraq now. He spoke to a group of community and business leaders in Latrobe on Wednesday, the same day President Bush said troops would be withdrawn when they've achieved victory, not under an artificial deadline set by politicians.
Murtha predicted most troops will be out of Iraq within a year, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Thursday.
"I predict he'll make it look like we're staying the course," Murtha said, referring to Bush. "Staying the course is not a policy."
Murtha, 73, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, expressed pessimism about Iraq's stability and said the Iraqis know who the insurgents are, but don't always share that information with US troops. He said a civil war is likely because of ongoing factionalism among Sunni Arabs, and Kurds and Shiites.
He also said he was wrong to vote to support the war.
"I admit I made a mistake when I voted for war," Murtha said. "I'm looking at the future of the United States military."
Murtha, a decorated war veteran, said the Pennsylvania National Guard is "stretched so thin" that it won't be able to send fully equipped units to Iraq next year. Murtha predicted it will cost $50 billion to upgrade military equipment nationwide, but says the federal government is already reducing future purchases to save money.
Lt. Col. Chris Cleaver, spokesman for the Pennsylvania National Guard at Fort Indiantown Gap, said "there are some deployment concerns."
Cleaver said some guard units had to leave equipment in Iraq when they returned to the United States, which could cause training problems here.
But Cleaver also said most of the 2,100 Guard troops now deployed with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team can't be sent back to Iraq for a second tour of duty anyway, because of regulations that limit redeployment. |
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