Say Anything Blog

Here’s Rep. Jack Murtha, talking about his proposal to cut off funding for the troops in Iraq.

He did not elaborate but went on to talk about services enjoyed by U.S. troops in Iraq but denied to many Iraqis.

“Let’s take, for instance, Saddam Hussein’s palace - that’s where our troops are living,” Murtha said.

“They have everything they need. They have electricity, as they should. They have warm water. They have all the things that you need and we provide for our troops, and I agree with that,” he said.

“But right around the outside is where the Iraqis live with nothing, and that’s the thing that worries me,” Murtha said.

Anyone else not understanding what Murtha’s point is here?  Is he talking about denying our troops access to electricity?  And hot water?  And shelter?  All so that they can be like the Iraqis who “have nothing?”

Is this really what Americans want?  People like Murtha cutting off funding for our soldiers’ most basic needs on the battlefield?  I don’t think it is.  And isn’t this something of a departure from the usual desperate picture Murtha paints of Iraq?  One of troops tired, worn out and desperate to get out of the war?  Which is it, Jack?  Are the troops living comfortably in palaces or are they tired and worn out?

Granted, Murtha could be saying that we should get our troops out of Iraq because our troops have food and water and shelter while the Iraqis don’t and that makes them hate us, but doesn’t that explanation even reflect poorly on Murtha?  Is he saying that we should abandon these poor, starving Iraqis so that they’re not jealous of us any more?

Here’s the complete video of the interview between Murtha and MoveCongress.org which these comments were taken from (here’s a direct link to the video of the comments quoted above):

The entire thing is worth watching as Murtha makes some jaw-dropping comments during it.  Or just watch it to see the sycophant conducting the interview do his best impression of a bobble head as he gobbles up every half-truth which falls from Murtha’s lips.

Some highlights:

• Murtha saying that Iraqi’s would have been “better off” had we pulled all of our troops out of Iraq after Bush’s now-infamous “mission accomplished” moment after the initial invasion.  Of course, that would have meant no Iraqi elections and no democratic government, and it would have left the Iraqi people vulnerable to the machinations of whatever tyrant tried to fill the power vacuum left by Saddam, but Murtha doesn’t care about those things.
• Murtha saying that only 42% of our troops even understand the mission they’re on in Iraq, which is not only a slam at the intelligence of our troops a la Senator Kerry but also seems to be a statistic Murtha has pulled out of thin air.
• Murtha stumbles a bit saying that we should get our troops “out of the green zone” and “out of Saddam’s palace,” the immediate implication being that they’re just hiding out in safety zones and basking in the luxury of a palace, but then he recovers and says that we should get the troops “out of Iraq” altogether.  Why Murtha seems to have an obsession with this palace of Saddam’s is beyond me.
• The chucklehead interviewing Murtha asks him point blank if troops are going into Iraq not ready for combat.  Murtha is forced to admit, after all his moaning and groaning earlier in the interview about the Bush administration not sending troops to Iraq prepared, that it isn’t happening.  He follows that admission up with a bunch of dumb rhetoric about equipping the troops (as if he cares), but the blunt admission he is first forced to make pretty much flies in the face of a lot of what the Democrats are saying about deployments to Iraq.  Our troops are going in combat read.  Murtha has admitted it.
• Murtha comes right out and states that the impact of his legislation will be that our troops won’t have the resources or the equipment necessary to finish the war.  Which, of course, is his goal in the first place.  He’s not really concerned about troop deployments or equipment, he just wants to bleed the war to death.  What’s worse, he wants to bleed a war to death that our troops are still fighting and dying to win.  Amazingly, just seconds after those comments Murtha states that he and his supporters are going to give the troops “everything they need.”  Murtha says they’re going to “protect” and “support” the troops.  But not so much that they’ll actually win the war their fighting, naturally.