Murtha Details His Exit Strategy

Congressman Expects Big Reduction In Iraq Troops

(CBS) 
"One of the problems they have with enlistment is because they continually say how well things are going and the troops on the ground know better," Murtha adds.

To prove his point, he reads 60 Minutes a letter he received from a soldier in Iraq.

“I’m a soldier currently stationed in Talafar. It’s frustrating to me and many other soldiers to be fighting a war with no goal for victory, with no end in sight. Iraq is a country that’s never going to stand on its own until we leave and give them a chance to do so. Our presence is no longer beneficial to anyone,” Murtha reads. "Now this is an ordinary soldier that’s saying this," he says.

But while working on a story about soldiers wounded in Iraq, 60 Minutes heard from many of them with a very different opinion.

"In talking to these various people who have lost legs and arms and traumatic brain injury and so forth, I was astonished. They’re not taking any punches at the people who sent them there," Wallace says.

"Now, obviously the troops themselves have to believe in what they’re doing," Murtha replies.

"Why do the generals who speak publicly all say that the U.S. is on the right track in Iraq? And that you, in effect, are off your rocker?" Wallace asks.

"Well, they don’t say that to me privately, I’ll tell ya," Murtha says, laughing. "You know, they’re gonna be fired if they speak out."

Murtha tells 60 Minutes that 80 percent of his mail has been positive, but he also got this:

"Congratulations! You are now an honorary member of al Qaeda. Your words have emboldened the enemy and endangered our troops on the ground. You have become the new Hanoi Jane," the sender wrote.

But Murtha has a thick hide.

"When I don’t agree with a policy, I have to speak out," Murtha says.

But a year ago, Murtha argued against what he is arguing for now. “A premature withdrawal of our troops based on a political timetable could rapidly devolve into a civil war which would leave America’s foreign policy in disarray as countries question not only America’s judgment but also its perseverance,” he stated.

Murtha says he was wrong a year ago and that times have changed since that statement.

But the change Murtha wants, pulling all troops out, could embolden the terrorists. When President Bush announced he would withdraw just 20,000 troops after Iraq’s recent election, al Qaeda claimed victory.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s number two leader, said in a video message this month, “America’s plan to withdraw troops from Iraq proves the victory of Islam in Iraq.”

"I think they’re trying to get this administration to stay. I think they want us there. Because we have united the Iraqis against us. We’re spending all this money and diverting our resources away from the war on terrorism because we’re involved in a civil war in Iraq," says Murtha.

And al-Zawahiri also says al Qaeda is growing and increasing in strength.

"If it is increasing in strength, I think it’s because it actually helps terrorists to be in Iraq because it united the world against us," says Murtha.

"Hasn’t the occupation done a lot of good in Iraq? Look, Saddam’s dictatorial reign, over. Democracy has begun. Schools and factories are reopening. The economy’s coming back," Wallace says.

"That election of course is being trumpeted as being so important to democracy. When I came back from Vietnam in 1967, they had an election. It was supposed to set the stage. It was supposed to legitimize the government, if you remember. And we lost 38,000 people after that. Now, I don’t say that this has the same intensity and that we’re gonna lose 38,000 people. But I’m just saying there’s a lot more things have to be done if you’re going to have a democratic government," says Murtha.

Murtha says 13 of his constituents from Pennsylvania have been killed in Iraq. Do their families think Murtha is dishonoring their memory by speaking out against the war that they gave their lives for?

"Well I hope they understand it’s my job, my responsibility, to speak out when I disagree with the policy of the president of the United States. All of us want this president to succeed," Murtha says. "But you just can’t sit back and allow this war to continue on without a clear exit strategy. That’s the reason I’m so strong about this. I feel a mission here, with my experience, that, that I have to help the president find a way out of this thing."