Murtha's Iraq Plan Is Wrong And Right
Insisting On Proper Training Is No Way To Stop The War, But It Should Be Done
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Play CBS Video Video Bob Schieffer On Murtha's Plan FTN 02.18.07, part 3, In Full: Bob Schieffer evaluates an alternate Iraq plan offered by Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., that gives relief to soldiers deployed to the Middle East multiple times.
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(AP)
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Interactive American Heroes Profiles of U.S. soldiers who've died in Iraq, a look at the war's toll and pictures of mourning.
Pennsylvania's Democratic Congressman John Murtha has a clever plan to block the President from sending more troops to Iraq.
He's proposing a law that bars the President from sending troops in Iraq back to the war zone until they have spent one year being retrained at their home base. It forbids troops from being kept in Iraq longer than the one year tour they were promised and prohibits any troops from going to the war zone until they are fully trained and have the proper equipment.
That is no way to stop a war.
If Congress wants to stop the troops from going to Iraq it should just cut off the money to send them there.
But here's the other part: Everything that Murtha proposes should be done – should have been done – a long time ago. Not for Murtha's reasons but because it is right and the troops deserve it.
Too many times the government has broken its word to the troops – held them in the army beyond their enlistments; kept them in the combat zone longer than they were told they would be there; cut short their time between combat assignments; and, worst of all, sent some into combat without proper training or equipment.
We owe it to our troops to keep the promises we have made to them and, at the very least, to insure they are never sent into battle without the proper training and equipment.
That should have been a given, regardless of whether we believe this war is right or wrong.
E-mail Face the Nation.
By Bob Schieffer
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Posted by Winstrv
Oh ***!! Who started this frickin' war? The Liars that's who!!
Congress.org
formation/senators_cfm.cfm or http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
http://www.aipac.org/forms/join_aipacClubs.htm
The Elite Minyan group - you mean for a minimum of only $100,000 dollars
a year I too can shape world policy? Tell me more!
I especially like the bit about enjoying "the exclusivity you deserve."
This thing borders on parody, but alas, unfortunately it is all too real.
There are right now Navy Seamen being used in the role of Combat Infantrymen in Iraq because the Marines and Army are stretched so thin. These Seamen get a rush thru Small Unit training program and are given a rifle and are integrated into combat arms maneuver units.
And not only in time of war (the unpredictable, mess that war is and always has been), but a contract with our military personnel to assure them that no matter what, they will be sure of these promises.
- by scott4261 February 18, 2007 4:51 PM EST
- God bless John Murtha.
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