JOHN MURTHA: THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS NEEDS MORE LIKE HIM!

The United States Congress and the American people as a whole need more people serving in public life that are similar,if not exact clones, to Congressman John Murtha (D-Penn). For those of you who are late catching up on recent developments in current events, Congressman Murtha made a historic and profound public pronouncement calling for the withdrawl of U.S. troops from Iraq. He stated that " the U.S. should implement an immediate plan to began withdrawing troops from Iraq and relocating them, for example to Kuwait, in case there should be a need for future redeployments to Iraq due to unforeseen circumstances.That pronouncement of coures, was a far cry from calling for the immediate physical withdrawl,as some of his hate mongerring critics so tried to stick on him. They even made the rediculous inference that he is a borderline coward. This degrading and despicable attack was simply ludicrous, especially in light of the irrefutable fact, the Congressman is a retired marine colonel and multiple decorated Viet Nam War hero. And what is most shameful is that the White House joined in the attacks, despite the fact Congressman Murtha is a staunch advocate for the military, and avid supporter of the troops in Iraq. By labeling him as a liberal,and lefty fellow traveler of Michael Moore (the independent documentary film producer), the White House showed it will stoop to the lowest of the lowest to quell anyone that is critical of its policies, especially in the case of the Iraq war.

My only gripe with the Congressman, as well as other representatives and senators who voted for the War, is that they all should have been crying "WOLF" long before a selected and needless War was intially launched in the first place.. But I suppose he, like many other public officials got caught up in the 911 euphoria and constant scare tactics that were being spewed out by the Adminstration on a daily, if not hourly, basis before initiating an invasion of Iraq. No one wanted to be labeled unpatriotic; if any of them really understand and know exactly what patroitism entails, in the literal sense of the word.

Nonetheless, I perceive Congressman Murtha as a man of strong ethical and moral conviction. And from what I can see, he realizes the error of his ways, in that he and others cast their vote for the War based on the false, skewed and carefully selected intelligence they were shown. Adding to this misjudgment, undoubtedly, was fear of a backlash coming from the U.S citizenry if they had not supported the President's saber waving and war mongerring efforts after such a trumatic event as 911 was cast upon the U.S. psyche. Still I maintain that the Congress and the American people need more public officials like Congressman Murtha to finally stand up and tell it like it is, especially when no one can really justify why the U.S. is in Iraq in the first place. Oh, I know, it is touted by the Administrations and its avid supporters and know-it-all pundits that even though WMDs were not found, it was still a good thing to remove Sadam from power.

My, my, my, how fast objectives can change to justify blatant errors that have everlasting impact on peoples'lives, both here at home and abroad-especially the Iraq people. Why don't we just initiate a campaign to remove all tyrants and dictators from power around the world; starting first in Saudia Arabia. Oh well, I am getting off track.

The American people needed Congressman Murtha to bring the War issue to the forefront so that an indepth debate could began as to how the U.S. can and should get out of the quagmire it is now facing. Although others may have thought about making their feelings known publicly, only Congressman Murtha actually had the "intestinal fortitude" to face the issue head-on and stand up to misguided and blind following critics. He has done the U.S. a great service, especially the men and women now serving in our military, and specifically those currently assigned to Iraq. Congressman Murtha, if you should run for president of the United States, you have my vote. KUDOS!KUDOS!KUDOS!