[Rhodes22-list] Politics: How's It Going?

[brad haslett]

BULLSHIT!
     Bill Effros, 2006

Bill, I'll gladly send you the attached T-shirt for
free.  Welcome to the long war.  This one will make
the Cold War seem short by comparison.

Brad

--- Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote:

>     Congressman John Murtha Representing the 12th
> District of 
> Pennsylvania
> <http://www.house.gov/murtha/index.shtml>
> 
> 	*For Immediate Release*
> *May 18, 2006* 	
>   	  	 
>   	  	 
> 
> 	
> 
> 
>     Murtha press conference transcript on Iraq
> 
> 	
>   	  	 
>   	  	 
>   	  	 
> 
> 	
> 
> *Washington D.C. *- The following is a transcript of
> a press conference 
> held today by Congressman Murtha regarding the lack
> of progress in Iraq.
> 
>         Six months ago today, I introduced my
> resolution to redeploy the 
> troops. Since that time, we've lost 370 Americans,
> we're spending $9 
> billion a month, incidents have increased from 550 a
> week to 900 a week, 
> and we lost 1,000 Iraqis in the last month.
> 
>     My plan ...recognizes we have done everything we
> can do militarily 
> in Iraq and we must redeploy. The president insists
> our military needs 
> to stay the course, but there's no plan for
> progress. I have not seen a 
> plan.
> 
>     One of my military friends said to me (that)
> when you open up the 
> strategy for victory, there's nothing inside. That's
> the problem that I 
> see, and that's the thing that's so difficult for me
> to accept.
> 
>     Now (there are) those who disagree with me. 
> Even a fourth-grade 
> class the other day (asked), "What happens if we
> leave?"
> 
>     Well, what happens if we leave today? What
> happens if we'd left six 
> months ago? They have to settle this themselves.
> There's no plan to make 
> things better.
> 
>     And so it's time for us to leave, to redeploy.
> And I say that ... 
> the success of Iraq is up to the Iraqis. The Iraqis
> must settle their 
> differences, and we must set a timetable for the
> Iraqis to take complete 
> control of their country.
> 
>     Now, every time a timetable has been set here in
> Congress, we meet 
> the timetable. Every time they set one in Iraq, they
> meet the timetable. 
> But here we have no timetable. It's open-ended. And
> only Iraqis should 
> settle these problems. And they aren't looking for
> an American solution. 
> We give them an American solution, they forget it
> and it won't work in 
> the end.
> 
>  ...I measure this differently than they do. Oil
> production is still 
> below prewar level. Electricity in Baghdad is 2.9
> hours per day.  Now, 
> we realize that electricity production is spread out
> over the country, 
> so it's a little bit different. But it's still only
> 9 or 10 hours a day 
> throughout the rest of Iraq. But (it's) 2.9 hours a
> day in Baghdad.
> 
>     Far more than half the Iraqis are unemployed.
> There's 90 percent 
> unemployment in Al Anbar province, and that's a
> province where we have 
> the most trouble.
> 
>     And when I visit the severely wounded -- I go
> almost every week 
> (and) I was just there last week -- at our military
> hospitals, I ask, 
> "What happened to you?" And they say, "I was looking
> for IEDs and I was 
> blown up."
> 
>     That's their mission. That's a hell of a
> mission. I mean, that's not 
> what they should be doing, and that's what they're
> doing, and that's how 
> they get killed, over and over again. Sixty-seven
> percent of the people 
> killed in Iraq have been killed with IEDs.
> 
>     Over the last six months, more Iraqis have died
> in sectarian 
> violence. (Do) you know what the definition of
> sectarian violence is? A 
> civil war. Two factions inside a country fighting
> for supremacy. That's 
> sectarian violence. We're caught in a civil war, and
> our military is 
> caught in between. We got 100,000 Shi'as fighting
> with 20,000 Sunnis.
> 
>     And we have alienated every country in the
> region. They used to say, 
> "We're with you in fighting terrorism, but we're not
> with you in 
> fighting in Iraq." In fact, the war in Iraq has been
> more harmful. I 
> believe it's been more harmful to us than beneficial
> in fighting 
> counterterrorism. We've diverted ourselves away from
> terrorism to the 
> war in Iraq.
> 
>     If you remember ...on the bottom of most of the
> television stations, 
> they ran, "A war on terrorism." Now they're running,
> "A war in Iraq." 
> And that's the way it should be, because that's what
> we're involved in.
> 
>     Recently, the president of Iran visited
> Indonesia, a country with 
> the largest Muslim population. He visited a
> prominent university and was 
> overwhelmed with applause from students who
> supported his stance against 
> the United States.
> 
>     Many see the United States as being at war with
> all Muslim nations. 
> You know it's not true, but that's the way they see
> it.
> 
>     So who really wants us in Iraq? The Iraqis do
> not. It's interesting. 
> In a recent poll the Iraqis termed those who
> attacked Iraqis as 
> terrorists or criminals. Yet 88 percent describe
> those who attack 
> coalition forces as freedom fighters or patriots. In
> other words, (if) 
> they attack us, they're freedom fighters or
> patriots.
> 
>     The American public certainly does not support
> this war.
> 
>     I'll tell you who wants us in Iraq: Iran,
> Russia, China and North 
> Korea and Al Qaida. There's only 1,000 Al Qaida,
> 1,000 Al Qaida. The 
> rest are Iraqis (and) we're caught in between.
> 
>     And while the situation on the ground continues
> to deteriorate, this 
> administration says things are going very, very
> well. They want to 
> sanitize this war and put a positive spin on things.
> And they ignore the 
> real story.
> 
>     Secretary Rumsfeld says progress in Iraq is
> evidenced by how many 
> satellite dishes he sees on a rooftop. Now, what's
> wrong with that? They 
> only have 2.9 hours of electricity. So if they have
> satellite dishes, 
> they can't watch them 21 hours a day.
> 
>     This trivializes the situation that our Marines
> and many of our 
> soldiers are facing every single day. Every convoy's
> attacked. Every 
> convoy's attacked. IEDs (are) exploding all around
> them. (They're) being 
> shot at every day. (They're) watching their buddies
> die. (They're) 
> 
=== message truncated ===


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