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

[Bill Effros]

Liked the airline pilots.

Bill Effros

brad haslett wrote:
> 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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