The American People will not Accept Patience

President Johnson said in 1966, "the solution to Vietnam is patience."

President Nixon said in 1969, "As our commanders in the field determine that the South Vietnamese are able to assume a greater portion of the responsibility for the defense of their own territory, troops will come back."

Today, we hear the same misleading rhetoric coming from this Administration. In Vietnam, we were talking about 10 years of patience and in the end a U.S. military solution did not work. Now, five years into the war in Iraq, the president continues to seek a U.S. military solution to an Iraqi civil war. There will be no real progress in Iraq until key political, economic and diplomatic improvements are made by the Iraqis.

The facts on the ground in Iraq indicate that electricity is below pre-war levels (only 2 hours a day in Baghdad), oil production remains below pre-war production and at least 50% of the Iraqi population is unemployed.

All Americans realize that stability in the Middle East is important to our national security. The American people will not accept patience as a strategy while the Iraqi Government continues to ignore key political and economic benchmarks.

Comments

[Give Peace A Chance]

When Dems start talking about the stupidity of building a billion dollar embassy in Iraq and the hydrocarbon law that attempts to steal Iraqi's resources, I'll figure they are getting serious. Blaming the Iraqi government for not turning their oil over to the US doesn't cut it.

[researcher]

someone anyone needs to check and see what kind of profits are being made by the industrial military complex since this war began.

anyone that does not see the correlation between this war and Vietnam is in delusion.

how few Americans see this war as illegal and imperialism.

what an egotistical maniac bush is to think he could fix the middle east with capitalism. Anyone with one ounce of sense knows they are a tribal mentality.

what a naive congress we have to vote for this war.

the jury is in we Americans are warmongers.

Unchecked capitalism has to come to this. The trickle down theory is alive and well. There goes the middle class the very people that put bush into office. Could not have happened to a more naïve group of people.

Visit the mid west they are still singing “proud to be an American” I bet Germans sang a similar song as Hitler was invading Poland.

Now give me my oil I pay taxes for this mercenary army so I deserve that oil. not just some of it but all of it.

I hear canada has oil in slates. lets invade they are whimps easy take.

[outnow]

Rep. Murtha,

"Stability in the Middle East is important to our national interest," is your statement.

Let's translate that statement. OIL is not the only thing, it's everything!

There will not be a military solution in the Middle East. Lots of luck in getting a political, economic or diplomatic solution. Iraq is broken forever. There is no societal superstructure. There is no will to reconcile or to vote. It's too late under the circumstances.

The US is in the middle of a regional conflict that it helped to ignite. I wish that all Representatives that voted for this war would resign if they lack the intestinal fortitude to withhold funds. But you can't leave without the oil. Why not buy the oil? Change energy policy?

Global warming is a bigger threat than terrorism. Oil causes global warming.

Meanwhile, it is their country, their oil, their problem. Our problem is to change energy policy and save the planet. It's also too late for that. The more you hide out in Iraq the worse the problem will be environmentally.

The MIC and the oil companies stole our future for their own short-term profits. I hope the money was worth it but this country has had corrupt leadership for decades.

[esquire07]

Thank you Mr. Murtha. You have truly served your nation.

However, we know the illegal Occupation will continue. Petraeus will lie to congress and disgrace his uniform. Democratic cowards will once agian bow before the decider and give him more money with no strings. Many more troops will die, many more Iraqis will die.

The Oil and Arms profits are to important. The Bloodbath will continue until the United States destroys itself. An Empire does not go down quietly.


Tragic.

[flatus]

As the Arab and Persian populations swell on oil, what will be the outcome when that oil runs out?

[JHD]

So... if that is true why didn't Congress cut the funding months ago? I guess we have to riot in the streets to get the attention of Congress. The French stormed the Bastille, maybe we should storm K Street to get your attention.

[Craig]

I've always thought a good way to get attention in Washington would be to park cars all over, the more the better, to shut down traffic and to create gridlock. I'm not sure how many cars it would take?

[AFCOL]

Great question...the answer to this Democratic Party dilema is likely evident in Hillary's most recent revelation that we may have to be there for a few more years. I suspect she has believed that all along, but lacked the political backbone to confront it. As the potential for being the one making the decision in the Whitehouse comes nearer, the cold reality of the situation becomes clearer. She knows there will be a bloodbath in Iraq if we leave abruptly, and I doubt she would be willing to accept that on her watch...for political if not moral reasons. And Congress knows that as well, so they will make no hard decisions. Just my opinion.

[SamThornton]

To return to Rep. Murtha's thesis that "The American People will not Accept Patience," for a moment. I'm not sure the American people, patient or not, are still relevant. On the evidence, not.

For most citizens, divining what's actually going on in Washington is a little like trying to read tea leaves remotely by using mental telepathy.

Here's what we know: Bush is ruling without reference to Congress or the Courts and has given himself at least as much power through Executive Order as Congress has given him through legislation. Effectively, we no longer have a functioning Republic.

I believe most in Congress at least suspect these facts and fear any attempt to seriously challenge the President will result in a more formal seizure of power in which their own fate may or may not be secure.

To the extent that this is the case, debates over budget constraints, motions of censure, impeachment and so on are just so much hot air. We've likely moved well past the point where these issues have any real meaning.

At this point the only practical, concrete action that might have a slight chance of reversing what appears to be a successful coup is something along the lines of setting up a government in exile and beginning the long, hard fight required to reclaim the Republic.

[DLB]

Will the reclaiming of this Republic mean going back to the U.S. Constitution's true intention of limited federal powers? Or do you just want a Republic that only follows a more socialist agenda? In other words, do you really want a "republic"?

[SamThornton]

Not sure what you're referring to. Your reference to the "...U.S. Constitution's true intention of limited federal powers" is puzzling. Perhaps you're thinking of the States Rights argument advanced by some Southern states in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education in which it was argued that the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution did not apply in state courts, a claim immediately rejected by all courts that heard it. Or perhaps not.

Your reference to socialism is equally puzzling. While the preamble to the Constitution gives "promotion of the general welfare" as a goal of government, I'm not aware of any explicit incorporation of socialist ideology in US law.

It's usually useful to be a little more explicit in these discussions, particularly when others may not share your level of knowledge and expertise.

[Canukistani]

Mr Murtha,

While I respect you for speaking up, I think this whole back and forth game between Congress and the Administration game is beginning to seem more than a little disingenuous. Congress issues stern demands with firm deadlines and the Administration delays and postures. Congress makes threats and the Administration misunderstands and plays semantic games and delays again. And back and forth it goes and on the war goes month after month, year after year.

Congress is an enabler in this process and, judging by the polls (as imperfect as that may be) people can surely see it for themselves. Good people are getting killed while this game is going on. What exactly will it take to get Congress to do something concrete to stop this despicable war?

[MagothyRiverRat]

Wait for Congress to act of its own volition? Might as well be waiting for Godot.

Flood their offices with millions of daily phone calls.

Tell them who you are, what you want and that you will be calling EVERY DAY UNTIL THEY END THIS WAR!

[AFCOL]

Democrats in Congress are playing their base like a fiddle. Their words do not match their actions. They know well what will happen if we pull out now. And it will not be pretty. If you think the international outcry has been bad before, wait until we bail out on the Iraqis and a million dead bodies litter the landscape. That will fall squarely on the shoulders of the Democrats and is tough mail to answer. Oh, it is easy to say "leave now" when you are not the one living with the result. Democrats in Congress know that and choose to offer cheap words. And the flock follows blindly behind.

[BuzzingAlong]

Does anyone really believe that the republicans who have been lock-step with Bush/Cheney are doing so because they believe or even care that Iraq will become a democratic country and that the rest of the middle east will follow?

The republicans do what they do simple to styme the Democrats. Even Joe Lieberman doesn't believe in a democratic Iraq. Joe Lieberman wants this country to stay in Iraq because he is hoping that the US, in the interest of Israel, will attack the other Arab countries.

As far as the international outcry, unless I have been watching Fauz Noise, the coalition of the willing has dwindled, some staying in Iraq no more that two months and not all serving in a combat role. Consider that:
- Latvia and Slovakia (job was to in destroy ordnance) withdrew in 2007.
- Italy, Japan (medics/engineers), Norway (engineers/mine clearers), and Singapore (logistics/supplies) withdrew in 2006.
- Portugal (military policemen), Netherlands, and Ukraine withdrew in 2005.
- Nicaragus, Spain (policing duties), Honduras, Philippines, Thailand (humanitarian), Hungary (transporatation), New Zealand (military engineers), Tonga, and Iceland (explosive ordnance disposal/medical advisor/transport experts), and the Dominican Repuldic withdrew in 2004.

In case annyone gets the bright idea that these countries sent their personnel to Itaq to fight for freedom, let me disabuse you of that notion. Most of these countries, including England, received billion of dollars in loans, the US support for membership in NATO, military aid, military training of their troops, erasing of debt owed to the US, membership in CAFTA, contracts for reconstruction work in postwar Iraq, and many more goodies.

With respect to what the international community will think of the US if we leave Iraq before many more of our soldiers die in Bush's Folly, this country has already suffered significant damage to its reputation and its credibility. The international community won't be going into Iraq to clean up the mess, you can bet on that.

[goferit2]

YOU had your chance. YOU voted FOR the Iraq War Funding Supplemental in May. As did an alarming number of other Democrats.

Mr. Levin et al have already unequivocally signaled that the Democrats intend to roll over and play dead for Bush on Iraq in September--effectively repeating the Bushies' mantra that "the surge is working and the soldiers simply need more time."

Meanwhile, 14 more Americans died today in Iraq. 700 since the "surge" began.

The Democrats were handed the majority in Congress last November to end this war. Then, on cue, in May, less than six months after they obtained their majority, The Democrats promptly bailed on the electorate when the Iraq Funding Bill came up. YOU were among them.

I don't need your lecture/prose concerning refusing to accept "patience as a strategy." YOU effecively voted FOR "patience as a stategy" on the Iraq Funding Supplemental. You stated at that time "come SEPTEMBER we will have the votes from both Democrats and Republicans to change policy and direction. In SEPTEMBER, General Petraeus will report back on the progress of the surge... The surge is not producing the results that were promised...This is why SEPTEMBER will be key."

Our lack of "patience" is with YOU! You and the other Democrats who voted to perpetuate this continuing and tragic fiasco in Iraq. Effectively telling the electorate, "Be patient until SEPTEMBER."

[JHD]

Right On! Mr. Murtha and the Democrats lost all their credibility in May. Expect more of the same from these accomplices in crime come September. I don't even want to hear any more spin, lies and political hot air. We want Congress to end the war, impeach Bush and Cheney and live up to their oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution! Nothing else is acceptable.

[nippersdad]

Amen!

[Purple Girl]

Dear Rep Murtha,
Our country is circling the drain.
We need to Impeach all the Bushies for their deception and corruption. The American People are screaming to have this administrations face removed from our country's persona. Not only have people around the world questioned our integrity, but we are questioning it also. The malignant tumors of Iraq and the Bushies need to be debrised, so that once again we may grow back our healthy democratic stature.
Rome is burning- we need our resources back here at home (physical, mental, emotioanl, financial,ideologically....) bushies helped Bin laden cripple our great country on so many levels- I feel held hostage by may own gov't.We should all be apologizing to our founding fathers for our failure to maintain the integrity of The Great Experiment.

[MagothyRiverRat]

OK let's do this beginning 4 September.

Talk to everybody and I mean everybody -- the grocery store stocker, clerk, manager. Your mail carrier. The kid who delivers your newspaper. The sandwich stacker at the sub shop. Anybody you meet in the course of a day; anyone willing to listen and act.

Print out the numbers

202-224-3121 Capital switchboard; ask for direct numbers for future reference, one representative, two senators

202-224-4965 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

202-224-4131 House majority leader Steny Hoyer

202-225-3542 Senate majority leader Harry Reid

Give them out to anyone who will take them! Call them yourself!

(By the way, Reid is a hoot and "answers" his phone himself.)

[Grannysue]

Murtha I praise you not only for your service but for attempting to do the right thing by our troops, however, I'm sick of day after day, month after month, year after year, hearing the same old crap! SO DO SOMETHING, instead of writing Op Eds, Impeach Bush, or cut off the funding for his little adventure, go before the American people on national television with an entire group of Vets, Congressmen, Senators, American people in general and tell everyone, WE ARE GOING TO END THIS MESS BY YEARS END! Enough talking DO IT!

[Sundialsvc4]

If you stop and consider the enormous size of the criminal conspiracy that is underway right now ... consider the fact that it involved rigging not one but two American elections while carefully populating all three Branches of Government at the same time ...

If you consider that it has already netted more than $1 trillion (that's with a "T") for the defense-contract companies of which many of the leaders (or their proxies) are board-of-directors members ...

If you can even fathom the sum of $12 trillion (that's with another "T"), which is the worth of the oil that multi-national companies would then control ...

Then you would realize just how utterly worthless a few hundred thousand American lives ARE to people who think like that. And, I am very sad to say, Representatives and Senators across the board DO THINK LIKE THAT.

This is "good business." Damm good business. A business that is bringing in tens of millions of dollars A DAY. You don't want it to end, no sir. You want it to get bigger. And if that means drafting everyone from age 18 to 42, bring 'em on. Shovel 'em right on in there so we can have more steam. And buy more raw-materials for flags and coffins because THAT procurement contract's gonna get bigger soon. Yippeee!

Don't think I'm joking, good people, because I am not. Don't bother writing to a Senator or a Representative until you have first investigated his "business" connections; his or her "private" life. Ignore completely whether he or she claims to prefer elephants or donkeys.

"Ike" tried to warn us. But I doubt that even he fathomed just how wretched it would become, or how quickly.

[SamSeven]

Thanks for your input; however, where are the rest of the democrats!! They need have a backbone and get off military/bankers coat-tails stand on principle and not think about thier greed. Hillary is no better on this either. The Republicans have the "divide and conqueor' routine downpat; now for the Democrats to stand united and with some teeth.

[wordvarc]

Time to say goodbye.

w has always enjoyed the patience that hopeful and benevolent parents allow their blacksheep prodigal son. Silver spooned treatment kept him out of Viet Nam, tolerated his addictions, and provided him with a business set up by daddy's friends.

Now, as the 'decider,' he expects the same. w continues to meke dicisions based on a wish for a positive legacy.

However, he continues to reject the advice of all but sychophant experts and stubbornly persists with his failed invasion and destabilization of Iraq.

Iraq is not another tax-break for rich 'investors' due to a failed drilling for oil. w is now president of the United States. Yet he wants absolutely no accounatbility for his desultory presidency.

Iraq is w's alone. Iraq is failed. It's too late. w's insistance to invade Iraq set in place the devastation that will occur when the US finally does leave.

.