Rich Lowry on Democrats & Iraq or Murtha Democrats

Rich Lowry on Democrats & Iraq on National Review Online

According to Rich Lowry the Democrats have been trying to beat something with nothing these past three years in Iraq; I'll add that with the bullhorn of the media that it has had an effect.

John Murtha (previal post here) on Meet the Press this past weekend voiced his "usual hail of misstatements." According to Murtha, the president went to war "against the advice of his father and the whole administration." Yet, Secretary of State Colin Powell, though wary supported the war. On the program according to Lowry Murtha also said, “no connection to terrorism in Iraq itself.” Sounds like the "Murth" Man mixed this one up at least with regard to terrorism. The Democratic line is "no connection to al Qaeda," Husseins $25K rewards to families of martyred Palestinians seems like kind of a connection, no?

Murtha also cited "the U.S. military’s goal of giving Iraqi forces control of security in 75 percent of Iraq, and scorned it because “75 percent of it is desert.”' To counter Rich Lowry offers, "nearly half of the key Baghdad province has been handed over to Iraqi security forces. According to USA Today, these forces have also been given responsibility for parts of such dangerous areas as Fallujah, Ramadi, and Samarra. This is why U.S. deaths are down to one a day — almost the lowest level since the insurgency began — while Iraqi deaths are increasing. So much for deserts."

The U.S. intention has all along been to train and pass the torch onto an Iraqi military; which has had its difficulties without doubt. That said, "Murtha not only pretends that they don’t exist, (Iraqi forces trained and in the field), he portrays himself as having been a brave, lonely advocate for creating them. He said that his advice to Bush early in the war was that “you need to train the Iraqis sooner.”'

"For all its missteps, the Pentagon is the embodiment of farsightedness and circumspection compared with its critics, whose imperative often seems simply to declare defeat as quickly as possible. Despite all the hue and cry over Iraq, there is a basic consensus around a common-sense strategy that involves attempting to form a national-unity government and train Iraqi security forces. Whether it ultimately works no one can know, but it is irresponsible to lack the patience to give it a reasonable chance."

"Democrats think there is a percentage for them in exactly such irresponsibility, and John Murtha is walking point."