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Location: LaGrange, Kentucky, United States

The opinions and interests of a husband, analyst and Iraq war veteran.



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Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Murtha's gone too far

I've refrained from writing about congressman John Murtha's outrageous remarks for several weeks now, but this is the last straw.

"Would you join (the military) today?," he was asked in an interview taped on Friday.

"No," replied Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending and one of his party's leading spokesmen on military issues.

"And I think you're saying the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying 'I don't want to serve'," the interviewer continued.

"Exactly right," said Murtha...


There's been the opportunity to say "I don't want to serve" since the draft ended in 1973, so no one who volunteers is an "average" guy. Murtha himself served an incredible thirty-seven years with the US Marines. But now he's suggesting that volunary service is no longer honorable?

Whether it's hubris, senility, or just Bush Derangement Syndrome that's driving him to suggest this, I don't know or care. But I will no longer remain quiet in honor of his service after he's crapped all over mine.

I'm awful angry right now. How dare you get all choked up while suggesting that my service wasn't worth the same value as your service, congressman? We may never agree over Iraq, and that's fine. But you've crossed a line in dismissing the honor of your fellow Marines. You couldn't wait another three years for Bush to leave office? Were you so distressed you felt the need to cry tears of lamentation over the character of today's military? We're made of the same stuff as you, sir. We joined to serve our country the same as you, sir. And we don't take kindly to the notion of a former Marine saying this country is no longer worthy of service.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. We can disagree over the righteousness of our efforts in Iraq and engage in good faith debate. But to suggest that our efforts are illegal, is to call me a war criminal too evil or too stupid to refuse illegal orders. This line of bad faith, non-argument will never win me over.

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