U.S. Congressman John Murtha was first elected 32 years ago as a Democrat from Pennsylvania. A decorated war veteran, he announced his support last November for a rapid withdrawal from Iraq. Recently on NBC's Meet The Press he summarized his position. "We can't win this militarily," he said.
Murtha believes the White House "doesn't want to admit they made a mistake" invading Iraq. He says the Bush administration has "no plan," and that 42 percent of the troops in Iraq "don't even know what the mission is."
The interview with Murtha came on the same week the Pentagon announced that the 2,500th U.S. military volunteer was killed in the Iraq War.
The statistics on the overall cost of lives and money in Iraq is gut wrenching. In addition to the 2,500 U.S. troops who've been killed, more than 16,000 have been wounded or maimed. There have also been 30,000 direct Iraqi deaths, and according to The Nation magazine --100,000 attributable to the war. Also: It's been estimated that upwards of $300 billion has been spent in direct war expenditures, and close to a mind-boggling $1 trillion in estimated total costs.
Still the U.S. House of Representatives voted last week in favour of a non-binding resolution to maintain an open-ended occupation of Iraq. The vote was 256 to 153.
But more elected officials are opposing the war. Last week Senator John Kerry said, "I was wrong to vote for the Iraqi War resolution" that took place in 2002.
More concerns about the war are coming from Republicans too. Congressman Steve Glichrest, who won a the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his Marine service in Vietnam in the 1960s, thinks the Bush administration should be challenged on the war. In a recent Washington Post article he explained that: "To me, the administration does not act like there's a war going on. The Congress certainly doesn't act like there's a war going on. If you're raising money to keep the majority, if you're thinking about gay marriage, if you're doing all this other peripheral stuff, what does that say to the guy who's about ready to drive over a land mine?"
Meanwhile chief White House political "strategist" Karl Rove continues to play divide-and-conquer. In New Hampshire last week, he described Democrats opposing the war as "cutting and running." Unfortunately, this is just the beginning from Rove.
But public opposition to the war continues to grow. Significantly, an international survey conducted last February by Le Moyne College/Zogby showed 72 percent of U.S. troops serving in Iraq believe American forces should leave in the next year. Also: 87 percent of Iraqis want an end to the occupation.
This week the National Council of Churches (NCC) online community FaithfulAmerica.org plans a "Ring in Remembrance." It's a joint effort with Democracy Rising (which is an organization founded by Ralph Nader). Thousands of people of faith have told the NCC they plan to ring bells, especially the bells of their houses of worship, to honour the American dead and the thousands of innocents who have lost their lives. "The bells will toll as a call to prayer," says Faithful America director Vince Isner. "They will toll as a tribute to the fallen and as a plea to the U.S. government to stop the war."
It's particularly crucial now that more U.S. lawmakers express their open opposition to the war. The White House has tried seductive diversionary tactics, but they're not working. The tragedy of the war is evident --and it's time for a withdrawal to begin.
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