Murtha finds outlook bleak for Bush's Iraq policy

[babylonsister]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07032/758523-84.stm

Murtha finds outlook bleak for Bush's Iraq policy

Thursday, February 01, 2007
By Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

WASHINGTON -- A quick weekend trip to Iraq gave U.S. Rep. John Murtha little confidence in the Bush administration's strategy for stabilizing the country through a troop "surge," the Johnstown Democrat said yesterday.

Mr. Murtha, a vocal war critic who has promised to use his congressional budgetary power to push for changes in the president's policies, said American military might cannot quell the spiraling sectarian violence that has gripped Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, killing thousands every month.

"I am not encouraged by what I saw," he told Pennsylvania reporters, speaking via teleconference from his Washington office. "I came to the conclusion that the Shiites are not going to negotiate with the Sunnis, and unless that happens, we're not going to solve the problem."

Mr. Murtha, the highest-ranking House member in charge of defense spending, was part of a delegation of influential Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who traveled on a fact-finding mission to Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kuwait and an American military hospital in Germany.

Iraq's poor security situation confronted the team as soon as they landed in Baghdad, Mr. Murtha said. During an earlier trip, the Pennsylvania lawmaker had traveled from the airport to the fortified Green Zone, home of the U.S. Embassy, by car. This time, he and his colleagues flew in a convoy of Blackhawk and Apache helicopters. All wore helmets and body armor.

He met with several high-ranking military officials, including Gen. George W. Casey Jr., who is stepping down as commander in Iraq, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

When Mr. Murtha told Mr. Maliki that he is looking at ways of cutting congressional funding for the war, the prime minister said he would still get money to equip Iraqi troops.

"I thought that was kind of an arrogant response," Mr. Murtha said.

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[bdamomma]

1. Maliki cannot be trusted, he's in the back pocket of W.