Escalation supporter claims Murtha is trying to "cripple President"

[ProSense]

Rep. Murtha, can you spell V-i-e-t-n-a-m?

Posted: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 9:45 AM by Hardball
Lt. Col. Rick Francona

According to recent remarks by Rep. John Murtha, he intends to cripple President Bush’s “surge” plan in Iraq by placing numerous restrictions on how money can be spent, stating, “They won’t be able to do the deployment. They won’t have equipment, they don’t have the training and they won’t be able to do the work. There’s no question in my mind. We have analyzed this and there’s no way this can be done.”

Perhaps the colonel –Murtha is a retired U.S. Marine Corps reservist – has forgotten the lessons we Vietnam veterans learned the hard way. You cannot prosecute a war effectively with interference from Washington. What he proposes, labeled the “slow bleed” by Murtha’s opponents, is exactly the type of interference and micromanagement we faced 40 years ago in Southeast Asia.

During that conflict, there were so many conditional rules of engagement and outright restrictions on the use of military power that our forces were not only fighting the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces, but the bureaucracy inside the Beltway as well. For example, for years we were not permitted to bomb North Vietnamese targets north of 20 degrees north latitude – even when the North Vietnamese Air Force built an airfield just north of the line.

When President Nixon finally unleashed American airpower in December 1972 (Operation Linebacker II), Air Force, Navy and Marine aircrews brought North Vietnam to its knees in a matter of days, only to be called off before delivering the final blow. Contrast that to the Gulf War. President Bush gave the Pentagon the mission – defend Saudi Arabia and liberate Kuwait – and let them execute it.

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Check out the comments.

[xultar]

1. Crippling bush, cheney and the republic war machine. Fine by me. DAYUM

the republics should STFU...they are making shit worse for themselves by blabbering on. Their nonsense in defense of lil boots looks more than ignorant. It looks plane ass crazy as fuck.

[saltpoint]

2. Yep. That goddamned John Murtha's single-handedly trying to bring down

this great Republic.

[The Magistrate]

3. He Says That Like It Were A Bad Thing, Ma'am: How Odd

It is what the people want, and hence the duty of the Congress to do....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[napi21]

4. well YEA! That's the total intent, dumbass! n/t

[sakabatou]

5. The Joint Chiefs said that it would not work.

Are they unpatriotic? Hmmm?

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

6. Cripple the President? How grimly ironic...

[gratuitous]

7. The "stab-in-the-back" myth lives on and on

An oldie but a goodie from the days of the rise of Hitler. How appropriate that you should use it, Mr. Francona.

And what is the mission in Iraq? Make the rubble bounce? How will we know victory when we see it? The only thing worse than pulling out now would be to dick around for another nine months and then pull out. Which person currently serving in Iraq will be the last casualty there, Mr. Francona? Whose death will finally seal the deal for you, and allow you to turn your back on the worst decision in the history of the republic?