Barbara J. Stock: A Marine Corrupted by Liberalism?

A few shocking statements were made last week by an old Marine. "It's time to bring the troops home," was just one of the comments of Representative John Murtha (D-PA). Murtha uttered the words that indicated, in his mind anyway, that the Iraq war was virtually lost, and he probably stunned many of his fellow Marines. In doing so, he implied his beloved Marines and the rest of the American military were losers. At least one fellow Marine did not like what heard.

On the floor of the Congress, the junior representative from Ohio, Jean Schmidt, relayed a message from another Marine and Schmidt was shouted down by the Democrats and forced to apologize. What that Marine said is not what the leftists wanted to hear. One Marine was sending a specific message to another Marine, not to the Congress: �Cowards cut and run, Marines never do.� Rep. Schmidt was accused of calling Murtha a coward. She did no such thing. A fellow Marine did. Murtha got the message even if his leftist friends did not.

But the �cut and run� statement was not the only absurd statement that came from Murtha�s mouth. In his speech, Murtha said the continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is "uniting the enemy against us." Does this mean that we should not have landed on the beaches of Normandy out of fear that the invasion would �unit the enemy against us?� Undoubtedly, that is exactly what happened. Using Rep. Murtha�s logic, D-Day was a tragic mistake.

Murtha said that our troops are the primary target of the terrorists. He should tell that to the families of the dead Iraqi policemen, the dead Iraqi National Guard members, and the dead Iraqi civilians murdered in mosques and Iraqi mourners slaughtered by Islamic terrorists while burying their dead. Murtha should tell that to the Iraqis who risked death just to vote in the first real election in Iraq�s history.

In the days following his speech, Murtha defended his remarks by berating men like Vice President Cheney. "I like guys who've never been there who criticize us who've been there," Murtha said. "I like that. I like guys who (have) got five deferments and never been there and sent people to war and then don't like to hear suggestions (about) what may need to be done." The president has numerous military advisors and all have had more combat experience than Murtha who spent most of his years in the Reserves. The Iraq war is not Viet Nam and Islamic terrorists are not the Viet Cong.

Using Murtha�s logic, Franklin Delano Roosevelt should have resigned the second he heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor and deferred to Harry Truman, who served in the army in World War I. Did Roosevelt have a �plan for the peace� in place on June 6, 1944? Was this part of the soldier�s training?

Murtha�s recent remarks were not the first time that he had indicated that our military was losing the war in Iraq. In May, 2004, Murtha, standing next a beaming Nancy Pelosi, stated that the Iraq war was �unwinnable.� Just as the leftists had John Kerry as a hero during the Viet Nam war, they now have another hero to hold up as a trophy. The leftists convinced a decorated Marine war hero to declare that our soldiers and marines are not up to the challenge. After barely a year, Murtha ran up the white flag.

Scrambling to explain that he didn�t mean the military is nothing more than a group of fumbling idiots, Murtha and his fellow liberals say it is not the fault of the military, but the fault of the administration. Murtha implied that Bush is just a poor leader. Bush sent our troops into war naked, on foot, and unarmed, if you believe Rep. Murtha.

Visiting the wounded troops Murtha said that the men were �demoralized� because they didn�t have the equipment to make a transition to peace. Exactly what kind of equipment is that? Is �peace equipment� standard issue like meals ready to eat? Do soldiers actually talk about such things? Soldiers care about staying alive and completing the mission. Murtha stated that the soldiers complained about being deployed while hurricanes were sweeping across their state. They complained about the roadside bombs. They complained about being away from their families. It seems our soldiers and Marines complain about everything.

These soldiers know when they join the military that they will more than likely be called upon to leave home and family. It is part of the job. Many of the wounded have stated that they wish to go back to Iraq. They want to finish the job that they started and they want to complete the mission. They want the people of Iraq to be free. Murtha paints these heroes as whiners and complainers instead of the honorable men and women that they are.

It is particularly troubling that a Marine who served his country with courage during Viet Nam and felt first-hand the wrath of the leftist forces has now joined those very forces that called him a �baby-killer.� Murtha is now the darling of the forces that handed a victory to the enemy and sent the American military packing in defeat in Viet Nam. The very defeat our present enemy, Islam, now quotes as the way to win this war.

Just be patient, the Islamic leaders tell their followers. The Americans are weak. Just as in Viet Nam, they will flee Iraq. All Islamics have to do is wait and the leftists in America will win the war for them, just as they won the war for the North Vietnamese.

Now, even an honored Marine from that humiliating political defeat is beating the same drum of �cut and run.� This leads one to wonder how much Marine is left in Murtha these days. The leftist Democrat seems to have taken control and he only sees defeat.

In Ayman al-Zawahiri�s letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the importance of Iraq was stressed. Al-Zawahiri said, �It has always been my belief that the victory of Islam will never take place until a Muslim state is established in the manner of the Prophet in the heart of the Islamic world, specifically in the Levant, Egypt, and the neighboring states of the Peninsula and Iraq.� The terrorists understand quite well the importance of winning the war in Iraq. The future of Islam depends on it.

For the leftists to win, our military must loose. As absurd as that sounds, that is the reality of the situation. If Iraq is successful, Bush is successful. That is something the leftists cannot tolerate. So powerful is the hatred of Bush that even the proud tradition of the United States Marines has been trampled. It�s just shocking that the stampede has been joined by one of the few, the proud�a Marine.