John Murtha will have a key role setting the Iraq agenda. And, that's a good thing. A very good thing. He is a force that must be reckoned with in the House of Represenatives:
By mid-March, Murtha will offer legislation that he says would set such stringent rules on combat deployments that Bush would have no choice but to begin bringing troops home.Murtha is the Bush Administration's worst nightmare. When Murtha speaks, the military listens. And, when Murtha speaks, he's often speaking for the military.
His legislation would dictate how long troops can stay, the equipment they use and whether any money could be spent to expand military operations into Iran. Murtha says few units could meet the high standards he envisions, meaning Bush's plan to keep some 160,000 troops in Iraq for months on end would be thwarted.
Under his plan, he says, Democrats would be helping and not hurting troops by making sure they have what they need before being thrown into combat.
"This vote will be the most important vote in changing the direction of the war," Murtha, D-Pa., told an anti-war group in an interview broadcast on the Internet Thursday.
"The president could veto it, but then he wouldn't have any money," he later said.
