John Murtha Paper

In 2002, John Murtha voted to enter into the war in Iraq. In the last few years, Mr. Murtha has changed his mind. He now believes that the war in Iraq is fruitless and something needs to be done to bring it to an end. Mr. Murtha says that the President didn't do what he promised to do by going in and out quickly. He also believes that there was no immediate threat to national security. To go to war with a country, John Murtha says you need to have three things: a threat to national security, an overwhelming force, and an exit strategy. He doesn't believe that President Bush had any of the three when he was preparing for the war in Iraq.

Mr. Murtha says that Iraq is in a civil war. The Shiites are fighting the Sunnis and both are fighting the Kurds. Mr. Murtha believes that if the military were to pull out completely, two things could happen. Scenario A would be that civil war would break out in Iraq if only a certain few in the country were running the government. Scenario B maintains that if all factions in Iraq were given a voice in government, felt like they had a say in what was going on, then maybe civil war could be avoided.

Mr. Murtha believes that there are four things that should be done to change the course of events of the war in Iraq. First, we must "redeploy the troops consistent with the safety of US forces." This means that he wants to start turning control of Iraq over to the Iraqis as promised and get our military out of the seat of power of another country. Second, he wants to create a quick-reaction force in the region. A force like this would allow support to Iraqi forces should they need help in maintaining the peace. Third, he wants to create an "over-the-horizon" presence of Marines. This will make the Iraqi more comfortable for awhile, knowing that American troops are not far off if needed to help put down insurgency. Lastly, he wants to diplomatically