Insider's view / Murtha may also be speaking for the military [View All]

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05328/611712.stm

One point not to forget in the exchange of volleys between veteran U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha and President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration officials on the need to withdraw American forces from Iraq is the congressman's extraordinarily close relationship over the years with senior U.S. military personnel.

<snip>

There is thus considerable incentive for senior uniformed officials to make their views known indirectly, for example, through Congress, when their opinions vary from those of administration officials, starting with President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

In that context, it is very likely that the advocacy of withdrawal by Mr. Murtha, the congressman who is perhaps closest of all to senior military officers, reflects the considered views of some or many of those in the service's top ranks. Rather than taking themselves out of the game by opposing Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, they may be telling the American public through Mr. Murtha, whom they trust, that it is time for U.S. forces to go home, to leave Iraq to the Iraqis.