One Utah

It has been two long years since Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA) went public with the truth about Iraq. On November 17, 2005, relaying the private judgment of America’s top military commanders, he declared that “the U.S. can not accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily” and it was time to get our troops out of there. “The public,” he has said repeatedly, “is already ahead of us on all this.” The GOP majority in Congress tried everything they could think of to punish and humiliate Murtha, a decorated Marine officer and Vietnam veteran. They failed.

This year, in his capacity as chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, Rep. Murtha has not been able to cut off funding for the Iraq occupation. In fact, the Democratic leadership has been a huge disappointment– leading to speculation that they really want to prolong Bush’s fiasco for political purposes. It has been a shocking year, the bloodiest of the entire occupation for Americans and Iraqis. More than 4.5 million people have been made homeless by sectarian conflict. No end in sight, despite the hollow claims of progress from the Bush administration.

The Gavel reports that, in the two years since Murtha spoke out:

• Total Americans killed in Iraq has gone from 2,081 to 3,865, wounded from about 15,900 to about 28,400

• Total cost of the Iraq occupation has risen from $213.6 billion to $448.6 billion, and the cost per month is up from $6.5 billion to $9.6 billion

• Here at home, more than a trillion dollars have been added to the U.S. government debt

• Crude oil prices have almost doubled, from $49 to $86 a barrel, and average gasoline prices have gone from $2.20 to $3.11 per gallon

Previous One Utah posts about Rep. Murtha:
They Can’t Kill This Messenger (02-20-2007)
Can Murtha Prevent Bush From Escalating? (01-05-2007)

This entry was posted Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 9:08 am and is filed under Disaster, Iraq, National Politics, War. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.