Murtha: Impeachment is back on the table

April 30, 2007
Murtha: Impeachment is back on the table

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) revised the much publicized statements he made yesterday and told National Public Radio late on Monday afternoon that impeaching President George W. Bush was "on the table."

"I'm just saying that's one of the options that Congress has on the table, I'm getting more and more calls from the public about impeachment," the long-time Congressman, who is a veteran of the US Marines, told NPR's Melissa Block on the program All Things Considered.

Murtha's remark was at variance with Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who has insisted since prior to the Congressional election last year that returned a Democratic majority in the House that impeachment was "off the table."

GOP Was Aware of Problems at Walter Reed and Did Nothing

March 7, 2007
GOP Was Aware of Problems at Walter Reed and Did Nothing

Senior Republicans who knew about problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center while their party controlled Congress insist they did all they could to prod the Pentagon to fix them.

But C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., former chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, said he stopped short of going public with the hospital's problems to avoid embarrassing the Army while it was fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, who was the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations
Defense Subcommittee, said he sought appropriations to address problems he found during visits to
military hospitals. For example, he obtained money for air conditioners for the Landstuhl Regional
Medical Center in Germany and modern stretchers for a Baghdad field hospital.

Murtha focused blame for the Walter Reed scandal on the Bush administration and said the
Pentagon discouraged patients from talking to lawmakers in both parties.

"My impression is that the military was constrained, even intimidated, from telling me and
other congressional members about the real problems and the real needs," Murtha said.

Measure says troops must be fully rested, equipped, trained

February 23, 2007
Measure says troops must be fully rested, equipped, trained

House Democratic leaders, defending a plan by Rep. John Murtha, said Tuesday they will press ahead with legislation requiring all U.S. troops be fully equipped, trained and rested before being sent back to Iraq.

Despite rumors that Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco was backing away from the plan, which Republicans have decried as a "slow bleed" on the war, the speaker said Murtha's proposal on troop standards would be debated next week in committee and that she hopes to move it quickly to the floor.

The coming constitutional crisis in Congress

February 20, 2007
The coming constitutional crisis in Congress

Murtha wants to attach conditions on the impending supplemental appropriations bill to fund the war. He would require that troops have a year at home before redeploying, that they train with their own equipment before deploying and so on. Because the too-small U.S. military is under enormous strain, these conditions would be impossible to meet while still doubling the number of U.S. combat troops in Baghdad.

Only if one ignores our constitutional scheme. The president, not Congress, is the commander in chief. Congress was never meant to, nor is it suited to, direct tactical military decisions, as Murtha seeks to do with his restrictions.

Murtha Plan to End War

February 15, 2007
Murtha Plan to End War

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a leading congressional opponent of the war in Iraq, on Thursday said his plans for placing conditions on how President George W. Bush can spend $93.4 billion in new combat funds would effectively stop an American troop buildup.

"They won't be able to continue. They won't be able to do the deployment. They won't have the equipment, they don't have the training and they won't be able to do the work. There's no question in my mind," the Pennsylvania Democrat said.

John Murtha: Military faces $100 billion shortfall

January 24, 2007
John Murtha: Military faces $100 billion shortfall

WASHINGTON -- Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania yesterday warned that the nation's armed forces face a $100 billion shortfall in equipment because of the stress of repeated deployments in Iraq.

In an appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he also said the thousands of new American troops heading to Baghdad to quell the city's violence will confront far more difficult combat conditions -- street fighting, unseen enemies, roadside bombs -- than he did as a soldier serving in Vietnam 40 years ago.