Jack Kingston

Redeploy (rē-dĭ-ploi’): In French, “redéployer, réarranger” or in Old French, “despleier.” To move (military forces) from one combat zone to another.

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Apparently, John Kerry isn’t the only Democrat with French roots.

This past Sunday, on NBC’s Meet The Press, U.S. Rep. John “Jack” Murtha (D-PA) continued to articulate the Democrats’ “Real” security agenda by calling for America to “redeploy” our troops to Okinawa, Japan or “stay and pay.” Murtha, an announced candidate for the non-existent position of Democratic “Majority Leader,” has been tapped as the lead spokesman for the Democrats, managing nearly all floor time during last week’s debate on Iraq.

In fact, in case you missed it, The Democrats’ “New Direction For America” when it comes to Iraq is actually to deny all progress by the people of Iraq and Coalition Forces, admit defeat, leave the battlefield to the terrorists (like the Somalia model), and wait for the terrorists to attack us on our turf.

(Video and transcript after the jump.)

By defending ourselves and Iraqis we’re recruiting terrorists?

“Murtha: “We’re recruiting terrorists in Iraq… Every time you kill an Iraqi, you make an enemy.”

Should we govern based on polling?

“Well, I think the public would have to be portrayed as cut and run if you talk about the Democrats being portrayed [this way]. Every place I go, people understand what I’m saying. The public has been way ahead.”

We have not made progress in Iraq?

“RUSSERT: Do you think there is a possibility or do you ever have pause and say to yourself, you know, maybe this might work a few years from now and we may have a democratic state in place.

REP. MURTHA: I would hope that, but in Iraq? I don’t see it happening. I measure it this way. When they say to me the progress has been made, I say give me the facts.”

Americans are the bad guys? What about al-Zarqawi and Saddam Hussein?

Murtha: “We all want the same thing. We want something to happen. We want a democratic government. But that’s not happening the way we’re doing it, so we’ve got to do it differently. We have to restore confidence. Our credibility is in the tank. The whole world looks at us like we’re the bad guys. It’s ideas and ideals and unfortunately we’ve lowered our standards with some of the statements this administration makes below the standards the United States usually has.”

But you don’t have to take our word for it, read and watch the entire interview for yourself below.

NBC: Rep. John Murtha

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TIM RUSSERT: First, Iraq joining us now is Democratic Congressman John Murtha. Welcome back to “Meet the Press.”

REP. JOHN MURTHA: Nice to be back.

RUSSERT: The President says “stay the course,” that within the next six months Iraq will be secure under the direction of the new prime minister and to do anything less now would be irresponsible.

REP. MURTHA: Well, stay the course is stay and pay and this is the thing that has worried me all along. We’re spending $8 billion a month. Gates said I’m going to quit the corporation or less time with the corporation, give away $30 billion. That’s four months of the cost of the war. Education, No Child Left Behind, a couple months of the war would pay for that. Who is going to pay for this down the road? Our children and grandchildren are paying for this war. Then you have the emotional strain, the people who are being hurt. On the floor the other day, you may have heard this,one fellow says we’re fighting this war. We’re not fighting this war. 1% of the American people, these young men are fighting this war with 70 pounds of equipment, helmets in 130 degrees, that’s who is fighting this war. There is no plan. Open this plan for victory and there is no plan. It’s just stay the course. That doesn’t solve anything. It’s worse today than it was six months ago. When I spoke out initially, oil production was below prewar level, no garbage collection. Anbar province, not one project has been done, 2 million people, no water, no electricity, the heartland of the defense. The first six months we went in there, not a shot was fired. It shows how it’s changed. It’s getting worse. That’s why I feel so strongly. All of us know how important it is internationally to win this war. We use 20 million barrels of oil a day. But we’re doing it all ourselves and there’s no plan that makes sense. We need more international cooperation, we need to redeploy our troops. What happened with Zarqawi could have been done — it was done from the outside. There is no reason in the world that they can’t redeploy the troops. They’ve become the targets and they’re caught in a civil war. I feel very strongly about it.

RUSSERT: But so does the White House. Karl Rove, the principal political advisor of President, went to New Hampshire Monday and talked about Democrats who voted for the war and who have now changed their opinion. Here is what he had to say and I’ll give you a chance to respond.

KARL ROVE: Like too many Democrats, it strikes me that they are ready to give the green light to go to war, but when it gets tough and when it gets difficult, they fall back on that party’s old partner of cutting and running. They may be with you at the first shots, but they’re not going to be there for the last, tough battles. They are wrong and profoundly wrong in their approach.

RUSSERT: Cutting and running.

REP. MURTHA: He’s in New Hampshire. He’s making a political speech. He’s sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big, fat backside saying stay the course. That’s not a plan. I don’t know what his military experience is. That’s a political statement. This is a policy difference between me and the White House. I disagree completely with what he’s saying. Let’s give you an example. When we went to Beirut, I said to President Reagan get out. The other day we were doing a debate and they said Beirut was a different situation, we cut and run. We didn’t cut and run. President Reagan made the decision to change direction because he knew he couldn’t win it. Even in Somalia President Clinton made a decision to change direction. Even with tax cuts, when we had a tax cut under Reagan, we then had an increase. We need to change directions. We can’t win a war like this. This guy is sitting back getting paid by the public taxpayer saying to us we’re winning this war and they’re running? We’ve got to change direction. You can’t sit there in the air-conditioned office and tell troops carrying 70 pounds on their backs inside these armored vessels hit with I.E.D.’S every day seeing their friends blown up and he says stay the course? Easy to say that from Washington, D.C.

RUSSERT: Is it appropriate for the president’s principal political advisor to accuse the democrats of cutting and running?

REP. MURTHA: I say stay and pay. I’m talking about the hardship on the families, the hardship on the troops. There’s no plan. That’s the thifment it’s easy to say that. The public is way ahead of this. The public is 2-1 against it and that’s what I see the most.

RUSSERT: But in 2004, you had a view that was much different than you have now. This is what you wrote in your book. Aren’t you now advocating that?

REP. MURTHA: You’re absolutely right. That’s what I said there. But there comes a time you have to change direction and say to yourself, “ok, we’ve done everything we could do.” We can’t win this militarily. I talk to the military leaders; I go to the hospitals all the time. There’s two reasons I felt it was absolutely essential to change direction. One is the troops themselves and what they’re going through and the fact that 42% of them don’t even know what the mission is. The second thing is the long-term stability of this country. Our inability to prevent another war because we don’t have the resources. A $50 billion backlog of equipment shortages. At some point you have to change direction. If you’re losing, and that’s what’s happening — when I say losing, we’re losing ground over there and we have inadequate forces. We went in the first place with no reason to go in, no threat to the national security. Second, we went in with inadequate forces. Third, no exit strategy. I’m convinced, though, Tim, I believe this, I believe the president is sounding tough but he’s also saying it’s now up to the Iraqis. Watch what I’m saying. He’s saying — and the Vice President and the President of Iraq, 0% of the Iraqis want us out of there and the vice president said we want a timetable to get out. That’s what we need and the president knows it and that’s what he’s going to come up.

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RUSSERT: You expect a significant American troop withdrawal by the elections?

REP. MURTHA: I do. They’re trying to find a way to do this. The trouble is it keeps getting worse and they don’t want to admit they’ve made a mistake. At some point you reassess, like Reagan did in Beirut, like Clinton did in Somalia. You have to say it’s time to change directions.

RUSSERT: Karl Rove invoked your name in New Hampshire. Let me show you that comment.

ROVE: I want you to think about the consequences of their proposed course of action. If Murtha had his way, American troops would have been gone by the end of April and we won’t have gotten Zarqawi.

REP. MURTHA: Let me tell you something. They built Zarqawi up. They have 1,000 foreign fighters. This is a civil war and we did it from the outside anyway. The good thing about when we got Zarqawi, it was Iraqi intelligence, it came to the Iraqis, it came to the United States and then from outside the country, from the periphery of the country, they went in and bombed where Zarqawi was. So there was progress from that standpoint. But to say that it wouldn’t have happened is absolutely a political statement.

RUSSERT: You did say, however, in 2005, our military has done everything asked of them. The U.S. cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. The fact is the capture — the killing of Zarqawi was a military accomplishment. So the military could do more.

REP. MURTHA: Well, it was a military accomplishment from outside the country. We bombed it. The information came from the Iraqis to the Iraqis to the U.S. And then we bombed where he was. So it came from the outside. I’ll tell you, here is the problem we have in this kind of a war. First of all, you’ve got our troops in the green zone. The President says, ok, I’m going in and it was nice to see a democratic organization in operation. It’s in the green zone. It’s a for actress. They’re not out in the public. They cannot go outside the green zone. When I first went to Iraq, you could drive anyplace. When I found the 44,000 body armor shortages, I was in the division in the field. When I went to anbar province. Now you can’t go outside the green zone. The government is inside the green zone. They’re where Saddam Hussein is. Let’s take the prison was. situation. We pass in the House and the Senate a veto proof legislation that they shouldn’t veto and then the President says, well, we’re going to continue the same policy. We’re fighting a war of ideals and ideas. It’s no longer a military war. We have won the military war against their enemy. We toppled Saddam Hussein. The military has done everything that they can do. So it’s time for us to redeploy and only the Iraqis can settle this.

RUSSERT: You say redeploy. Again, Mr. Rove challenges that comment. Let’s listen and give you, again, a chance to respond to the White House.

ROVE: Congressman Murtha said let’s redeploy them to another country in the Middle East, let’s get out of Iraq and go to another country. My question is what country would take us? What country would say, after the United States cut and run from Iraq, what country would say paint a big target on our back and then you’ll cut and run on us? What country would accept our troops?

RUSSERT: What’s your response?

REP. MURTHA: There are many countries that understand the importance of stability in the Middle East. This is an international problem. We use 20 million barrels of oil a day. China is the second largest user. All these countries understand you need stability for the energy supply that’s available in the Middle East. So there’s many, many countries.

RUSSERT: Who?

REP. MURTHA: Kuwait is one. We already have bases in Qatar. Bahrain. All those countries are willing to take the United States. Saudi Arabia won’t because they wanted us out in the first place. We don’t have to be right there. We can go to oak gnaw wa — Okinawa. That’s a fallacy. That’s just a statement to rile up people to support a failed policy wrapped in illusion.

RUSSERT: It would be tough to have a timely response from Okinawa, though.

REP. MURTHA: You know, when I say Okinawa, I’m saying troops there. When I say a timely response, our fighters can fly from Okinawa very quickly. When they don’t know we’re coming, no question about it, and where those airplanes came from, I can’t tell you, but I’ll tell you one thing, it doesn’t take long for them to get in with crews missiles or fighter aircraft or attack aircraft. It doesn’t take any time at all. This one particular operation to say that that couldn’t have been done it was done from the outside for heaven’s sakes.

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RUSSERT: A big debate on the house floor this week and then congress, the house, voted for a resolution supporting the president. 42 Democrats crossed over and voted for the president. Joe Klein in today’s “time” magazine writes this. — Do you agree with that?

REP. MURTHA: I agree with that. I think we have to have a policy. That’s why I’m so adamant about this. You see, 150 people voted against this resolution. A year ago it would have been a lot less than that. So Democrats are starting to come around and some Republicans. 12 Republicans came to me after this vote and said to me, well, you know, I couldn’t vote for it but i understand what you’re saying. One very conservative republican said we can’t afford to carry on this war, it’s killing us financially. And I say not only financially but the troops are bearing the heavy burden.

RUSSERT: But if the republicans are capable of showing a contrast between the parties, in 2002 successfully, in 2004 successfully, the republicans perceived, they hope, as the stronger party on national security, will that work in 2006? The democrats will be portrayed as cut and run and the republicans as the party of strength?

REP. MURTHA: Well, I think the public would have to be portrayed as cut and run if you talk about the democrats being portrayed. Every place I go, people understand what I’m saying. The public has been way ahead. For instance, when I came to congress in 1974, I remember distinctly the public said we’d only win a few seats. We had a 2-1 majority at that time. We won all five of the special elections that year. We lost only vice president ford’s seat. Then in 1994, when the public turned against the congress, we thought we’d loose 18, we lost 52 seats. Its easy to try to spin the fact it’s not going to happen. I think we have to talk about a lot of things besides the war. But the war has such ramifications. The debt itself is $8.4 Trillion. How are we going to pay for this? Obviously, we’re going to have to adjust taxes from the higher level. There’s no question about it. Unless you want your children and grandchildren paying for this. So a lot of problems we have to face. It’s an individual thing. Some areas it’s not as popular as others. But in the long run, a lot of people have changed their minds. It’s changed dramatically from the way it was and I think 2/3 of the Democrats agree with my position now.

RUSSERT: Do you think there is a possibility or do you ever have pause and say to yourself, you know, maybe this might work a few years from now and we may have a democratic state in place.

REP. MURTHA: I would hope that, but in Iraq? I don’t see it happening. I measure it this way. When they say to me the progress has been made, I say give me the facts. Incidents have increased, doubled in the last six months. Oil production below prewar level. Electricity below prewar level. Every measurement I use is either below or backwards to prewar level. I.E.D.’S have gone up substantially. The number of insurgents have increased. Keep in mind, we’ve got 130,000 troops in Iraq and yet these things have happened. Why have they happened with our troops there? Because we’ve become the enemy. We have to change our policy. We have to change direction. We all want the same thing. We want something to happen. We want a democratic government. But that’s not happening the way we’re doing it, so we’ve got to do it differently. International demropes is the key. We have to restore confidence. Our credibility is in the tank. The whole world looks at us like we’re the bad guys. It’s ideas and ideals and unfortunately we’ve lowered our standards with some of the statements this administration makes below the standards the united states usually has.

RUSSERT: Are you concerned if we got out you could leave behind complete chaos which could become a haven for terrorism.

REP. MURTHA: I think it’s the opposite. I think right now we’re recruiting terrorists in Iraq. We’re allowing them to dish we’re recruiting terrorists in Iraq. We go into Fallujah, we put 300,000 people outside their home. Why? Because we use overwhelming force in order to comply with the military structures that we have. I agree with that. We have to do that to protect Americans. But that makes enemies. When you use military force to make enemies, you inadvertently pay people. Last year we spent $5 million, the year before last, $5 million in consultation –sons lation payments. Last year it was $20 million. That means we killed that many more people. Every time you kill an Iraqi, you make an enemy. Bush said when he first ran for office, we’re going to do nation building. That’s what we’re into and we’re not successful. The military is not successful at nation building. 1,000 Insurgents, that’s all. There were only 200 there three years ago. Now they think the insurgency itself — foreign fighters, 1,000. Maybe 15,000 insurgents. We’re there and there’s 15,000 insurgents. It went from 2 hn to 15,000. That’s the problem. We’re not making progress, that’s the problem.

RUSSERT: John Kerry, the Democratic nominee in 2004 who voted for the war gave a speech this week and he said this. Do you believe any Democrat who seeks the nomination for President in 2008 who voted for the war in Iraq should publicly say, not just the war has been mismanaged, but i was wrong to vote for the war?

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REP. MURTHA: It’s obvious. It was a mistake. I’ve said this from the start. You had no weapons of mass destruction. There was no dang to our national security. We don’t put young people in harm’s way unless we have a threat to our national security. I’m in the hospital. A young woman standing beside her badly wounded husband and she says he’s been in Iraq twice and he enlisted to fight for America, not for Iraq. We want stability. It’s an international problem. But we can’t achieve it in the direction they’re going. These comments they make about cutting and running and so forth and so on, that doesn’t solve the problem. What is their plan? They have no plan. And we’re recruiting terrorists against us. That’s the problem.

RUSSERT: They say when the Iraqis stand up, we stand down, if given time, the Iraqis will produce enough of a military and security force to secure their country, put down the insurgency and allows the Americans to come home.

REP. MURTHA: I believe when we redeploy, that will happen. There’s only 1,000 foreign fighters, 1,000 Al Qaeda, maybe more foreign fighters, I believe they will get rid of them. The Iraqis know who these people are and they’ll get rid of them. I think there will be less chaos than there is when we’re there because they’re recruiting people. When a person is willing to kill themselves, why? Because we’re there. 80% of the people want us out. The President, Vice President of Iraq said give us a timetable to get out. They know how important it is. Internationally, who have we held responsible for this thing and accountable? The secretary of defense? Anybody in the White House? They promote people who are responsible for us going to war rather than hold them accountable. That’s the first stage. The second stage, admit you made a mistake. The President has admitted he made a few mistakes. We went to the war under the wrong assumptions, made a terrible mistake and we need the international community’s help just like in the first gulf war. We went to the border. Bush once said I’m not going to Iraq because I don’t want to occupy it. I don’t want to rehabilitate it. It would cost too much money and too many lives. He was right. A lot of right wingers said we should have gone in. They found out what it’s like to go in now.

RUSSERT: You stunned your colleagues with a letter that said this. A few days later, Nancy Pelosi, the democratic leader, put out this statement. Was your announcement premature?

REP. MURTHA: It wasn’t because in this business you have to make sure you get your foot in the door. You have to make sure you make a statement. If you don’t, other people may be running and other people will be committed. For instance, even as early as I was, two good friends of mine said, gee, I already committed myself. So overwhelmingly, people hadn’t committed themselves. But if I waited too long, people would have committed themselves. The news media, that’s all they ask them. So it wasn’t premature. It was essential that I make notice that I was going to run. And there’s a lot of problems not obviously involved in the war but in medicine, in things we have to talk about immigration, all these kind of and focus the country on and I’m willing to do that. I think we need that kind of talk.

RUSSERT: But one of the primary opponents you would have is Steny Hoyer of Maryland. Is his position one of the reasons you would challenge him?

REP. MURTHA: One of the reasons. He’s come around substantially in that position but i feel very confident in running for this position. I think I can help lead the democratic position in a lot of different issues. The war has so many ramifications and the public is focused, that’s the number one issue of all the polls I’ve seen. So there’s a lot of reasons to run but I think this is one of them.

RUSSERT: Some democrats have pointed out that you are just one of four democrats to vote against lobbying reform, that your position on abortion is much dinnertime than the vast majority of the democratic caucus. Are you out of sink with the democratic caucus?

REP. MURTHA: I am. But I take a position that I believe in and I’ve always done that. You have to learn a subject, study it and then keep your word. That’s what I try to do.

RUSSERT: We thank you for come in and sharing your views. Happy Father’s Day.

REP. MURTHA: Thank you very much, Tim.