Where to, Mr. Murtha?

There has been an increasing chorus of calls for withdrawal from Iraq. Doves have been spurred by polling indicating a majority of Americans do not associate Iraq with terrorism. Most polling incorrectly asks if Iraq had any direct connection to the events of 9/11. The events of that infamous day were not enabled by Iraq.

The current national debate should not be about staying or going. We are involved (remember Colin Powell's 'pottery barn' analogy?) and now should be discussing how to come home victorious. Democrats have masked the intensions of their virulent left-wing by adding 'strategic' before their pull-out euphemisms to make their plans politically palpable, but Dems consistently neglect to offer realistic alternatives. Their national security front man, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), has given an outline of his plan and it's the only one I've heard from Dems. He stated on Meet The Press (June 11) U.S. troops could be sent to Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, or even Okinawa (!) and still retain a rapid response capability.

At Japan's behest, the US began removing troops from Okinawa some time ago (plus it is thousands of miles from the Middle East). Kuwait is smaller than New Jersey, Qatar is smaller than Connecticut, and Bahrain is the smallest yet, totaling about 6/100th Qatar's size. Something tells me 140,000 American troops are not squeezing into those localities Mr. Murtha (assuming those nations would accept more troops).

‘Strategic withdrawal’ is retreat. ‘Strategic redeployment’? Where to?