DARTS & LAURELS
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TO REP. JOHN MURTHA, D-PA., AND SENS. JOSEPH BIDEN, D-DEL., AND CARL LEVIN, D-MICH.

For their post-election rallying calls to quit Iraq. Murtha followed up on his anti-Iraq war rhetoric from last year with renewed insistence that most U.S. troops should be brought home as soon as possible. Ever the sound-bite deliverer, he said, “It’s not a disaster for us to leave Iraq, it’s a disaster for us to not have a policy.” This overlooks the point that quitting Iraq now would spell disaster for many. Incoming Armed Services Committee chairman Levin and incoming Foreign Relations Committee chairman Biden, meanwhile, said they would introduce a resolution in January calling for a phased U.S. pullout from Iraq that would begin next summer. “The point of this is to signal to the Iraqis that the open-ended commitment is over and that they are going to have to solve their own problems,” Levin said. Turning this around to point the finger of blame at Iraqis is neither fair nor statesmanlike. In the euphoria of their victories, these Democrats would still do well to wait for the counsel of the Iraq Study Group before declaring plans that are neither feasible nor considered.

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