Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
according to Rep. John Murtha - who has spent 37 honorable
years as a Marine - said when Pace called him to discuss the
war: "Peter Pace told me this last night: They know
militarily they can't win this." - Rep. John Murtha says the
military is blaming him for a recruitment slump instead of
recognizing mistakes that have led to an enlistment
shortage.
FPF: THE STORY IS BY AP, AN OFFICIAL US/PNAC PROPAGANDA
SEWER - SO YOU HAVE TO WATCH OUT:
Murtha Says He's not to Blame
Associated Press | January 06, 2006 - WASHINGTON - Rep. John
Murtha says the military is blaming him for a recruitment
slump instead of recognizing mistakes that have led to an
enlistment shortage.
"They're trying to direct attention away from their
problems," said Murtha, D-Pa., a decorated Marine Corps
veteran who has become a leading voice in Congress
advocating an early withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said
during a news conference Thursday that Murtha's remarks
about Iraq are damaging to troop morale and to the Army's
efforts to bring up recruitment numbers. Pace, the nation's
top general, was asked specifically about an ABC News
interview this week in which Murtha, 73, said if he were
eligible to join the military today he would not join, nor
would he expect others to join.
"That's damaging to recruiting," Pace said. "It's damaging
to morale of the troops who are deployed, and it's damaging
to the morale of their families who believe in what they are
doing to serve this country."
Military officers usually are reluctant to get drawn into
political debates, but Pace said Murtha's remarks about
recruiting are relevant to his responsibilities as Joint
Chiefs chairman.
Pace praised the congressman's record but criticized his
remarks.
"When a respected leader like Mr. Murtha, who has spent 37
extremely honorable years as a Marine, ... has served the
country extremely well in the Congress of the United States
- when a respected individual like that says what he said,
and 18- and 19-year-olds look to their leadership to
determine how they are expected to act, they can get the
wrong message," Pace said.
In a statement released Thursday, Murtha said: "The military
had no problem recruiting directly after 9/11 because
everyone understood that we had been attacked. But now the
military's ability to attract recruits is being hampered by
the prospect of prolonged, extended and repeated
deployments, inadequate equipment, shortened home stays, the
lack of any connection between Iraq and the brutal attacks
of 9/11, and - most importantly - the administration's
constantly changing, undefined, open-ended military mission
in Iraq."
LATER THURSDAY, MURTHA SAID HE'S SPOKEN WITH MILITARY
LEADERS AND "THEY'RE FRUSTRATED BY THEIR MISSION."
Speaking before a town hall meeting on Iraq in Arlington,
Va., hosted by Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., Murtha said Pace
called him to discuss the war.
"Peter Pace told me this last night: They know militarily
they can't win this," Murtha said.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and others at the
Pentagon, including Pace, have said repeatedly that victory
in Iraq will not be achieved by U.S. forces defeating the
insurgency militarily but rather by U.S. forces providing
the Iraqis the military, political and economic wherewithal
to overcome the insurgency.
During the Pentagon news conference Thursday, Pace also
predicted that the Saddam Hussein loyalists and other Iraqis
who comprise the great bulk of the insurgency will
increasingly give up, now that Iraq has approved its own
constitution and held elections.
Pace said he believes the violence, which flared anew
Thursday on one of the bloodiest days in Iraq in months,
will abate as more Iraqis become convinced that the December
elections will produce a representative government that will
improve their lives.
"As they see their own government providing a way ahead that
all of their citizens can understand as progress for their
country, ... those who are fighting against the government
right now who are Iraqis will more and more lay down their
arms and decide to become part of the future of Iraq and not
the past," Pace said.
[andend] - Story Military.com - Url.:
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All Military Headlines - today - Url.:
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* "Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered
Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be
grateful." - Henry Kissinger speaking at Evian, France, May
21, 1992 Bilderburgers meeting. Unbeknownst to Kissinger,
his speech was taped by a Swiss delegate to the meeting.
* And global warcriminal Henry Kissinger and his ilk
succeeded, but nobody apart from 'them' was 'grateful'. On
the contrary: own US troops - even with tanks - appeared in
the streets of Los Angeles: against anti-war protesters! -
Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/7qh65
* 'American Military Personnel - Know Why You're Being
Sacrificed' - by Robert L. Johnson: "When I joined the
United States Marines in September of 1973, I swore an
oath..." - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/75pl3
* 'The war in Iraq is illegal' - BBC: video & text-interview
of the United Nation's Secretary General Kofi Annan - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/5pl2v
* "People do not forget. They do not forget the death of
their fellows, they do not forget torture and mutilation,
they do not forget injustice, they do not forget oppression,
they do not forget the terrorism of mighty powers. They not
only don't forget: they also strike back." - 2005 Nobel
Literature Prize winner Harold Pinter - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/9cyeq
* Reference guide to the Geneva Conventions - Url.:
http://www.genevaconventions.org
* Al Qaeda – The Database - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/cqx69
* The 9/11 WTC drama was PNAC terror - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/9np7d - It was an inside job - Google
- Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/7tj9d
* 'Anti-Semitism' - The Provocative Accusation - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/8z6gd
* Who's financing? - The 'Federal Reserve' and it's usurers
is the absolute biggest crime against all humanity ever. -
Url.:
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/reserve.htm
* The infamous US 'Lie Factory' - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/8ncal
* Help all the troops - of whatever nationality - to come
back from abroad! - AND WITH ALL THEIR WEAPONS, WHICH WE
WERE FORCED TO PAY FOR BY TAXES - [
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/reserve.htm
] - We need them badly at home in many countries to fight
with us against our so called 'governments' and their
malignant managers - Url.:
http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/
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