Former POW Congressman Rips Murtha

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=\Politics\archive\200602\POL20060210a.html

GOP Congressman and Former POW Rips John Murtha
By Sherrie Gossett
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
February 10, 2006

Washington (CNSNews.com) - Amid cheers, whistles and two standing ovations, U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Tex.) took fellow Congressman John Murtha (D-Pa.) and the U.S. media behind the proverbial woodshed for a verbal walloping.

"Most of you know, at the end of last year, a liberal congressman from Pennsylvania insisted we immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq," Johnson told the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday. "When I heard this, it made my blood boil."

Johnson was referring to Murtha, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, who has been quoted as saying that the U.S. Army is "broken, worn out" and may not be able to meet future military threats to the nation.

"It hurt to think what the men and women in harm's way would believe when they heard the news that someone in Congress was not behind America's mission," Johnson said. "It hurt to think what the military families here at home would believe when they learned that people in Washington did not support the troops. And it hurt me to think that some people would just give up on our men and women in uniform.

SNIP

"I do know what it's like to be far from home, serving your country, risking your life and hearing that America doesn't care about you," Johnson said, choking back tears.

"[Hearing] your Congress doesn't care about you. Your Congress just cut off all funding for your war. They're packing up and going home and leaving you." Johnson added he was "scared to death" by such talk because years ago, he was afraid he would be left in Vietnam "forever."

SNIP

The troops need something else though, Johnson said -- "[F]ull faith that a few naysayers in Washington won't cut and run and leave them high and dry." Knowing they are fully supported by Congress, is "mandatory for mission success and troop morale," Johnson argued.

"Any talk, even so much as a murmur, of leaving now or political timelines just emboldens the enemy and weakens the resolve of our troops in the field."

 

Congressman Johnson was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and 26 other combat decorations.

He is the genuine article and doesn't have to artificially enhance his military resume at all.