It may be difficult for us progressives to take the full measure of what Rep. John Murtha did by calling for the expedient withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Progressives are besieged, by more than Iraq, and, frankly, Murtha isn't "one of us."
But we need to take a moment and consider the measure of Murtha and his courageous act, in the context of the machinations by the Republicans in engineering their political future, Murtha not only served to hasten the end of a war and save countless lives, on our side and among Iraqis, he also helped the Democratic Party to an almost certain victory in 2006 and 2008.
My hypothesis below the fold.
I believe the Republican puppeteers, including Karl Rove, have long planned an "October Surprises" for the Fall of 2006 announcing the first large-scale troop withdrawals from Iraq. The Republicans are writers and rewriters of history, per the old maxim, and have scripted a pullback from Iraq where the American Public would feel victorious. Part of this includes a Condoleeza Rice slideshow at the UN Security Council suggesting Iraq was in better shape than when we arrived (again, never mind the truth- the networks won't).
John Murtha threw a giant monkeywrench into this plan. Now, the American public will give the Democrats credit for any Iraq withdrawals of forces, not the Republicans. By messing up the script, the public will now see thru any phony attempts to declare victory by Bush.
The Republicans got fat and lazy, and had no idea any Democrat could do what John Murtha did. Bush now has to "act tough" by first prolonging the war, not by winning it in short order per the plan. Karl Rove and the puppeteers know this new route is a big-time loser.
One test of this hypothesis would be for the Republicans to quickly realize that opposing Murtha is a loser. There are strong indications today that Cheney has just been given such a revised script. Cheney is shifting attack to the pre-war intel issue, the one the revisionists know is the absolute key to their places in history. Strategically, the next ploy by the Republicans should be the claim they were already planning to withdraw troops and the Democrats delayed the issue by distracting the public.
Regardless, John Murtha ended an unwinnable war and almost single-handedly sank a political party that was hellbent on a de facto fascist takeover of this country. John Murtha is now a hero of mine, and he reminds me I need to be a bit more open-minded about non-progressive Democrats.