Murtha on Iraq: 'a failed policy wrapped in illusion'

Posted by David DeGraw at 3:21 PM on September 5, 2006.

Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha was on his game in the video clip to the right -->>

He appeared on CNN to respond to Bush's latest war speech and countered Bush's talking points with some points of his own:

"This is a failed policy wrapped in illusion… We can't win this militarily… It has to be done diplomatically.. We need a change of direction... We need accountability….

I've been all through the country… There is a sentiment out there, an intensity that I haven't seen since Watergate."

As for Donald Rumsfeld's recent comments comparing people who want to withdraw from Iraq to Nazi appeasers, Murtha says that he is just trying to scare people and then quotes Franklin Roosevelt's famous line, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Toward the end of this clip Murtha seems to suggest that if we don't pull out of Iraq, we will have to start drafting people. His exact quote is: "We also need to spread out the service so that everybody in this country has an opportunity to serve." This is mentioned in passing and the CNN anchor quickly changes the topic, but it leaves us wondering what Murtha's stance is on a military draft.

Check it out and pass it on.

David DeGraw is AlterNet's video blogger.