Troops want out

After rep John Murtha's courageous stand in congress advocating for a phased withdrawal, newbie rep "mean" Jean Schmidt (R-OH) responded with the words of a marine who, supposedly told her that "cowards cut and run, Marines never do." A short time later a billboard in Atlanta echoed those words: "Rep Murtha; Democrats may cut and run... Marines NEVER will!"

Well, if believing that withdrawing from Iraq is the best course of action and advocating for said withdrawal is "cutting and running" then that's exactly what the majority of marines are in favor of (58% of Marines believe we should leave within a year). Or, to put it more artfully, from Doug Thompson:

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"Man, this gig has FUBAR written all over it," says a Marine who has served in Iraq for seven months. "Morale is the pits and nobody in our unit thinks we should be here."

Will Republicans continue their smear tactics now?

Crickets.

According to the Zogby poll, compiled by Thompson:

• Only 23 percent agree with the President's position that we should "stay in Iraq as long as needed."
• 85 percent of those surveyed felt they were fighting the war "to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9-11 attacks," although the 9-11 commission in 2004 found "no credible evidence" that Iraq had cooperated with al-Qaida in the attacks.
• 68 percent said they believed that the real reason for the war was simply to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
• 40 percent say the Iraqi insurgency is mostly homegrown, with very little foreign involvement - a direct contradiction of claims by the Bush administration.
• 55 percent flatly oppose using torture and other harsh interrogation methods on prisoners.

(CapitalHillBlue)

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