John W. Olver: “Congressman Jack Murtha from Pennsylvania, a decorated Marine from the Vietnam War and the most respected person in the…”

“Congressman Jack Murtha from Pennsylvania, a decorated Marine from the Vietnam War and the most respected person in the House of Representatives on military affairs, has the Iraq situation just about right. A free and stable Iraq cannot be achieved militarily. We should not be suffering casualties nearly three years after that fateful day on the carrier off San Diego when President Bush declared ``Mission Accomplished,'' and yet 93 percent of our casualties have occurred since that day. The Iraqis must make hard political decisions. They must decide if they want a unified country with shared power and responsibility proportionate to population and protected rights for all. As long as we run the military operations and bear the brunt of casualties, the political decisions are avoided. We must make it clear that we will not be caught in their civil war if the Iraqis do not want a unified country enough to avoid a civil war politically. We must make a concerted effort to persuade the EU, NATO and the rest of our allies to help train Iraqi security forces and establish a judicial system so Iraqis can regain their lives. President Bush's repeated claim that nearly 200,000 Iraqi police and army personnel have been trained to secure Iraq has been disputed for months, even by our own military leaders. However, those Iraqis, whatever their numbers, must stand up for a unified Iraq if that is what they want and believe in.…”