John Murtha

I can see some merit to what the gentleman is recommending, and certainly I will bring it up to the conferees when we get to conference, and we will see what they say and get some expert opinions. I can see some merit in what the gentleman…

Nobody has worked harder than Bill Young, his wife and myself in taking care of these troops at all the hospitals, all over the country. Just last year we put in money to start a new center for rehabilitation of people that had lost their…

When I hear somebody standing here, sanctimoniously saying we're going to fight this out, we're not fighting at all. The troops are doing the fighting; the families are doing the sacrificing.

I know standing here does not solve the problem! And it hasn't gotten better; it's gotten worse. That's the problem!

I know standing here does not solve the problem! And it hasn't gotten better. It's gotten worse. That's the problem.

There was no firefight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted, because of the pressure on them. And they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.

Our whole mission is to try to win Iraqis to our side, win the hearts and minds. When something like this happens, it sets us back terribly.

With the appointment of Defense and Interior Ministers, we should be able to substantially reduce our presence in Iraq and re-deploy our military outside of the country.

The only people who can solve this are the Iraqis, and our troops have become the target.

This is a very small part of the opposition. We're caught in a civil war, and there's no way to overlook that.

We owe the family honest answers.

If I hadn't brought it out, I'm not sure it would have come out.

I mean, these -- these guys have done everything we have asked them to do. They're well-disciplined troops. But, at some point, they crack.

There's no question in my mind. The highest level of the Marine Corps has come to me and told me what happened.

It breaks my heart to think Marines did something like this. And when you hear some of the stories now that are coming out, it just makes it worse than ever.

This is no good. So the commandant of the Marine Corps is over there talking to the troops, but this has to be clear that United States policy does not endorse something like this.

The damage this does to our credibility, the damage this does to us fighting Muslims when they think this is a policy of the United States when they don't punish.

The worst thing is the cover-up. I'm convinced they knew about this. The services knew about it. The chain of command knew about it, and that has to be investigated because this thing should have been made public.

I'm convinced it's the opposite. Sixty percent of the Iraqis are saying, we -- if you get out of there, it will be less chaos.

He's confusing progress with optimism.

The public wants a change in direction. The public is crying for a change in direction.

I don't know how to believe this president or this administration.

I think you'll see a substantial change in the government. I think -- this -- no mistake about it, this is President Bush's war. This election will all be about the war.

Reclaiming my time, I just worry when we do something like this prospectively, we might affect what is going on in the field. None of us want to stop a contract for services to the troops in the field right now, and I think you agree with…

I know you believe that, but I would err on the side of trying to prevent it. So at this point I would be against the amendment.