The Return Of The Swift Boat Veterans Smearers

One of the worst of the 527 dirty tricks and smear organizations is back at it again, this time to smear the military record of Rep. John Murtha D-PA. Not being content to merely disagree with Rep. John Murtha on the failing war policies related to the Iraq War, far right supporters of George Bush are out to destroy the reputation of this former Vietnam veteran Marine. In 2004 this organization was charged by the watchdog organization, SourceWatch with problems with the "group's credibility" due to a pattern of "misleading, false or inconsistent statements", The Swift Boats Veterans For Truth are the child of right winger, John O'Neill, who received help from an attorney from the 2004 Bush Re-election Committee. Other allegations claim that this organization receives help from the Republican Party's official organization as well.

Murtha has an interesting voting record, as he is antiabortion, and seen as progun rights. He is hardly a liberal in realsense of the word, buut does have a strong base of populist support. Interestingly despite a relatively right leaning voting record on some issues, Rep. John Mirtha is seen as a serious target by the political rights where Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have misquoted him on the public airwaves. Republican Party Chairman, Ken Mehlman also has misquoted John Murtha before to make him appear unpatriotic because of his recent opposition to the Iraq War.

Like a magnet, the far right sees the defeat of John Murtha as a major cause. The far right is simply unwilling and unable to see that the Bush foreign policy has grossly failed in Iraq , and that this war is beginning to become unwinnable as it has broken down into a mess of sectarian violence. The far right and many Republicans would far rather lose the war in Iraq and risk serious problems with MidEast stability and encourage more terrorists worldwide before they would ever accept that the Iraq War policy is simply not working. This is incredibly stubborn, if not outrightly stupid. The fact of the matter was that the U.S. had a small window in which to restore civil order to Iraq after the 2003, but failed die to lack of proper planning and a serious shortage of troops on the ground and numerous other problems. Now the conflict has put U.S. troops right in the middle of a growing sectarian cycle of violence, in which pretty much just the capital city of Baghdad is begining shored up enough not to let it fall into complete chaos. Nearly ine third of Iraq, the vast Sunni Anbar province is pretty much under Sunni radicalism, insurgent and former Baathist control. Only 30,000 of the more than 140,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq are in the volitile Anbar region. The vast majority are trying to prevent the total collapse of Baghdad to wholsale violence and killing.

There is unfortunately both real truth to arguments by Murtha that Iraq is a lost cause that American soldiers are hopelessly doomed to continue to try to police. But on the other hand no good policeman walks away from a situaion simply because crime or lawlessness exist. Without the American presense, the level of sectarian killing would only greatly worsen. And the effect on the Baghdad government would likely be a quick fall to some militia with unpredictable results. The White House continues to hopelessly cling to a failed "stay the course" policy while Democrats attempt to rename a U.S. troop withdrawal policy a "redeployment". For once, neither party is offering a decent alternative for voters to grasp with hope. Many on the U.S. argue for action in Darfar to stop the genocide, however many fail to realize that if the U.S. cannot contain the violence in Iraq, and simply leave, it would also destroy the mission of all other peace keeper or investment in Iraqi reconstruction nations. Even nations such as China that have been very helpful in reconstruction projects would certainly leave Iraq if the security situation worsens much more.

Iraq is a very serious foreign policy dilema for the U.S. This situation deserves a far more sober debate than the smearers from the Swift Boats who seek to destroy any veteran like John Murtha who has seen where Vietnam War had failed before, being repeated in Iraq with far more serious consequences. The White House will likely mishandle this Iraq War situation and set the world and the U.S. for far more serious difficulties in the near future. The White House simply cannot handle anyone like Murtha who raises doubts. The wisdom of the military man who knows about military affairs is not wanted by this stubborn and arrogant White House.