'Murtha Complimented The Troops; Now Give Us Our Money, Dems.'

Right-wingers last week gleefully misrepresented a statement by Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) on the surge, as part of their larger plan to use any Democratic acknowledgment of ambiguity in Iraq or gratitude toward hard-working troops as a sign that President Bush was right all along to lie the country into a war of choice that's been circling the drain for nearly 5 years.

Murtha had told reporters after a congressional green-zone PR trip to Iraq that "I think the surge is working" in helping the select areas it was focused on, and went on to explain how, despite that, we cannot continue to throw money and lives away indefinitely on this occupation (a particularly apt point given new confirmation that the powers that be want a permanent U.S. presence). The latter part of his remarks-- the real meat of it-- was not mentioned by cheerful war supporters. His remark was seized upon in the first place because Murtha had been the congressman who helped the Democrats rediscover their spine on Iraq, before they misplaced 'em again this year.

Here, Keith Olbermann and Jon Soltz from VoteVets put all this in its proper context-



As with the post-YouTube debate discussion on the right, the focus is always on the trivial.

Even if you believe the surge worked in accomplishing whatever is defined as 'victory' this month (I don't), what now? It was always the finger in the dam plan. The surge was, and still is, set to expire and end this Spring, and then we're back to the levels we were at in 2006, a time everyone now agrees was a disaster for the U.S. and for Iraq. The real answer is that the powers that be will move on to the next finger in the dam plan, and we'll be told to shut up and support it. And this goes on indefinitely, until someone follows the advice Rep. Murtha gave over two years ago, and removes us from this mess.