Charles Babington (Extracted from "Hawkish Democrat Joins Call For Pullout", Washington Post, 18 November 2005)

"The top House Democrat on military spending matters stunned colleagues yesterday by calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, while many congressional Democrats reacted defiantly to President Bush's latest attack on his critics.

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a decorated Vietnam War veteran, said many of those troops are demoralized and poorly equipped and, after more than two years of war, are impeding Iraq's progress toward stability and self-governance.. . . .Murtha called the war 'a flawed policy wrapped in illusion" and noted a shift in public sentiment against the war. . . . I like guys who've never been there that criticize us who've been there. I like that. I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done.' "

[Ed: I suspect that John Murtha's last sentence will prove to be the defining event in Vice-president Cheney's career.]