Yesterday, whlie watching John McCain on Meet the Press make the ludicrous statement that he thinks the best solution for Iraq is to actually SENT MORE U.S. troops there.

With all due respect to Mr. McCain, and as a military
veteran myself, it seems we have disrespected out U.S. servicemembers quite enough by needlessly sending them off to die and to be maimed, all for no good reason, and all based on lies. The last thing we need to do is even more of the same.

With all due respect to Mr. Murtha's tremendous contributions to this country as a veteran and military expert, to me that does not carry too much weight to me in this leadership battle. Why? Because, while Mr. Murtha may have provided Democrats with a highly credible ally in terms of the well-deserved criticism of Bush's unnecssary invasion and occupation of Iraq, the last thing this country needs at this particular point in our history is even more military influence over our foreign policies.

It would seem to me, again with all due respect to the Defense Department and our brave men and women who have selflessly decided to serve their country and put their lives on the line, that we need to start taking less of a militant and less of a military attitude about how to go about affecting positive change in this world, not more.

Second, Hoyer is AIPAC's candidate.  Among the big changes that are going to have to be mader if we are ever to get out of the mess we made in Iraq is a change in our relationship with Israel.  Israel is the dog wagging the American tail.  Murtha puts America's interest first.  Murtha provides a lot of cover for those Dems who might not otherwise be able to stand up to the Israel lobby with respect to settlement with the Palestinians.  Murtha keeps the 'what are we getting for our sacrifice' up front and centre.  He's blunt enough to ask the Israeli's, what have they done for us, lately.

Knut