Veterans reinforce Democratic call to exit Iraq
WASHINGTON — When Rep. Patrick Murphy stood up at the House Democratic Caucus meeting Tuesday to urge support for a bill mandating a timeline to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, the boyish Pennsylvania lawmaker urged his colleagues to vote their conscience.
But as several lawmakers wiped away tears, he concluded with a more emotional appeal "for those 19 guys I served with who died."
Murphy, a former paratrooper who went to Iraq shortly after the 2003 invasion, is in his third month on Capitol Hill. But as the only Iraq war veteran in Congress, the 33-year-old freshman has become a central player in the most intense lobbying effort since Democrats assumed the majority in January.
As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and her top lieutenants work to rally Democrats behind a bill to force President Bush to begin bringing troops home no later than next March, they are relying on lawmakers like Murphy who have served in the military.
Minnesota Rep. Timothy J. Walz, another freshman Democrat, whose Army National Guard battalion was deployed to Europe as part of the war in Afghanistan, on Tuesday joined a group of retired generals who came to Capitol Hill to urge passage of the bill.
And over the weekend, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), a retired Navy admiral who commanded an aircraft carrier battle group during the invasion of Afghanistan, appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" to counter GOP accusations that Democrats were trying to micromanage the war.
"These guys have been invaluable," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), who chairs the House Democratic Caucus.
Republican leaders, although respectful of Murphy and other veterans opposed to the war, dismiss their arguments.
"Iraq veterans legitimately have the right to be listened to, but not necessarily to have their ideas accepted carte blanche," said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon), a former soldier who served in Vietnam and whose son fought with the Marines in Iraq's violent Al Anbar province.
Last week, Hunter and five other GOP lawmakers who served in Vietnam wrote to Pelosi opposing the withdrawal plan, saying their service made them "witness to the demoralizing effects of interference by those in Washington."
But charges that Democrats are meddling with and undermining the military -- long a staple of GOP attacks -- now confront the impassioned rebuttals of men like Murphy.
