SWIFT-BOATING MURTHA

From the right-wing propaganda organ NewsMax:

Rep. John Murtha Urged Somalia Pullout in '93

After terrorists attacked U.S. troops in Mogadishu, Somalia 12 years ago, anti-Iraq war Democrat, Rep. John Murtha urged then-President Clinton to begin a complete pullout of U.S. troops from the region.

Clinton took the advice and ordered the withdrawal - a decision that Osama bin Laden would later credit with emboldening his terrorist fighters and encouraging him to mount further attacks against the U.S.

"Our welcome has been worn out," Rep Murtha told NBC's "Today" show in Sept. 1993, a month after 4 U.S. Military Police had been killed in Somalia by a remote-detonated land mine....

I just want to point out that Murtha had a bit of company:

One of our American Black Hawk helicopter men had a handcuff on one wrist. Nobody puts handcuffs on a dead body. They were tortured to death. Now, get 5,000 men in there and get these Americans back and then get out.

--GOP congressman Robert "B-1 Bob" Dornan, speech in the House of Representatives, 10/6/93

...Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican who sits on the Armed Services Committee, stat[ed] bluntly, "Clinton's got to bring them home."

--New York Times, 10/5/93

During the Meet the Press program aired Sept. 26, 1993, Sen. Bob Dole was asked if he thought the United Nations would take exception to an immediate U.S. military withdrawal. He said "Bhutros Bhutros Ghali hasn't been elected to any office in the United States, as far as I know."

--op-ed piece by Idaho Republican Robert Vasquez, 10/3/93

Yet NewsMax has the gall to suggest that Murtha is particularly culpable -- and partly responsible for 9/11. Shameless.