House Rejects Iraq
Pullout After GOP
Forces a Vote
Democrats Enraged By
Personal Attack
By Charles Babington,
washingtonposst.com, from the Web, November 19, 2005
Washington -- Differences over
policy on the Iraq war ignited an explosion of angry words and personal insults
on the House floor yesterday when the chamber's newest member suggested that a
decorated war veteran was a coward for calling for an immediate withdrawal of
U.S. troops.
As Democrats physically restrained one colleague, who appeared as if he might
lose control of himself as he rushed across the aisle to confront Republicans
with a jabbing finger, they accused Republicans of playing political games with
the war.
GOP leaders hastily scheduled a vote on a measure to require the Bush
administration to bring the troops home now, an idea proposed Thursday by Rep.
John P. Murtha (D-Pa.). The Republican-proposed measure was rejected 403
to 3, a result that surprised no one.
The idea was to force Democrats to go on the record on a proposal that the
administration says would be equivalent to surrender. Recognizing a
political trap, most Democrats -- including Murtha -- said from the start they
would vote no.
But the maneuvering exposed the chamber's raw partisan divisions and prompted a
tumultuous scene, which Capitol Hill veterans called among the wildest and most
emotional they had ever witnessed.
Though even many Democrats think Murtha's immediate withdrawal plan is
impractical, it struck a chord in a party where frustration with the war and the
Bush administration's open-ended commitment is mounting fast. Murtha
galvanized the debate as few others could have. He is a 33-year House
veteran and former Marine colonel who received medals for his wounds and valor
in Vietnam, and he has traditionally been a leading Democratic hawk and advocate
of military spending.
Murtha's resolution included language the Republicans wanted to avoid, such as
"the American people have not been shown clear, measurable progress" toward
stability in Iraq. It also said troops should be withdrawn "at the
earliest practicable date," although Murtha said in statements and interviews
Thursday that the drawdown should begin now.
Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) drafted a simpler
resolution calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops, saying it was a fair
interpretation of Murtha's intent. Members were heatedly debating a
procedural rule concerning the Hunter resolution when Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio)
was recognized at 5:20 p.m. Schmidt won a special election in August,
defeating Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett, and is so new to Congress that some
colleagues do not know her name.
She told colleagues that "a few minutes ago I received a call from Colonel Danny
Bubp," an Ohio legislator and Marine Corps Reserve officer. "He asked me
to send Congress a message: Stay the course. He also asked me to
send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never
do."
Dozens of Democrats erupted at once, pointing angrily at Schmidt and shouting
repeatedly, "Take her words down" -- the House term for retracting a statement.
For a moment Schmidt tried to keep speaking, but the uproar continued and
several GOP colleagues surrounded her as she sat down, looking slightly dazed.
Presiding officer Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) gaveled in vain for order as Democrats
continued shouting for Schmidt to take back her words. Rep. Martin T.
Meehan (D-Mass.) yelled "You guys are pathetic!" from the far end of the
Democratic section to the GOP side.
Just as matters seemed to calm a bit, Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) suddenly
charged across the aisle to the GOP seats, jabbing his finger furiously at a
small group of GOP members and shouting, "Say Murtha's name!" Rep. David R. Obey
(D-Wis.), who had led the chants for striking Schmidt's comments, gently guided
Ford by the arm back to the minority party's side.
At 5:31, when order was finally restored, Schmidt rose again and said softly,
"My words were not directed at any member of the House." She asked that
they "be withdrawn" from the record.
As the House temporarily moved to other matters, a calm Ford said in an
interview that he confronted the Republicans because he was angry that they were
using a ploy to avoid "a real debate" about the war. "I said, 'If you
believe it's about Murtha, then talk about Murtha, don't hide behind a
resolution,' " Ford said.
It was past 10 p.m. when Murtha addressed a relatively subdued House.
Hunter's resolution "is not what I envisioned" because it avoids a broader
debate of the war, which "is not going as advertised," Murtha said. "The
American people are way ahead of us" in wanting a strategy to bring the troops
home, he added. "It's easy to sit in your air-conditioned offices and send
them into battle."
But Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Tex.), who spent seven years as a prisoner of war in
Vietnam, said U.S. forces in Iraq "need our full support." He added:
"They need to have full faith that a few naysayers in Washington won't cut and
run and leave them high and dry."
Those voting yes on the resolution were Democrats Jose E. Serrano (N.Y.), Robert
Wexler (Fla.) and Cynthia McKinney (Ga.). Six other Democrats -- none of
them from Maryland or Virginia -- voted "present."
Top Democrats attacked the GOP tactic. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
said the Republicans "engaged in an act of deception that undermines any shred
of dignity that might be left in this Republican Congress." She called
Hunter's resolution "a political stunt" and "a disservice to our country and to
our men and women in uniform."
Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said that the GOP resolution was meant to
prevent a serious debate on the war's prosecution, and that he lacked the words
"to express the magnitude of my contempt with which I view this shabby, petty
political maneuver."
Staff writer Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report.
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