Murtha's Mangled Memory

Is anti-war Democrat Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) beginning to show signs of memory loss?

As reported yesterday on the liberal Think Progress, Murtha said the following in an exchange with Chris Matthews in an exchange with Chris Matthews on MCNBC's Hardball (my bold):

MATTHEWS: Do you think he'd actually sign that bill, or he would consider that hobbling him?

MURTHA: Well, I am not sure. He made up his mind so early, I'm not sure he even read the bill. I mean, this is the problem with this spinning that goes on. They bring Petraeus back, purely a political move. Petraeus comes back here, doesn't talk to any of us. He only talks to the news media, and so forth, trying to sell this program. Bush was 64 percent when his mission — mission possible, and today he's 34 percent, so he's just turned the opposite. And this bill's not going to make any difference, just like what we say here makes little difference. What's going to count is what happens on the ground. The Iraqis are going to have to decide it themselves.

MATTHEWS: You know, when you read Petraeus statements to the press corps — and I know you said he didn't talk to Congress, but they put out this statement. I read it in "The Weekly Standard" this week, which does have Petraeus's remarks in there. He does say that we're fighting the central front against al Qaeda in Iraq. Is that true?

MURTHA: That's absolutely not true. That's an exaggeration...

MATTHEWS: That's Petraeus saying that.

MURTHA: That's Petraeus saying it. I just gave those comments to General Pace. I said, General — just 5, 10 minutes ago I gave them to General Pace. I said, General, these comments that General Petraeus made are absolutely inaccurate, according to the intelligence we have. Now, that's the kind of stuff he's saying, and that's why I say it was purely political.

Now, when I say he didn't talk to Congress, he talked to a group of members. He didn't talk to the committees that have jurisdiction over this legislation.

MATTHEWS: Well, why wouldn't he tell the truth? If his troops are over there getting killed — as you point out, we lost 100 guys this month, one of the worst months — worst month of the year — getting killed by Sunni insurgents and by militia people on the Shia side — why is he blaming it on al Qaeda?

MURTHA: Chris...

MATTHEWS: The people who blew up the World Trade Center. Why's he doing that?

MURTHA: This whole — whole war, ever since it diverted the attention away from where al Qaeda started, the Taliban in Afghanistan, the war in Afghanistan, where we should have stayed, ever since that time, they've been trying to tie this into terrorism. All of us know there's terrorism all over the world...

MATTHEWS: But he's not — but Congressman, he's not a PR man. He's not a flack for the White House. He's a general in the field. Why would he be...

MURTHA: Hey, wait a minute.

MATTHEWS: You're saying he's singing the song of the ideologues.

MURTHA: I'm saying — I'm saying he came back here at the White House's request to purely make political statements. That's what I'm saying. There's no question in my mind about it.

Perhaps there should be a few questions in John Murtha's mind, starting with why he would tell easily checked fabrications to Chris Matthews, Pennsylvania voters, and the American people at large.

Yesterday, I sent an email to Baghdad asking about Murtha's pronouncement that Commanding General David Petraeus "doesn't talk to any of us," and his hastily re-calibrated statement, "Now, when I say he didn't talk to Congress, he talked to a group of members. He didn't talk to the committees that have jurisdiction over this legislation."

I also sent along a link to this CNS News article, that cited a "A senior Defense Department official" as saying that not only did General Petraeus conduct conducted two 90-minute, top-secret level operations intelligence briefings for representatives and senators, but that the meetings were among the most heavily attended in recent memory, and that Petraeus personally provided briefings to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Murtha in conference calls.

Col. Steve Boylan, Public Affairs Officer of Multinational Forces-Iraq Commanding General David Petraeus, sent me back the following in response (my bold):

GEN Petraeus briefed the entire House of Representatives in closed session (so it could be classified) and had a good session with them. I was there to see it. The session was chaired by Cong Ike Skelton, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, the committee that oversees the Dept of Defense (in place of Speaker Pelosi). Because Speaker Pelosi was unavailable, GEN Petraeus spoke to her (with Cong Murtha on the phone as well) for 30 minutes the day prior. He also briefed the entire Senate in closed session. The turnouts for both sessions were reportedly among the biggest ever seen. In the House it was over 260 members, many of them standing room only as well as many members sitting on the floor. Cong Murtha was present for the House session.

Not only did John Murtha speak with General Petraeus for half an hour the day prior to the closed session, he also attended the closed session as well.

By this account, consistent with the CNS News account, General Petraeus perhaps spent more time discussing the Iraq War with Congressman John Murtha than any other member of the House of Representatives.

We should also take issue with other comments uttered by Murtha, in this exchange with Matthews from the transcript above:

MATTHEWS: You know, when you read Petraeus statements to the press corps — and I know you said he didn't talk to Congress, but they put out this statement. I read it in "The Weekly Standard" this week, which does have Petraeus's remarks in there. He does say that we're fighting the central front against al Qaeda in Iraq. Is that true?

MURTHA: That's absolutely not true. That's an exaggeration...

MATTHEWS: That's Petraeus saying that.

MURTHA: That's Petraeus saying it. I just gave those comments to General Pace. I said, General — just 5, 10 minutes ago I gave them to General Pace. I said, General, these comments that General Petraeus made are absolutely inaccurate, according to the intelligence we have. Now, that's the kind of stuff he's saying, and that's why I say it was purely political.

To that and other comments made by Murtha denying that Iraq is al Qaeda's central front, Col Boylan issued the following:

The assessment that Al Qaeda's central front is Iraq is not just GEN Petraeus'. It is shared by LTG Stan McCrystal, the Commanding General of the Joint Special Operations Command, the organization that most directly fights Al Qaeda; and, LTG McCrystal spend the vast majority of his time with us in Iraq overseeing that effort. The Director of the CIA shares this assessment too.

Murtha can't remember the meetings he's attended, and somehow has a view of the war that doesn't match up with that of the reality faced by the military commanders most directly involved in fighting the, or that of our nation's intelligence agencies.

Congressman Murtha, it's time to call your physician. Treatment options are available.