Which service would want him?

[CSM]

Wall Street Journal
January 3, 2006
Pg. 23

Murtha Says He Wouldn't Join Today's Military

By Reuters

WASHINGTON -- Rep. John Murtha, a key Democratic voice who favors pulling U.S. troops from Iraq, said in remarks airing yesterday that he wouldn't join the U.S. military today.

A decorated Vietnam War combat veteran who retired as a colonel after 37 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Mr. Murtha told ABC News's "Nightline" program that Iraq "absolutely" was a wrong war for President Bush to have launched.

"Would you join [the military] today?" he was asked in an interview taped Friday.

"No," replied Mr. Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees defense spending and one of his party's leading spokesmen on military issues.

"And I think you're saying the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying 'I don't want to serve,' " the interviewer continued.

"Exactly right," said Mr. Murtha, who drew White House ire in November after becoming the first ranking Democrat to push for a pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq as soon as it could be done safely.

The White House had no comment on Mr. Murtha's comments.