Speaking Truth to Power, Military Division

Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) held a Town Hall meeting Thursday evening in Arlington, Virginia, as reported by the WaPo yesterday on page B-3. In a rather unusual move, Rep. Moran invited Congressman John Murtha to participate in the Town Hall. The WaPo reports:

Before a crowd of about 600 people that spilled out of the auditorium and into an overflow room and the street, Murtha accused the Pentagon of ignoring a drop in recruitment levels and tolerating such problems in Iraq as low morale and shortages of body armor and other equipment.

The Town Hall was very well-attended, thanks in part to an e-mail campaign by MoveOn.org to mobilize its anti-war members. FreeRepublic heard about the MoveOn campaign and launched a campaign of its own, urging pro-war individuals to turn out, as well.

But about Truth to Power… One member of the audience was less than impressed with Murtha’s military bashing. Former Army sergeant Mark Seavey stood up and delivered the following to Reps Moran and Murtha during the Q&A session (via Greyhawk at Mudville Gazette):

"Yes sir my name is Mark Seavey and I just want to thank you for coming up here. Until about a month ago I was Sgt Mark Seavey infantry squad leader, I returned from Afghanistan. My question to you, (applause)

"Like yourself I dropped out of college two years ago to volunteer to go to Afghanistan, and I went and I came back. If I didn't have a herniated disk now I would volunteer to go to Iraq in a second with my troops, three of which have already volunteered to go to Iraq. I keep hearing you say how you talk to the troops and the troops are demoralized, and I really resent that characterization. (applause)

The morale of the troops that I talk to is phenomenal, which is why my troops are volunteering to go back, despite the hardships they had to endure in Afghanistan.
"And Congressman Moran, 200 of your constituents just returned from Afghanistan. We never got a letter from you; we never got a visit from you. You didn't come to our homecoming. The only thing we got from any of our elected officials was one letter from the governor of this state thanking us for our service in Iraq, when we were in Afghanistan. That's reprehensible. I don't know who you two are talking to but the morale of the troops is very high."

Moran - who is one of the few congressmen supporting Charlie Rangel's call to restore the draft - responded quickly: "That wasn't in the form of a question, it was in the form of a statement. But, uhh... let's go over here." And he took the next question.

That was not in the form of a response to Sgt Seavey in any way shape or form.

You need to read all of Greyhawk’s post, Murtha vs the Army, over at Mudville Gazette. In addition to the foregoing piece about former Sgt. Seavey, Greyhawk has lots more on Murtha, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Peter Pace’s comments on Murtha’s statement that he wouldn’t join the military today. And many, many links to what others are saying about Congressman Murtha.

Michelle Malkin has a link to a video file of Seavey’s comments Thursday evening, but I couldn’t get the link to work. I imagine the poor server hosting that file has been pounded into a molten puddle of aluminum from all the download requests it’s received. But, try it anyway.

I don’t understand Murtha at all. The man served 37 years in the Marine Corps, retiring as a colonel in 1990 (bio here). Prior to about eight months ago, Rep. Murtha was generally regarded by the Pentagon, and by the military in general, as one of the “friendliest” congressmen toward the military on The Hill. No more. Representative Murtha is certainly entitled to his opinions on the Iraq war. But when he gets his facts wrong (once again, see Greyhawk) and indulges in rhetoric that is clearly counter-productive to the war effort he comes across as a fuzzy-thinking old man who belongs in a rocking chair on his front porch, rather than in the congress of the United States. But he’s a hero to the anti-war Left. Go figure.

Update 01/07/2006, 1200 hrs: See also James Taranto in the WSJ's "Best of the Web." Taranto writes MoveOn.org actually sponsored the Town Hall. The last graf:

The good news is that the "antiwar" movement is not serious. If it were, it would not have to rely on fringe figures like Murtha, Moran and Cindy Sheehan.