Murtha: No Iran!

By ANNE FLAHERTY

WASHINGTON Feb 15, 2007 (AP)— A leading Iraq war opponent threatened Thursday to try prohibiting any U.S. military action against Iran without congressional sanction as House Republicans used military veterans within their ranks to oppose a resolution renouncing President Bush's Iraq troop buildup.

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said he would seek to tie future deployments in Iraq to troops meeting high standards of training and getting enough rest between combat tours. Murtha said he believes the Army may have no units that can meet those standards, meaning that Bush's attempt to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq would be effectively thwarted.

Murtha, who has been among Congress's foremost opponents of Iraq war policy, also said he is considering attaching a provision to a looming war spending bill that would bar U.S. military action against Iran without congressional approval.

"We don't have the capability of sustaining a war in Iran," Murtha, chairman of the House panel that oversees military spending, said in a videotaped online interview.
President Bush, in a speech on the war on terror, also weighed in on the House resolution, saying it comes just weeks after the Senate unanimously confirmed Gen. David Petraeus as the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.

"This may become the first time in the history of the United States Congress that it has voted to send a new commander into battle and then voted to oppose his plan that is necessary to succeed in that battle," Bush said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, meanwhile, the Senate will hold another test vote Saturday on the Iraq resolution.

The Senate has been unable to begin debate on Iraq for two weeks because of partisan bickering over the procedural terms. Democrats would need 60 votes to bring the resolution back up when Congress returns after a week's recess.

"We demand an up-or down vote on the resolution that the House is debating as we speak," said Reid, D-Nev.

Earlier, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., complained that the Senate "is about to become irrelevant," adding, "What we have here is close to anarchy."

(Oh, Arlen, get a grip! What we have here is Democracy!

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