Fire-Breathing Liberal

Introduction: It's Time to Be Mad As HellOn November 17, 2005, Congressman Jack Murtha (D-PA) stood before the House of Representatives and startled the nation by saying out loud what many of us had been thinking: It was time to bring our troops home from Iraq. "The U.S. cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily," he said. "It is time to bring them home... It's a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. It's time for a change of direction. My plan calls for immediate redeployment of U.S. troops consistent with the safety of U.S. forces. The American public is way ahead of the members of Congress."Today this statement wouldn't be news at all. Almost all Democrats and many Republicans consider the war a catastrophe. But when Murtha stood up and made this statement, that was not the case. It was not at all politically correct for a politician to proclaim that our troops should come home from Iraq, and it was all the more astonishing and courageous coming from Jack Murtha. Murtha had served in the Marines for thirty-seven years and in 2005 was the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees military spending. Jack was the most consistent and staunch supporter of the military in Congress -- and now he had decided that President Bush's Iraq policy had failed and it was time to start withdrawing our troops.The Republicans were irate. Almost universally they had supported the Bush war policy. Several Republican members immediately issued statements denouncing Murtha, calling him a coward. Freshman Ohio conservative Jean Schmidt, then just two months into her first term, said smugly on the floor, "Cowards cut and run. Marines never do." Democrats responded with boos and later she was forced to apologize.In my office, Murtha's statement generated quite a stir. I'm Robert Wexler and I'm a proud liberal Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives. I've represented Florida's 19th Congressional district on the southeast coast for six terms. Like Murtha and most of my colleagues, I'd voted to give President Bush the power he needed to launch an attack on Iraq. It was the worst vote of my career. Within months I'd realized that the nation had been manipulated by faulty intelligence and selective briefings, and it was a vote I had come to regret tremendously. But I'd voted that way. Since that time I'd been strongly critical of how the war was being waged. And now Jack Murtha, a highly respected and hawkish Member serving his sixteenth term, had challenged the rest of us to end it.Murtha's statement initiated an intense debate in my office. Initially, my chief of staff, Eric Johnson, felt that having voted for the war, we had a special obligation to see it through and said flatly, "We're not supporting the withdrawal in six months."My office is loosely run, so much so that when we recently hired a new employee and he asked about the office rules, the others all looked at one another, waiting for someone else to tell him there were none. And no member of my staff is shy about disagreeing with me- - or with anyone else. I'm extremely fortunate: I have a very intelligent, dedicated and committed staff. In fact, the documentarian Ivy Meeropol produced and directed a six-part series titledThe Hillfor the Sundance Channel focusing on my staff and the way Congress works. One reviewer commented that in dealing with my staff I resembled "a beleaguered camp counselor."Among the members of my staff was Halie Soifer, my legislative assistant. Halie is idealistic and passionate, and especially knowledgeable about foreign policy. And like all members of my staff shWexler, Robert is the author of 'Fire-Breathing Liberal', published 2008 under ISBN 9780312366445 and ISBN 0312366442.