After terrorists attacked U.S. troops in Mogadishu, Somalia 12 years ago, anti-Iraq war Democrat, Rep. John Murtha urged then-President Clinton to begin a complete pullout of U.S. troops from the region.

Clinton took the advice and ordered the withdrawal – a decision that Osama bin Laden would later credit with emboldening his terrorist fighters and encouraging him to mount further attacks against the U.S.

“Our welcome has been worn out,” Rep Murtha told NBC’s “Today” show in Sept. 1993, a month after 4 U.S. Military Police had been killed in Somalia by a remote-detonated land mine.

MR. RUSSERT: As you well know, this is a profound change in your own thinking. Last year in the epilogue to your paperback book, you wrote this: “A war initiated on faulty intelligence must not be followed by a premature withdrawal of our troops based on a political timetable. An untimely exit could rapidly devolve into a civil war, which would leave America’s foreign policy in disarray as countries question not only America’s judgment but also its perseverance.” And this: “It would be an international disaster I think if we pulled out.” Civil war, questioning America’s perseverance, international disaster– why is it any different now than it was a year ago?

REP. MURTHA: I’ll tell you why it’s different. It’s different because there’s no progress at all. When I went to Iraq about two months ago, I talked to the commanders. Now, I–the commanders say what they’re supposed to say, but I can tell how discouraged they are.

A U.S. colonel in Iraq said the “job is not done” and U.S. troops should not leave. It’s a response to western Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha?s call for withdrawal from Iraq.
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The commander with the 56th Brigade Combat Team said troops have “made great strides” in supporting Iraq’s transition to democracy.