Break it first. Complain about it later.

You all know about Murtha's comment that the U.S. Military is "broken." I bet you hadn't paid attention, though, to the platform from which Murtha makes these statements. Fortunately, Scott D has paid attention:

The irony I find in all of this, is Murtha's position within the House of Representatives. This is not just a decorated veteran that happens to serve in the halls of Congress. Murtha is actually the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee! Perhaps this may be the moment when the Congressman pauses and considers that perhaps he should use his influential position on the committee to work to get the Department of the Army some more resources to fix his alleged "broken" force. A little less talk, a little more action, perhaps? If Murtha feels that it is his responsibility to oppose our current course in Iraq, than by all means, have at it. However, to sit and bemoan a "broken, worn out" force, and then publicly proclaim disgust at perceived overspending in the defense budget as the Democratic party likes to do, just isn't a compatible, intellectually consistent argument. I fear that with the reality being that bureaucracies have short memory spans, we may engage in a repeat of the 1970's where we ran from Vietnam, and then gutted the military services, rendering them practically unemployable for nearly 25 years. Let us (finally) learn our lesson!