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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 16-Jan-06
Congressman John Murtha predicts quick American withdrawal from Iraq

Web Log - January, 2006

Congressman John Murtha predicts quick American withdrawal from Iraq

Speaking in a "60 Minutes" interview on Sunday, the 73-year-old Pennsylvania Democrat, a decorated Vietnam war veteran, said that troops will be withdrawn from Iraq sooner than we think.

He said: "Our troops have become the primary target of the insurgency. They are united against U.S. forces, and we have become a catalyst for violence. My plan calls for an immediate redeployment of U.S. troops consistent with the safety of U.S. forces."

In the interview, he said that mounting pressure from constituents in this election year will force Congress to pass his withdrawal plan, or something similar to bring troops home.

This interview is worth reading because it's a perfect example of living in the 60s and 70s.

Regular readers of this web site know that since 2002 we've been predicting that there would be no significant antiwar movement. Every time something spurts up, it dies quickly.

For example, in August pundits were predicting a massive resurgence of the antiwar movement, thanks to Cindy Sheehan. Today, Cindy Sheehan is almost gone from public view.

Now Murtha is poking his head up again, claiming that "mounting pressure from constituents in this election year will force Congress" to pass a withdrawal plan.

Why don't these people ever learn? Every claim of this sort for years has turned out to be completely wrong.

And the clearest indication is that there are no college students demonstrating for a withdrawal.

Although Murtha has not previously been an antiwar activist, he's now joining other aging antiwar activists who may recall that in the 1960s and 1970s, the antiwar movement was led by college students, not by old men and women. That's because America was in a "generational awakening" period in the 1960s-70s. The "baby boomer" generation attending college at that time pursued the antiwar movement, the women's lib movement, the anti-racism movement, the environmental movement, and so forth.

Today, it's that same "baby boomer" generation that's trying to stir up an antiwar movement, but now they're old men and women, and as far as college students are concerned, they're like dinosaurs fighting each other, and they really don't care which dinosaur wins.

Thus, as we've said repeatedly, Generational Dynamics predicts that there will be no significant antiwar movement, even in this election year. (16-Jan-06) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 16-Jan-06 Congressman John Murtha predicts quick American withdrawal from Iraq

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 16-Jan-06
Congressman John Murtha predicts quick American withdrawal from Iraq