Don't know much geography
On Sunday, Congressman Jack Murtha was on "Meet the Press." He did not acquit himself well, but Bush Derangement Syndrome seems to have that effect on people afflicted with it.
Murtha pointed to the success of the U.S. assassination of terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi to bolster his case for a "redeployment" out of Iraq and into Okinawa by pointing out that the jet that dropped the bomb had been launched from outside Iraq. (Yes, he ignored the Special Forces team on site using a laser to guide the 500 lb. bombs in, and all of the other on-the-ground portions of the mission.)
Over at Blackfive.net they've got a helpful geography primer that shows that Okinawa is only 4,200 nautical miles from Iraq -- and that's if you can somehow get overflight permission from China and Iran.
The max combat range for the F-16 with external fuel tanks and 2000 lbs of ordnance is 740 nautical miles so that's like a minimum of SIX midair refuelings in EACH direction.
This little display is hardly worth putting together, but I did it to demostrate that this man is dangerously deluded and not at all serious about an issue of critical national security significance. He is out there in the MSM just winging it and not being called to account whatsoever for statements that are so outlandish and absurd that they defy all attempts at comprehension.
Murtha is not a serious voice on Iraq, yet he seems to be the only voice the Democrats have.
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A commenter at Protein Wisdom noted that Maine would be closer to Iraq than Okinawa and no need to overfly China. Murtha should also know that we have already agreed to redeploy 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam. So how is it, exactly, that the Japanese are to agree to increase the US presence on Okinawa?
We already voted on the cut-and-run plan. It lost. The dems are rightly seen as being somewhere between sore losers and disloyal for their continued opposition.
Maine's slightly farther away from Baghdad than Okinawa (5500 vs. 4900 miles using http://www.indo.com/distance/) but once you factor in the mandatory diversion around China and Iran, it's a no brainer.
Speaking of no brains, it makes for an interesting observation that one of the primary reasons for retiring people in their 60's is that the incidence of senility starts to climb pretty rapidly. Look around universities where emeritus professors crawl on in or better yet (getting to the point finally) Congress, and you'll see no small number of members who should have landed in nursing homes for their own safety sometime back.
I interviewed Murtha's Republican opponent and blogged a profile the other day: Meet Diana Irey.