Murtha wants an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon

John Murtha is an American hero, twice in his life.

Murtha wants an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon:

Mr. Murtha, speaking yesterday at a Post-Gazette editorial board meeting, was asked if he favored a cease-fire in the campaign north of Israel's border.

'I think so,' he said. 'I think it would be very difficult to justify continuing on.'

Referring to the Bush administration's position, he said: 'You know, they say, 'Well, we want a long-term cease-fire.' It seems to me you start with a cease-fire, and then you try to work out the details long term. If you don't, and you continue to have heavy-handed military action -- and I support heavy-handed military action because it saves your own troops -- but it creates enemies, and that's the problem we have.'

Mr. Murtha said the fighting risked hardening against Israel the 'hearts and minds' of Lebanese civilians within the general population, beyond Israel's entrenched enemies in the Shiite militia.

Mr. Murtha offered the analogy of U.S. fighting to defeat insurgents in the Iraqi city of Falujah: That battle was a military success, he said, but the inevitable destruction it caused alienated hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, turning a tactical victory into a setback for the broader strategy of trying to bring peace to Iraq.