THOUGHTFUL Democrats living in the 1st Congressional District must have cringed upon reading their candidates' positions on Iraq in yesterday's Union Leader. The position of the left-wing candidate, Carol Shea-Porter, was to flee and let what happens in Iraq happen. The establishment candidate, Rep. Jim Craig, did not even have a position. The only candidate who made any sense was David Jarvis of Londonderry, a virtual unknown who opposes the war but said immediate pullout would mean going back on our commitments to the Iraqi people. Democrats who live in the 2nd District have it better. Their only candidate, Paul Hodes, gave a sensible response opposing immediate withdrawal for fear of leaving a failed state behind.
All of this comes up as New Hampshire Democrats prepare for the arrival next Sunday of Rep. John Murtha, D-Penn., the decorated former Marine. Murtha favors immediate withdrawal. But the more he speaks the crazier his position becomes. Last month he said he favored pulling troops out of Iraq and redeploying them to Okinawa. He said the South Pacific island more than 6,000 miles from Iraq could be the launching point whenever the United States needed to deploy quickly to the Middle East.