Military towns giving rise to Iraq war critics

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-24-lawmakers-war_x.htm

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Cupped in a dark green hollow of the Allegheny Mountains, this hard-luck city is far more familiar with floods than the desert. Yet, in a way, it's a crucial battleground of the Iraq war.

Southwestern Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District is a fiercely patriotic area, where storeowners still decorate their windows for Memorial Day and hang banners to welcome home returning soldiers. Military veterans account for more than 15% of the population.

So it has come as something of a shock, both to his neighbors here and colleagues in Washington, that Rep. John Murtha is leading the charge for a pullout from Iraq. A plain-spoken former Marine who has represented this district for 32 years, Murtha says it's his closeness to the troops that motivated him.

"I felt like I had to speak out," he says. "I go to the hospitals every week and see kids blown apart. ... There's times you've got to realize it isn't getting any better."