Correction: An article in yesterday's edition misinterpreted a comment from US Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., at a town hall meeting in North Miami on Saturday. In his speech, Murtha said US credibility was suffering because of continued US military presence in Iraq, and the perception that the US is an occupying force. Murtha was citing a recent poll, by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, that indicates a greater percentage of people in 10 of 14 foreign countries consider the US in Iraq a greater danger to world peace than any threats posed by Iran or North Korea. The following is an updated story from the original source.

    Pull Out of Iraq Now, Congressman Urges
    By Elizabeth Baier
    South Florida Sun-Sentinel

    Sunday 25 June 2006

    Many people around the world consider the American presence in Iraq dangerous to world peace, U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said to a crowd of more than 200 in North Miami Saturday afternoon.

    Murtha cited a recent poll by the Pew Global Attitudes Project that indicates a greater percentage of people in 10 of 14 foreign countries consider the U.S. in Iraq a greater danger to world peace than any threats posed by Iran or North Korea.

    Murtha was the guest speaker at a town hall meeting organized by U.S. Rep. Kendrick B. Meek, D-Miami, at Florida International University's Biscayne Bay Campus. Meek's mother, former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, D-Miami, was also on the panel.

    War veterans, local mayors, university students and faculty packed the Mary Ann Wolfe Theatre to listen to the three panelists discuss the war in Iraq for an hour.

    A former Marine and a prominent critic of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq, Murtha reiterated his views that the war cannot be won militarily and needs political solutions. He said the more than 100,000 troops in Iraq should be pulled out immediately, and deployed to peripheral countries like Kuwait.

    "We do not want permanent bases in Iraq," Murtha told the audience. "We want as many Americans out of there as possible."

    Murtha also has publicly said that the shooting of 24 Iraqis in November at Haditha, a city in the Anbar province of western Iraq that has been plagued by insurgents, was wrongfully covered up.

    The killings, which sparked an investigation into the deadly encounter and another into whether they were the subject of a cover-up, could undermine U.S. efforts in Iraq more than the prison abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib in 2004, Murtha said.

    "[The United States] became the target when Abu Ghraib came along," Murtha said.

    U.S. efforts to win over Iraqis were tarnished when it was revealed that U.S. military personnel had abused and humiliated people held at Abu Ghraib, a prison outside Baghdad.

    Most in the crowd agreed with Murtha and the need to redeploy troops from Iraq as soon as possible. "I believe we are in a mess over there [in Iraq]," said Alnoor Jamal, 49, of Miami.