In an interview from the hospital in Germany yesterday, Mr. Murphy said the accident occurred on the way to the Baghdad airport in a military convoy. The convoy was traveling in the middle of the road, which is a common practice used by the military in Iraq to deter oncoming motorists, the U.S. Embassy said. Shortly after dark, an oncoming tanker truck refused to yield.Murphy was traveling with U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga), who was not injured, and U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, (D-Mo) who seemed to suffer only minor injuries and all three were able to walk away from the scene on their own steam.
Mr. Murphy said their driver was forced to veer off the road after it appeared that the truck might try to hit their vehicle head-on.
[snip]
Mr. Murphy said he suffered head and neck injuries, but his MRI did not show any nerve damage.
During his brief visit to a Baghdad hospital, Mr. Murphy said, he was treated next to a 7-year-old Iraqi who had been shot by al-Qaida and whose parents were killed. Mr. Murphy said the experience reinforced his view that withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq now would be the wrong course.
No snark here about anyone getting injured in Iraq, but it behooves us to point out that it wouldn't have been necessary for their convey to drive in the middle of the road if the violence in Iraq were not increasing seemingly daily.
Murphy's website repeats the Greatest Hits of the Bush talking points on Iraq under the heading of "War on Terrorism" in his issues section so it should not come as any great surprise that the accident has hardened his resolve as a hawk.
It's also worth pointing out that Tom Kovach (a Democratic running for Murphy's seat) served on the USS Nimitz as a nuclear machinist mate and has the following to say about the Iraq War on his website:
Tom supports a safe, fast and fair exit strategy for Iraq, and a resolution requiring President Bush to follow it.
Seatbelts? We're Congressmen -- we don't need no stinkin' seatbelts!
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