As I wrote about here and here, since Rep. John Murtha had the audacity to say that troops should not be sent into Iraq without proper training and equipment, the Republican hit squad has been out in force. And today the National Review Online and Dick "Last Throes" Cheney have taken the attacks to a new high...or low, as the case may be.

First, from NRO:

As you know, John Murtha has "said he would attach language to a war funding bill that would prohibit the redeployment of units that have been at home for less than a year, stop the extension of tours beyond 12 months and prohibit units from shipping out if they do not train with all of their equipment. His aim, he made clear, is not to improve readiness but to 'stop the surge.' [...] We Marines maintain that except for Lee Harvey Oswald, there is no such thing as an "ex-Marine." I believe that John Murtha has just joined that small club.

And from Dick:

With respect to Iraq, I think he's dead wrong. I think, in fact, if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we'll do is validate the al Qaeda strategy. The al Qaeda strategy is to break the will of the American people -- in fact, knowing they can't win in a stand-up fight, try to persuade us to throw in the towel and come home, and then they win because we quit.

On par with the man who assassinated John F. Kennedy, or enabling al Qaeda? How low are the GOP willing to go to avoid facing a vote that would actually mean supporting the troops? Stay tuned.