E-mail a friendRep. Patrick Murphy
airdate March 14, 2008
Pennsylvania's Rep. Patrick Murphy is the first Iraq war veteran to be elected to Congress and has become a leading voice for change in Iraq. A graduate of the Army JAG program, he was the youngest professor at West Point and went on to serve as a paratrooper and captain in the 82nd Airborne, earning a Bronze Star. Murphy serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee—its only freshman—and is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition. He tells his story in the book, Taking the Hill.
Rep. Patrick Murphy
Tavis: Congressman Patrick Murphy is a first-term Pennsylvania Democrat and the only Iraq War veteran serving in the U.S. Congress. The former decorated Army Captain was also one of the youngest professors ever during his days teaching law at West Point. His new book is called "Taking the Hill: From Philly to Baghdad to the United States Congress." He joins us tonight from Washington. Congressman, nice to have you on the program, sir.
Rep. Patrick Murphy: Hey, Tavis, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Tavis: My delight. Let me start by asking how one goes from Philly to Baghdad to Congress and you're, what, thirty-four now?
Murphy: I'm thirty-four years old. I've been very blessed in my life, Tavis. I grew up in a row house in Philadelphia and my father was a cop in Philly for twenty-two years. My mother's a legal secretary. They told me at a very young age that hard work and focus can bring you far in life. I didn't get that message, to be honest.
In the book, I laid out that I wasn't that great of a high school student, but I went to community college and I've already turned it around academically and joined the military and been very blessed.
Tavis: Let me start by asking what got you into the military? What was behind that choice, that decision?
Murphy: Sure. Well, my family believes in public service. I mentioned my father was a police officer, but he also was a Navy veteran. My uncles were both paratroopers in the Army, so when the course came out, my roommate and I signed up for Army ROTC during college and we were eventually commissioned as officers. I went on to become a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, which was a great honor.
Tavis: Tell me about your time in Iraq.
Murphy: Well, you know, I had been a professor at West Point when 9/11 happened. My best friend growing up in Philly, his girlfriend and her father were killed in the World Trade Center. So on September 12, I went and volunteered to my commanding officer to deploy for our nation. I served two deployments. The second one was as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. I was in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003 into January of 2004.
I'll tell you, Tavis, it was hot. I mean, it got as hot as 138 degree heat, which was tough because I was in an infantry unit where we didn't have showers for a certain time and we weren't smelling so good, to be honest with you (laughter). You know, to serve in the company of heroes, of other paratroopers, was really pretty special.
Tavis: Take me back to - you answered the question, but I want to go back and give you a chance to unpack this a little more because I'm fascinated by this. You talk about it in the text. So 9/11 happens, you lose two friends in the World Trade Center, and borne of that, you make a decision the next day to volunteer to go serve your country. Give me more about that. What was going through your head and your heart that made you immediately say, "I want to go serve."?
Murphy: Sure. Well, I was on active duty at the time and I had the great honor to be a professor at West Point which is a terrific honor, you know, to teach the next generation of military leaders at an institution like West Point up in New York. So I was on active duty. I was a captain in the Army, but when our nation was attacked, you know, I had been air assault and airborne qualified.
So I went in my commander's office and I said, "Sir, I know you need to send the best and I just want to put my name in there and I'd be honored to deploy on behalf of our nation." I knew it would probably be dangerous. I knew bad things happen when you go overseas. But I was trained for it and I believed in my heart that I could make a difference and I was eventually reassigned to go and serve in two great units and two great deployments.
Tavis: I would assume, though, that's pretty much a night and day experience, even though it's an honor to teach at West Point. You were inside the air conditioned room of a classroom teaching law and, next thing, you're at 138 degree heat.
Murphy: Right. It was definitely a leadership challenge to be in the middle of Baghdad. I had the great opportunity to lead what's called a BOLT team, a Brigade Operational Law Team.
I had six paratroopers, you know, doing things, Tavis, like, you know, running convoys, you know, going up and down what's called Ambush Alley, the main artery in Baghdad which is about the size of I-95, a six-lane highway, you know, scouting for roadside bombs, looking for snipers up on the roofs.
There were some really dangerous moments, but, God willing, my team made it home okay to see their families eventually. Unfortunately, though, in our unit overall, we lost nineteen fellow paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne Division.
Tavis: You talk in the book about doing that dangerous work that you just described, Congressman, without the benefit of equipment that was up to standards, shall we say.
Murphy: I talk about leading convoys, you know, looking for these roadside bombs which blow up Humvees one or two at a time. Being the head of that convoy, I was always in the front in a Humvee without any doors, let alone armor. But, you know, being a paratrooper, you do what you can do with the equipment that you have, and we had great training.
The problem, Tavis, that I mention in the book and it's not just my personal story, but I talked about how these strategic faults and the mistakes of the Bush administration affected us. I was in a zone with 1.3, 1.4 million Iraqis. There should have been 25,000 or 35,000 paratroopers or soldiers covering that area. It's the same size of Philadelphia.
Well, instead of having 25,000 to 35,000, there was only 3,500. You compare it to where my dad served in my hometown of Philadelphia, when my dad was a cop, same size population, there were 7000 police officers. So you think we had half as many law enforcement, Tavis, in a combat zone where we didn't speak the same language.
That was frustrating to hear, you know, Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush, you know, wave the flag and the banner, "Mission Accomplished," and to know on the ground, you know, we wish we could have had more troops at the time.
Tavis: But as one who signed up to serve his country, you could not say anything about it at the time because you were on the ground, again, serving us. Now you are a member of Congress and you have every right to say something. As we approach just days from now, next week in fact, the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, you have what to say to the president at this stage?
Murphy: I say, "Mr. President, it's been five years and it's time to start bringing our troops home." You know, when we were attacked on 9/11, Tavis, we were attacked by Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and they are now just as strong as they were on 9/11 and they're not in Iraq. They are in Afghanistan and the border of Pakistan which has nuclear weapons. But we can't focus on them because we're still so bogged down five years later refereeing a religious civil war in the middle of Iraq.
So I've called for a change of strategy to bring the majority of our troops home to the United States. I stood there with Barack Obama calling for that last January of 2007 and I've fought for it in every single vote in Congress. That's what I think we need to do to make our country as safe as it can be.
Tavis: You mentioned Barack Obama. It's not lost on you, I suspect, or anybody else, for that matter, in the country, even the world at this point, that you represent in Congress a district in a state where this is all going to come to a head on April 22, as if again you don't already know this. Give me your senses of how Pennsylvania is going to fare in this contest, certainly on the Democratic side between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton.
Murphy: Well, there's no doubt, Tavis, that Barack Obama is the underdog in Pennsylvania just like he's been the underdog in this whole race, but he shocked the world in Iowa and South Carolina and the majority of states. In fact, he's won over thirty states and he's won the popular vote.
You know, you look at Pennsylvania back in November; he was thirty-three points down. Now most polls have him down in single digits with six weeks to go. So I like his position. You know, he's still the underdog, though. He needs to win Philadelphia and the Philadelphia suburbs and the whole state to really increase his margins, you know, for the rest of the state.
But the more people get to know him, Tavis, the more people he gets in front of, both Barack and Michelle Obama, they're truly inspired by his call for service and they're hopeful again in our country. If I could point, Tavis, my wife happens to be Republican, so I have a mixed marriage (laughter). I've learned diplomacy the hard way. I've had to sleep on my own couch.
But my wife, who voted for George Bush twice - it was before I knew her and we got married - but my wife is so enthusiastic as a Republican devoting to change her party to be a Democrat to vote for Barack Obama because she sees in him a once in a generation type of leader. I'm just proud to serve and help him out and help him be our next Commander-in-Chief and our next President of the United States.
Tavis: Let me close by asking how much of your support for Senator Obama has to do with the fact that you are thirty-four? I ask that against the backdrop of so many young people, to your point now, being inspired by his candidacy.
Murphy: Yeah. Well, you know, I think it's all age groups and all races that are supporting Barack Obama. You know, I had a woman the other day, Tavis, her name was Joy. She was twenty years old. She grabbed me by the arm and she said, "Congressman, I want you to know why I'm supporting Barack Obama." I said, "What is it, Joy? What's up?" She said, "My brother and I both support him. My brother's a Marine and he just left on his fourth deployment to Iraq."
She got filled up and she said, "Congressman, we both feel that, if he's our next president, my brother won't have to go back for a fifth deployment to Iraq." That is what this campaign is about. He had the courage and the judgment back then before the war when it was not popular to speak out against it.
But most importantly, Tavis, Barack Obama right now sees that we need a change in direction. He's called for a timeline to bring our troops home, to keep our families safe here at home, and also to refocus our efforts back on Al Qaeda where they're most strong, and that's Afghanistan.
Tavis: We will see what happens in the keystone state of Pennsylvania. As the Congressman mentioned, Hillary Clinton is still up there in Pennsylvania. It's so much like Ohio in terms of the way it's laid out. We will see what Senator Obama will do in that contest against Senator Clinton in Pennsylvania just a few weeks from now and, of course, we'll continue covering it on this program.
His name is Patrick J. Murphy. He's a Congressman from the State of Pennsylvania. "Taking the Hill: From Philly to Baghdad to the United States Congress" is his new book. Congressman, nice to have you on, sir. All the best to you.
Murphy: Thanks, Tavis. Have a great day. Happy St. Patrick's Day, too.
Tavis: (Laughter) Back at you.
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