…or something similar crafted by Republicans to force a vote against it.

Jack Murtha’s had a string of whereas clauses then:

Section 1. The deployment of United States forces in Iraq, by direction of Congress, is hereby terminated and the forces involved are to be redeployed at the earliest practicable date.
Section 2. A quick-reaction U.S. force and an over-the-horizon presence of U.S Marines shall be deployed in the region.
Section 3 The United States of America shall pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy.

It looks like what M. Chirac and the poet de Villepin might propose.

The Republicans put forward their own resolution Thursday evening:

Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately.

Its effect would be the same as Murtha’s, and the GOP attributed it to Murtha. (To be fair, it’s not what Murtha proposed, exactly.)

Democrats argued that the Republicans who proposed it were attacking Murtha, insulting him, whatever.

Representative Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) related an message she had received from her district asserting that “cowards cut and run. Marines never do.” Jack Murtha is a former Marine, so the Democrats decided that Schmidt was calling Murtha a coward. This caused hissing from the Dems, and Schmidt later withdrew her remarks.

Democrats accused the Republicans of playing politics with the war. That is precisely what Murtha is doing.