Murtha was a Marine officer during the Vietnam War, earning a Bronze Star and two Purple Heart medals. Murtha, in his 34th year in Congress, is an outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s Iraq policy.

He holds strong views about the effect of the war on the U.S. military and the public, which he detailed in a speech last week to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonpartisan Washington think tank.

“Less than 1 percent of the public is making the sacrifice that these troops [in Iraq and Afghanistan] are making,” Murtha said. He noted his proposal for a war tax, which was shot down by the Democratic leadership.

“You can’t put a trillion-dollar war on a credit card and leave the bills for our children to pay,” he said. “The same Americans suffering in Iraq today will be paying for this borrowed war for the rest of their lives.”

In other words, he suggested, the same troops who are fighting now will end up paying for the cost of the war.

Murtha is a strong advocate of the 24-year-old Defense Department Family Advocacy Program, which pays for counseling for service members dealing with several issues, from their children’s truancy to emotional or sexual abuse of spouses. He said that troops at U.S. military bases have told him about their families’ need for counseling.