Speaking to a standing room only crowd at  a town hall forum organized by East Side Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney this morning, persistent-Bush-thorn PA Rep. John Murtha had many choice words for the President.

He began by cracking jokes around Bush's campaign pledge to pursue an "humble" foreign policy, summarizing, "This is the most arrogant administration I have ever seen."

Further, Murtha predicted that "one year from now, if we were to stay [in Iraq],  it won't be any better than it is today."

Murtha spared no one. He ridiculed Paul Bremer (and one of his aides) for not having a clue of the relevance of Ayatollah Sistani.  Murtha recounted how he had asked Bremer about "this Sistani guy he's been reading about" and how Bremer then turned to an aide who simply said that "Sistani was a minor cleric."

On news of Bush's latest plans to invade Iran, Murtha quipped, "Our intelligence is so bad in Iraq; who the hell believes it is going to be any better in Iran?"

Murtha also took jabs at the Administration's latest messaging that 70% of Iraq is stable.  "When they say 70% of the country is ok ... hell ... no one lives in 70% of the country.  It's a desert." 

Murtha did not even spare Charles Rangel, Dean of New York's Congressional delegation. In response to a question about whether he favored the draft, Murtha had this to say,  "I advocate a draft.  If we are going to go to war, everyone should have the opportunity to serve.  In fact, Charlie Rangel introduced it, but even Charlie Rangel did not vote for it.  I did."

Sure enough, he was one of only two who supported Rangel's Universal National Service Act.

Murtha concluded by predicting that by year's end "we will deploy out of Iraq."