WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rep. John Murtha, a key Democratic voice who favors pulling U.S. troops from Iraq, said in remarks airing on Monday that he would not join the U.S. military today.

A decorated Vietnam combat veteran who retired as a colonel after 37 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Murtha told ABC News' "Nightline" program that Iraq "absolutely" was a wrong war for President George W. Bush to have launched.

"Would you join (the military) today?," he was asked in an interview taped on Friday.

"No," replied Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending and one of his party's leading spokesmen on military issues.

"And I think you're saying the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying 'I don't want to serve'," the interviewer continued.

"Exactly right," said Murtha

If you can’t force recruiting numbers down enough to bring back the draft (and thus prove yourself right) by: maliciously attacking the President, stating that we “cannot win” in Iraq, complaining about ill-equipped and ill-trained soldiers (however facetious those claims are), or just making things up…

Heck, just strait up tell kids not to join, after all, it’s the “Patriotic” thing to do.

Good grief.