Rep. John P. Murtha warns that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating and unless the United States is able to either train Iraqi soldiers more quickly or enlist more aid from other countries, "We are going to have a tough time prevailing."

The Johnstown Democrat, a congressional veteran with a reputation for expertise on military issues, offered his reservations about Iraq in a wide-ranging interview that airs today on the "KD-PG Sunday Edition." Murtha said he believed that the United States had little chance of gaining more foreign help in Iraq as long as President Bush remained in office. He maintained that the president had lost international credibility over the failure to uncover weapons of mass destruction in the aftermath of the war.

Murtha defended Sen. John Kerry against attacks on his war record, and made clear that he believed that Kerry's election was essential to progress in Iraq. The former Marine volunteered, however, that he disagreed with Kerry's war protests after returning from Vietnam and said that, while Kerry's Navy service had earned him the right to his anti-war opinions, he believed his statements 30 years ago had hurt that war effort.

Murtha strongly supported the Bush administration in the months prior to the decision to go to war in Iraq, but this was not the first time in recent weeks that he had offered a dire assessment on the prospects for the war. After a previous statement of concern for the administration handling of the situation, Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, the House majority leader, accused Murtha of politicizing the war.

"This is what they say to anybody who disagrees with them," Murtha said. "This is part of their problem .... You need to hear the bad news, and that is part of the problem with this administration."

Murtha said recent CIA briefings had offered no signs of progress in the occupation.

"I think we are at a crossroads right now with the situation deteriorating," Murtha said.

Speaking as U.S. forces had paused in a nine-day offensive against militia forces loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, Murtha said, "We've had as many people killed since the turnover [of Iraqi sovereignty] as before, so it's not improving. One of the things that worries me most is, first of all, the Sunnis were enemies, then foreign operators were the enemy and now the Shiites. ... We're killing a lot of people, but they're the wrong people that we're killing in many cases. The troops are doing a marvelous job in the hot weather with all the kind of burdens of responsibility, trying to make sure we don't kill innocent people. But it's very hard.''

Murtha said he didn't see any prospect of the United States gaining the foreign help he believes necessary under the current White House.

"When we said we had [evidence of] weapons of mass destruction, we lost all credibility .... Credibility is the key in international relations." Murtha said. "Nobody is going to help, I think, this administration because they feel they were misled and we said we didn't need their help.''

Kevin Madden, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, rejected Murtha's criticism.

"It's unfortunate that critics of the president resort to defeatist attitudes," Madden said. "We've seen a lot of progress -- not long ago Iraq was under the rule of a brutal dictator. Because of this president, the conditions for success are coming together .... If that is what the critics want to call deterioration, that is something that most Americans would disagree with. We have a strong coalition of 30 allies in Iraq."

Murtha came to Kerry's defense against jibes from Vice President Dick Cheney and others over his call for a "more sensitive" war in Iraq.

"America has been in too many wars for any of our wishes, not a one of them was won by being more sensitive," Cheney said in a campaign stop Thursday. "A sensitive war will not destroy the evil men who killed 3,000 Americans and who seek the chemical, nuclear and biological weapons to kill hundreds of thousands more."

Murtha stood by Kerry's assessment.

"In this kind of war you have to be sensitive not only to the enemy but to the people around the enemy, because the more you kill of them the more backlash you're going to get against us," he said. "So I think in listening to what he had to say ... he meant allies' needs and wants, but also the people who surround the enemy. ... I have no problem at all in saying you have to be more sensitive."

Murtha, a decorated Vietnam veteran, similarly defended Kerry against repeated criticisms about his war record from some Navy veterans allied with but separate from the Bush campaign.

"The people on [his] boat seem to support him wholeheartedly," he said. "He volunteered for the most dangerous job in the Navy."

Murtha acknowledged, however, that he took exception to Kerry's anti-war activism in the years after he returned form Vietnam.

"What he did afterward, I disagreed with completely," he said. "The way he portrayed the war, I thought it hurt the war effort. But on the other hand, he was there, and he earned the right to do it.''

Murtha who has a reputation for being able to work across party lines in the House, had a cautious reaction to President Bush's nomination of Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

"Rep. Goss is a good friend of mine; I've dealt with him for years. He's very knowledgeable," Murtha said. "The thing that worries me is that he became very partisan six months ago .... The [Senate confirmation] hearings will bring out whether he's going to be able to withstand the partisan pressures of [this] administration."