November 30, 2008 (LPAC)--In comments at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where he visited wounded U.S. troops and had Thanksgiving dinner with top U.S. military leaders in Europe, House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee chair John Murtha (D-Pa.) said the U.S. should use diplomacy, not the military in Africa.

``We can't win these wars militarily. Nobody wants us over there. I think Liberia wants us. Nobody else.... You can't just throw money at it, and you can't win it militarily. It has to be done diplomatically. So I've been trying to shift money, and convince the people that make the decision on where the money goes that more money should go to the State Department for those kind of things,'' according to the political and news blog wizbangblog.

During the Democratic presidential primary, Murtha was a strong backer of Hillary Clinton, who is expected to be named Secretary of State Dec. 1.

The Bush regime sought $389 million for AFRICOM, the United States Africa Command, for fiscal 2009. Earlier this year during the budgetary process, the subcommittee Murtha chairs recommended providing AFRICOM barely over a fifth of that, $80.6 million, for fiscal 2009. In the end, AFRICOM's budget was approved at $266 million.

Vince Crawley, a spokesman for AFRICOM, noted recently that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already spoken about the need for the State Department to get a bigger share of the funding.