U.S. Veep Dick Cheney ripped those who dared accuse the Bush administration of hyping pre-war intel on Iraq's WMDs -- but still has a kind word for a Congressman and retired Marine colonel who thinks the U.S. should pull its troops out of Iraq now.

An excerpt from a Washington Post story:

"Any suggestion that prewar information was distorted, hyped, fabricated by the leader of the nation is utterly false," Cheney said, decrying the "self-defeating pessimism" of many Democrats. He added that to begin withdrawing from Iraq now, as some lawmakers have suggested, "would be a victory for the terrorists."

The 19-minute speech cast the vice president in a familiar role: as the no-nonsense purveyor of a Bush administration policy that he was central in developing. Yet Cheney's defiant public image concerns even some White House aides.

The speech came amid a determined White House effort to answer critics of a war that polls show is growing increasingly unpopular, and that in recent weeks has helped erode Bush's standing with the public to the lowest of his presidency.

But the war has hurt Cheney's reputation even more. A recent Newsweek poll found that only 29 percent of Americans regard him as honest and ethical. The same poll found that more than one in four Republicans agreed with that dim assessment of Cheney's integrity -- a finding that surprised some top White House aides, who were already concerned about how the public views the vice president.

Beyond Iraq, Cheney's popularity is sagging under the weight of the indictment of his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, in the CIA leak case and by his determined campaign to exempt the CIA from anti-torture standards, which has provoked opposition even from Republicans on Capitol Hill.

"I think he is the point man for the discontent with the Bush administration," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for People and the Press. "There are many people who associate him with Bush policies, notably the war in Iraq, that they are very unhappy with."

Kohut said that Cheney's sinking popularity may be compounded by his political style. "He is not a jocular personality," Kohut said. "He's not out talking in the public a lot. Certainly, the Scooter Libby problem, which has really added to the White House woes, is associated with him. All of these things tend to make him a bigger heavy for Bush's critics."

Here's what Cheney had to say about John Murtha, the retired Marine, in an AP article on Yahoo! News:

Following President Bush's lead, Cheney praised the character of Rep. John Murtha even as he voiced strong disagreement with the Pennsylvania Democrat's proposal last week to pull out all U.S. troops.

"He's a good man, a Marine, a patriot — and he's taking a clear stand in an entirely legitimate discussion," Cheney told the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. Cheney, who represented Wyoming in the House of Representatives in the 1980s, called Murtha "my friend and former colleague."

A key Democrat on military issues with close ties to the Pentagon, Murtha set off a firestorm last week when he proposed all of the some 160,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq be pulled out over the next six months.

Congressional Republicans denounced him and White House spokesman Scott McClellan, traveling with the president in Asia, branded him as an ultraliberal comparable to activist filmmaker Michael Moore.

Later, Bush and other administration officials toned down their criticism, fearful of a backlash in support of Murtha. Bush on Sunday called Murtha "a fine man" and longtime supporter of the military.

Murtha was "taking a clear stand in an entirely legitimate discussion," Cheney said.

However, Cheney said, "It is a dangerous illusion to suppose that another retreat by the civilized world would satisfy the appetite of the terrorists and get them to leave us alone."

"Those who advocate a sudden withdrawal from Iraq should answer a few simple questions," Cheney said, such as whether the United States would be "better off or worse off" with terror leaders such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,

Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri in control of Iraq.

Murtha told CNN, "I'm trying to prevent another Vietnam" and predicted Cheney would eventually see it that way, too. "This war cannot be won militarily, ... cannot be won on the ground," Murtha said.

Earlier Monday, in his hometown of Johnstown, Pa., Murtha defended his call for a pullout, suggesting he was only following shifting American sentiment as reflected in polls and phone calls and e-mails to his office.

"The public turned against this war before I said it," Murtha told reporters after a speech at a civic center. Murtha, 73, is a decorated Vietnam veteran, has served in Congress for three decades and is the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.