Rep. John Murtha

April 1, 2008

One of Hillary’s top supporters in Pennsylvania is John Murtha, otherwise known as the tarnished Marine and one who has shamefully drug the whole Marine Corps through the mud. Hillary may want him to quiet down his support of her until this latest story goes away. Last week’s development in the Haditha case drives another nail into the shameful accusations made by Time magazine and Rep. John Murtha.

Time magazine with an assistant from the Pennsylvania Democrat sparked a legal and media inquisition against eight courageous United States Marines. Both Time and Murtha claimed these Marines committed cold-blooded murder in Haditha during a 2005 engagement. They also alleged the Marines participated in covering up their alleged atrocities.

Their lives, like those of the Duke University students who were falsely accused of rape, have been altered by the accusations of Time magazine. That’s to be expected from the liberal press; however, to be trashed by a fellow Marine is simply inexcusable.

After years of litigation and estimated $40 million in taxpayer funds expended, none of the Marines have been found guilty of committing murder or war crimes.

On Nov. 19, 2005, during an insurgent ambush of the Marines of Kilo Company 3rd battalion 1st Marines, 15 Iraqi civilians and nine suspected insurgent ambushers were killed. One Marine was killed in an IED explosion and two others seriously wounded. Thanks to the battalion intelligence officer, Lt. Jeff Dinsmore, who monitored the daylong engagement, the entire Marine chain of command were given the full story of the engagement that very night and it was agreed that no further action in connection with the civilian casualties was needed.

On the basis of Time’s unsubstantiated allegations alone, Murtha publicly charged the Marines had gone on a rampage to avenge the killing of their comrade in the IED explosion and had committed cold-blooded murder. Time has been forced to issue four different retractions of details in their report. Before any investigation had gotten underway Murtha went on a rampage of his own, attacking the Marines in venue after venue.

Murtha’s word of mouth was devastating.

One such Murtha comment was, “Well there’s no question in my mind, what happened was an IED exploded. It killed one Marine. And then a taxi drives up. When the taxi comes up there’s four of five people in it. And they shoot … shoot those four or five people unarmed. And then they go on a rampage throughout the houses and kill people. One woman, as I understand it, in talking to officials in the Marine Corps, was kneeling over a child pleading for mercy and they shot her in cold blood.”

There should be hell to pay for such unfounded characterizations, like he’s thrown out of office this November

Written by Ernie · Filed Under Daily Commentary