Will Jack Murtha Apologize Now???

Jim Addison over at Wizbang has this very interesting post (read it--please!) that underscores the fact that only one Marine continues to face charges in the alleged "Haditha Massacre," and that the case against that Marine is crumbling.

Gary Gross, as well as myself, have contacted Murtha's office for a statement each time one of the Haditha Marines had been acquitted of charges; only to be hung up on at the least, and/or given short shrift at the most, saying that Murtha's choice was to wait until all proceedings were done.

When this last Marine (Sgt. Frank Wueterich) is finally exonerated, where will John Murtha (D--PA-12) hide?

Another Marine Deserves a Murtha Apology

The Washington Post is reporting that Lt. Col. Paul Ware is recommending that LCpl. Stephen Tatum shouldn't be court-martialed. LCpl. Tatum is yet another Haditha Marine that Rep. John Murtha accused of cold-blooded murder. As such, Rep. Murtha owes yet another Haditha Marine an apology.

The shootings began after a bomb blast killed one Marine and injured two others as the unit drove a convoy through Haditha. The Marines then killed a group of men who were in a car nearby before heading into two houses in the vicinity. Ware found that Tatum was following his rules of engagement when he fired his rifle in the two houses.

"What occurred in house 1 and house 2 are tragedies," Ware wrote. "The photographs of the victims are heart wrenching, and the desire to explain this tragedy as criminal act and not the result of training and fighting an enemy that hides among innocents is great. However, in the end, my opinion is that there is insufficient evidence for trial. LCpl Tatum shot and killed people in houses 1 and 2, but the reason he did so was because of his training and the circumstances he was placed in, not to exact revenge and commit murder."

Col. Paul Ware doesn't deny that LCpl. Tatum killed civilians in "House 1 and House 2." What Col. Ware is essentially saying is that LCpl. Tatum killed these innocents because the insurgents amongst the innocent civilians. As such, LCpl. Tatum did what he was trained to do. Ware is saying that Tatum obeyed the ROE.

Col. Ware's recommendation doesn't automatically mean that LCpl. Tatum won't be court-martialed. That decision rests with Lt. Gen. James Mattis. However, considering the strong wording of Col. Ware's recommendation, I can't see how Gen. Mattis could justify the court-martial of LCpl. Tatum.

This is just more proof that John Murtha's accusations of May 17, 2006 weren't based on facts that surfaced as part of the initial NCIS investigation. Murtha's allegations are the result of Murtha's willfully ignoring the US Constitution's guarantees of the presumption of innocence, right to a fair trial and due process. Murtha's accusations are now being exposed for what they are: an appeal to the anti-war extremists known as the Nutroots Netroots. It doesn't appear as though Rep. Murtha thought twice about throwing these Marines under the bus in his quest for power. That's unforgivable.

A congressman's oath of office includes the pledge that they will uphold the Constitution. Clearly, that oath meant little, if anything, to Rep. Murtha. Rep. Murtha didn't care that he was destroying the reputations of Justin Sharratt, Stephen Tatum and Capt. Stone.

I've said this before and I'll say it again: Rep. Murtha should resign from office or be involuntarily driven from office for violating his oath of office. He's disgraced the Marine Corps. He owes Mssrs. Sharratt, Tatum and Stone personal apologies. He also owes the USMC an apology, too.

I'm calling on thoughtful people of all political persuasions to pressure Rep. Murtha into resigning. If Rep. Murtha doesn't resign, then I'd call on these same thoughtful people to call their representative and demand that they file an ethics complaint against John Murtha. Once that complaint is filed, I'd ask these people to demand that the House of Representatives vote for Rep. Murtha's expulsion.

That's the only honorable thing for them to do. Unfortunately, I don't believe that Nancy Pelosi will ever let it go that far.

When voters go to the polls in November of 2008, we should hold anyone that shields Rep. Murtha from ethics sanctions. Anyone that willingly protects a man who disdains the US Constitution isn't fit for elected office.

Technorati: John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi, Scandal, Haditha Marines, Stephen Tatum, Justin Sharratt, Randy Stone, Paul Ware, James Mattis

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Sucks to be you, Jack.

Not only is Jack Murtha running for cover after falsely convicting Haditha Marines of cold blooded murder, now he's being bitten about the ankles by some dirty little things called earmarks.

Murtha's defense of earmarks questioned

By S.A. Miller
August 9, 2007

Mr. Murtha, who is one of the most prolific sponsors of earmarks in the Democrat-led Congress, defended the practice during debate Saturday night when questioned by Mr. Campbell and Rep. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican.

“I think people around the country will be appalled ... to see Mr. Murtha stand up and say these contracts are competitively bid. They are not,” Mr. Flake said by telephone after returning home to Mesa, Ariz.

Mr. Flake commended new ethics rules passed this year that disclose more earmarks, but he lamented that the lawmakers allow the practice to flourish, regardless of what is disclosed.

“Ultimately, the system will change when people on the outside say, ‘This is enough," ” he said.

The bill contained 1,337 earmarks worth $3 billion, with $150 million in pork sponsored by Mr. Murtha.

Under the new rules, the number of earmarks in the defense bill dropped from the $10 billion in last year"s bill, but Mr. Murtha"s share of pork nearly doubled now that he is chairman, according to an analysis by Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Of course, true to the weasely nature of brave, brave Sir Murtha

Mr. Murtha did not respond to requests for comment.

However, Murtha did "explain" himself

He told the chamber that the pork spending, known as earmarks, is awarded in a competitive bidding process by the Pentagon and that the technology developed with federal dollars would be the property of the U.S. government.

Errr...nice try Jack:

“He"s got to know that"s not true,” said Rep. John Campbell, California Republican. “Clearly, the point of earmarks is they avoid the competitive bidding process.”

He also doubted that an earmark could establish a contractual agreement for product ownership, as did Steve Ellis, vice president of the government-watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.

“I"ve looked at hundreds of thousands of earmarks over the years, and I"ve never seen one that stipulates ownership,” Mr. Ellis said.

Mr. Campbell said he was seeking documentation from the Defense Department to refute Mr. Murtha"s claims and force him to retract the statements.

But again,

Mr. Murtha did not respond to requests for comment.

Me thinks me sees a pattern here.


Seems as if Jack Murtha's credibility bubbles are popping about him, leaving behind a thick coat of slime.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Still Running For Cover

Yesterday, Gen. Mattis dropped all charges against Capt. Randy Stone and LCpl. Justin Sharratt of the so-called Haditha Marines. In light of this fact, does Rep. Murtha wish to make a statement about this development?

When I posed this question to Rep. Murtha's DC office, the woman answering the phone said that Rep. Murtha didn't have a comment. Before I could ask another question, this woman hung up. That's when I called Murtha's DC office back and asked this question:

Considering the fact that Rep. Murtha accused these men during the initial NCIS investigation, why doesn't Rep. Murtha have a statement?

Her steely-voiced response was "There won't be any statements until all of the investigations have been completed."

Undeterred, I asked why they were taking this approach. The woman essentially gave a 'no comment' answer. I said that I'd keep checking back until Rep. Murtha did make a statement, to which she replied "That's just fine, Sir." before hanging up on me a second time.

Murtha's staffer is essentially taking an indefensible position because Rep. Murtha has repeatedly made irresponsible and indefensible statements about these Marines. This highlights an obvious double standard on Murtha's behalf. He didn't think twice about making these unfounded accusations while the initial NCIS investigation was being conducted but he won't say a word now when two of the men he accused of cold-blooded murder have been totally exonerated.

Rep. Murtha's actions throughout this make believe scandal have been reprehensible. As I've stated before, his accusations were made before charges had been filed against any of these Marines is a clear violation of their due process rights. Similarly, he violated their right to a fair trial. To top that off, he attempted to have them presumed guilty instead of giving them the benefit of being presumed innocent.

It's time that this corrupt politician to resign his seat in the House of Representatives and to apologize to the Haditha Marines and their families. Finally, it's time he apologized to the Marine Corps itself for assuming the worst behavior of these Marines.

Technorati: John Murtha, NCIS, Corruption, Scandal, Haditha Marines, Randy Stone, Justin Sharratt

Cross-posted at California Conservative

Gen. Mattis to Justin Sharratt: Case Dismissed!!!

My good friend Darryl Sharratt just posted the good news on Freepers. Here's what Darryl posted:

At 7:00 PST, 9 August 2007 Justin and his attorney met with a Marine Corps representative in an office at Camp Pendleton, CA. At this time, my son LCpl Justin Sharratt, was handed an official Marine Corps Disposition of Charges document declaring the charges stemming from the 19 November 2005 Haditha engagement have been officially dismissed. The last line of the two page Disposition Of Charges document ended with these words from the General, "And as you have always remained cloaked in the presumption of innocence, with this dismissal of charges, you remain in the eyes of the law- and in my eyes- innocent." Lt. Gen James T. Mattis

Jim Robinson—My family would like to offer you a sincere and deep felt thank you. During our darkest days you allowed us to publish our story here on Free Republic. When others went deaf, you listened and you heard. Our belief in God, our belief in the innocence of our son and the support and prayers of the American people helped us through this rough ordeal. Our family has met a group of American patriots here on FR that my words fall short in thanking. You helped us through these trying times with your support, thoughts and financial assistance. My family is truly proud to be an American family. You took us in and made us part of Your Family. For that I can never thank you enough.

With the General’s announcement of the exoneration of my son, LCpl Justin L. Sharratt, part of our journey has ended. Another has just begun. We will put our lives together and continue the fight for the remaining Haditha Marines. By now, you know these men. They are part of my family and I know you have made them part of yours. My son served with these men and he would have given up his life for them. I hope to find justice for these Marines and the battle has just begun. God Bless.

Redrover, Madison Marine, Girlene, Marine Uncle, Eagles6, Semper Fi Mom, Jazusamo, 4 woodenboats, LanceyHoward, brityank, pinkpanther, Chickenhawk Warmonger, RaceBannon, xzins, velveeta, freema and others- names, with no faces. You helped my family through this and we may never be able to express our gratitude. Thank You!!!!!!

I can't wait to talk with Darryl again. I can't imagine the joy that's sweeping through the Sharratt family this instant. This has been an arduous, emotional ordeal for their family, especially since the charges appeared shaky from the beginning.

Knowing Darryl a little bit, I know that he's committed to getting justice for all of the Marines in Kilo Company. Capt. Randy Stone also had his charges dropped:

All charges were dropped against a captain accused of failing to investigate the deaths of 24 civilians in Haditha, the Marine Corps announced Thursday. Also, all charges were dropped against Marine Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, who had been accused of killing three Iraqi brothers in response to a roadside bomb attack in Haditha in 2005.

Capt. Randy W. Stone, 35, a battalion lawyer from Dunkirk, Md., was one of four officers charged with failing to adequately probe the killings. "It is clear to me that any error of omission or commission by Capt. Stone does not warrant action under the Uniform Code of Military Justice," Lt. Gen. James Mattis wrote.

Talk about good news coming in bunches!!! This is indeed great news. This is also proof that seemingly ordinary men who tirelessly seek the truth will be rewarded. One man that fits that description is Tim Harrington. Tim has worked so hard on digging out evidence of these men's innocence that he's become an 'adopted' member of these Marines' families. Justice-loving people should thank Tim for his role in exposing the holes in the prosecution's cases.

Gen. Mattis did the right thing in dropping the charges against LCpl. Justin Sharratt and Capt. Stone. I wish he'd just done it sooner.

There's more than a few 'down arrows' to go around. One of them goes to Rep. John Murtha. On May 17, 2006, Rep. Murtha declared that these Marines had "killed innocent civilians in cold blood." We now know that that's been proven false beyond all doubt. Furthermore, Rep. Murtha declared that these Marines had covered this up and that "It's much worse than was reported in Time magazine."

Two groups of people deserving of swift boots in the pants are the NCIS investigators and JAG prosecutors. They've wrongly accused these American heroes of horrific crimes. What's worse is that they kept going after hearing Jeffrey Dinsmore's testimony:

As previously reported by NewsMax, the battalion S2 officer made a full and complete report based on his monitoring of the day's events and the intelligence he and others had amassed then and previous days. As we wrote at the time, the PowerPoint after-action report he sent up the command ladder proved to all the higher officers that the incident warranted no further investigation.

Here's what we know from Capt. Dinsmore's testimony:

• Intelligence gathered by Marine S2 officers in advance of the events of Nov. 19th, 2005, revealed that it was known that an insurgent ambush was planned for the day.
• Although exact details of the planned ambush were not known, some important details were revealed, most importantly, that some 20 insurgents would take part, and a white car would play an important role in the ambush.
• The intelligence was made available to the officers and men of Kilo Company, including Sgt. Frank Wuterich who has been charged with, among other things, murdering the occupants of a white car that came on the scene following the IED explosion that killed one Marine and seriously wounded another. The evidence will show that Wuterich acted appropriately when he shot the passengers of the vehicle.
• Although the media continues to report that 24 innocent civilians were killed that day, the S2's testimony shows that eight of the dead, including four of the five occupants in the white car killed by Wuterich, were known insurgents and the dead civilians therefore numbered 16, not 24.
• The insurgents whose communications were intercepted and which revealed the planned ambush were the same two men who were the sources of the fallacious and dishonest Time magazine story, which was the source of the accusations against the Marines.
• As previously reported by NewsMax, the battalion S2 officer made a full and complete report based on his monitoring of the day's events and the intelligence he and others had amassed then and previous days. As we wrote at the time, the PowerPoint after-action report he sent up the command ladder proved to all the higher officers that the incident warranted no further investigation. None!

This begs several questions of the JAG prosecutors:

• Considering they knew about Capt. Dinsmore's testimony, why did they continue onto other Article 32 hearings?
• Considering Capt. Dinsmore's testimony, isn't it impossible to sustain the charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani for dereliction of duty?
• Considering the fact that LCpl. Sharratt and Sgt. Frank Wuterich are accused of the same crimes, shouldn't his charges be dropped, too?

Shouldn't John Murtha (a) apologize to these genuine American heroes, (b) apologize to their families, (c) apologize to the Marine Corps and finally (d) resign from the House of Representatives for having leveled these charges without so much as even been briefed on the results of the investigations?

Technorati: Justin Sharratt, Darryl Sharratt, Randy Stone, Frank Wuterich, Jeffrey Chessani, Jeffrey Dinsmore, Tim Harrington, John Murtha, NCIS, JAG, Corruption, Scandals

The Kook Left's Divorce with Murtha...

...is now final






Since his announcement of surrender to third world thugs in November of 2005, Jack Murtha has been the darling of the left-wing fever swamp. Basking in the adoration of the leftist elements, Murtha felt emboldened to continue unabated his diatribes against the war, and felt so emboldened as to throw fellow Marines under the bus with impunity, as a means of burnishing his credentials with the kook left base of the democrat party. Feeling his oats, he overplayed his hand in vying for the majority leader position in the House. But even the endorsement of his partner-in-crime Nancy Pelosi couldn't cement the gig. Dejected, but prideful, Murtha continued his seditious path, accepting and advocating for nothing less than the prospect of unconditional surrender of the United States to third-world savage psychopaths, and was thus still accepted in the fringe of left-wing circles.

But there's one thing that his storied career in the House of Representatives has proven axiomatic: Nothing, but nothing gets in the way between Jack Murtha and money.

So when it came time to approve the measure signed into law by President Bush to accept the 9/11 commission recommendation that defense appropriations become above-board, Murtha politely said, "Crap!"

Of course, Murtha's long history of shady deals and earmarks, along with his recent eschewing of earmark reform suggests Murtha's decision had absolutely nothing to do with keeping defense secrets. Rather, it had everything to do with keeping his earmarks and sweetheart defense deals far from the eye of public scrutiny.

This, of course, was the last straw for the moonbat faithful, who had heretofore hitched their wagons to a self-serving gasbag ex-Marine to lead them to the promised land of a failed, subservient, land flowing with political correctness and socialism for all:

mikelgb (1000+ posts)

Tue Aug-07-07 12:23 PM Response to Original message

11. Murtha is covering up his earmarks

I saw the floor debate when Issa offered his amendment... and I saw Murtha accepting it without even letting Issa mention the title or substance of the amendment but it was already after the FISA bill had passed so nothing much mattered anymore

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babylonsister (1000+ posts)

Tue Aug-07-07 12:28 PM Response to Reply #11

14. That was my first thought, too; makes you wonder if everything is

aboveboard, why does he need to cover them up? I don't want to accuse Murtha of anything, so will just wait and see how this shakes out.

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Kagemusha (1000+ posts)

Tue Aug-07-07 12:36 PM Response to Reply #14

15. There's no need to accuse Murtha - he has a well earned reputation for this.

The ONLY reason that he got on the good side of the base is because he came out against the Iraq war, which shocked people because he was such a good soldier, so to speak. But where appropriations are concerned, he never changed his spots, not one bit.

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NoodleyAppendage (1000+ posts)

Tue Aug-07-07 12:24 PM Response to Original message

12. Blackmail to keep his earmarks under wraps. Yet another DEM WHORE? Be gone asswipe!

Murtha is the king of earmarks, many of which are probably for private firms working with the intelligence community. Alternatively, it's also possible that Chimperator has dirt on Murtha and Murtha isn't man enough to buck his blackmail attempts. Gone are the days of honor. J

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redqueen (1000+ posts)

Tue Aug-07-07 12:27 PM Response to Original message

13. Unbelievable...

just... ugh. *sigh*

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donkeyotay (1000+ posts)

Tue Aug-07-07 01:04 PM Response to Original message

18. I can see where the opposing view would merit debate

"The opposing view," according to Aftergood, "adopted by the 9/11 Commission and endorsed by Congress last month, is that budget disclosure is an indispensable precondition to broader accountability and that it is essential to restoring the credibility of a defective classification system." Accountability. Restored credibility. Naw. Let's just keep on with more of the same.

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Vidar (1000+ posts)

Tue Aug-07-07 02:01 PM Response to Original message

20. Fuck that!

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AX10 (1000+ posts)

Tue Aug-07-07 02:08 PM Response to Original message

21. Murtha, now there's someone I trust with accountability.

Murtha doesn't want us to see the pork he's bringing home. That pork is not going for things such as roads and hospitals, but to his defense contractor buddies.

Never let it be said, Mr. Murtha, that I am an uncaring, unfeeling lout.

I know that your now-severed relationship with the moonbat faithful must be very difficult for you.

So as a token of compassion, I leave you with this:



And just remember, as you wax poetic of the bygone days when you were the darling of the fever swamp left, though you will never again have the moonbat faithful groveling at your feet,

At least you'll always have your earmarks.

:::sniff::::