Uncanny

I just had a chance to see the Steve Carell film Evan Almighty on DVD and I have to say that John Goodman does a masterful job of portraying Congressman Jack Murtha.

In other words, he plays a big, fat, corrupt, long-serving Congressman who manipulates newer members of the House into doing his bidding for his personal gain. If Hollywood ever needs to cast an actor for the role of John Murtha in a film, all it has to do is have John Goodman reprise his role in Evan Almighty.

Squirm, Murtha, Squirm...

...Political inferno (h/t the Trammps), as in day of reckoning for "Jack the Jihad Hack."

From Roll Call via NRCC:

A defamation lawsuit against Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) over his comments about unnamed Marines involved in the Haditha incident in Iraq continued to move forward last week despite his lawyer's attempts to quash it.

Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich sued Murtha in August 2006, alleging that Murtha "publicly and falsely accused" the Marines of "cold-blooded murder and war crimes" without facts to support that claim.

Murtha has until Nov. 5 to produce documents requested by Wuterich's lawyer Mark Zaid. Zaid has made 24 documents, including materials having to do with conversations Murtha had with military officials and staff regarding the Haditha incident, his campaign activities with regards to comments he made about Haditha, and Murtha's schedule between March 1 and Aug. 10, 2006.

At a status hearing Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Darrell Valdez, representing Murtha on behalf of the Justice Department, was issued a notice of deposition for Murtha on Nov. 27.

Murtha's office did not respond to requests for comment.

Hmmm... Surprising. NOT. But wait a minute, the fun and laughter continues:

Murtha's lawyers have argued that his actions fit under the purview of his official duties. If the district court or the D.C. appeals court finds that Murtha was acting in his official capacity when he made the Haditha comments, the U.S. government would be substituted for Murtha as a defendant, which would mean the case would essentially be finished because the United States cannot be sued for libel or slander. If Murtha's lawyers try to appeal the case, they will have to move to stay discovery and the deposition, or they'll be in contempt of court for ignoring Collyer's order, according to Zaid.

Hey, Jihad Jack, you say you were a Marine at one time.  How about doing the honorable thing for once and tell the truth that the House Majority Leader's office looked just so inviting that that your big fat mouth (which, incidentally is a dead ringer for your "big phat backside") just had a mind of its own when it went and prattled that Marines in Haditha "lost it" and murdered innocent civilians in cold blood.  And then went on to flat out lie that there was no firefight-- just a bunch of friendly civilians minding their own business.  Feh.

But I suppose you left your Honor as a Marine in the geographical area south of your waistline where your brains reside, didn't you?  And now you cut and run from your responsibility to admit the truth, by trying to hide behind a legal loophole that you were only performing your official duties when you decided to play judge, jury and executioner and slander a group of Marines whose only "crime" was to execute their duties in a manner totally befitting the honor of their orders, their rules of engagement, and their Corps. 

Jack P. Murtha--know this:  You can try to cut and run behind a loophole to save your sorry arse.  But in the end you'll never be able to cut and run from the truth, nor from your Creator. 

Sooner or later, justice will prevail.

Murtha to Get His Due...

Murtha has a challenger for his seat, according to Fox News:

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — A career Army member left the service two years short of retirement to move here and try his hand at politics by challenging longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. John Murtha.

First-time candidate William T. Russell, 45, a Republican, acknowledged that taking on a popular, 18-term congressman in the 2008 election will be "an uphill battle."

"But it's one that must be fought," Russell told the Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown.

Russell plans to formally announce his candidacy within weeks. Murtha has declined comment on the challenge.

I'd love to see Murtha squirm on this one.

Especially if there's a certain now-exonerated Marine from Murtha's own district named Justin Sharrat who campaigns with Russell.

Text of Justin & Darryl Sharrat interview with Sean Hannity

Transcript I received via email from unknown source.

I will attribute it, as soon as I know.

**UPDATE*** source Here.

I made an error earlier, stating that this interview was to be on today's Hannity's America. It is evident in this interview that it will actually air in a couple weeks.

From an interview on Friday, October 14, 2007:

SEAN HANNITY: In just a few minutes we're going to be joined-remember it was John Murtha, "Ah, because of the pressure they killed innocent civilians in
cold blood."

Well, most of the Marines have now been exonerated in Haditha. You know, this rush to judgment to make a political point.What do you think it was like for those families for a year and a half of their lives? Having a United States Congressman accusing them of murdering innocent people in cold blood when in fact all they were doing was defending themselves and that's what the investigation showed.

[Sean stalled for time by telling a John Edwards story because Justin and Darryl Sharratt were just arriving in the studio.]

I want you to think about this. Think about the difficulty of what life would be like in Iraq, serving in Iraq.[to Darryl]. Mr Sharratt, you can sit right there. [to Justin] Right here, so I can get a good look at you. Thank you guys for being here.

Imagine what it's like. You go, you put your life on the line for your country, and then you're involved in an incident where an IED explodes and one of your fellow Marines is killed. And then fire comes in. How difficult would that be? And on top of it, you have a United States Congressman, before the case was even investigated, accused you of murdering innocent
civilians in cold blood.

Well, that actually happened to Justin Sharratt who is here in our studios (and Darryl Sharratt, his father). He was one of the Marines, he was there in Haditha.

How are you doing, sir? Semper fi. Welcome to the program.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Thank you. I'm doing pretty good.

SEAN HANNITY: How are you liking New York?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: It's a little busy with the traffic today, but it's pretty nice place.

SEAN HANNITY: Now what's interesting is that John Murtha is your congressman.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes, that is correct. Murtha gave false information

SEAN HANNITY: Why don't we bring everybody back here-Mr. Sharratt, good to see you, sir, thank you for being with us. You actually wrote in your blog at what point because you were defending your son, you said, we knew that our son was innocent. You said our family had to endure the accusations that our son was a murderer. And we knew, and certain powers within our government, knew that those charges were false. Why do you think that's the case?

DARRYL SHARRATT: That's what was so frustrating about what happened with our family, Sean. We had information, we had the truth about Haditha, and we had to endure what John Murtha said on May 17 [2005] when he called my son a cold-blooded murderer. We had the information and we were just frustrated and in disbelief that Murtha uttered these words because as a US Congressman he was telling us that he had the information from the higher ups. And he is giving false information.

SEAN HANNITY: So for a year and a half, you live under a cloud of suspicion. Your son is out there fighting for the presumption of innocence of all Americans. And now your son is not granted that, even though he was protecting that liberty for all of us. Does that make you angry as a father?

DARRYL SHARRATT: Yes, it makes me angry as an American and I hope the American people will understand that also.

Our military personnel take the oath to serve and protect our constitution. Mr. Murtha took that same oath and he is denying the presumption of innocence and due process, what is guaranteed under our constitution, to our Marines and my son.

Justin Sharratt in Iraq and in Haditha

SEAN HANNITY: You know, Justin, what is amazing to me is that I find people who rush to judgment about people in the military. You were there. You were under fire.

First of all, how long did you serve in Iraq, how long were you there?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: I did two deployments, both of them eight to nine months long.

LCpl Justin Sharratt, second deployment, January 2006.

SEAN HANNITY: And you signed up, as I understand it, after 9/11 in part because you wanted to serve your country and you knew you were likely to go to war.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes, that is correct.

SEAN HANNITY: So you knew you were going to put your life on the line for your countrymen here?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes, I did.

SEAN HANNITY: And going to Iraq, you were proud to go there, even though you knew the risks.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes, I did.

SEAN HANNITY: And you were in a place where there was heavy fire, as I understand it. How many Marines do you know who died, people who you knew personally?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: More than I want to count.

SEAN HANNITY: Why don't you bring us back to that day, and tell us what happened. The first thing that happened is that you're in a convoy and an IED goes off. Explain to everybody what happened.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Basically, that day started just like any other day. We had to go out to what we called a combat outpost which was a platoon--a house from where they did patrols of a sector of the city.

When that day started off, we got in the vehicles on a convoy and went to the combat outpost to drop off chow, food and water, for the Marines who were already over there. On the way back to the main firmbase where the rest of the company was, we got hit by an IED.

SEAN HANNITY: How many HUMVEE convoy did you have?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: There were four HUMVEEs in the convoy.

SEAN HANNITY: And you were in the first one as I understand it.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes.

SEAN HANNITY: That's the most dangerous one usually, right? The one that would get hit if it went over where they planted an IED?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes, that is correct.

SEAN HANNITY: But in this case it was the fourth HUMVEE that got hit.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes.

SEAN HANNITY: All of a sudden you hear the explosion. What happened?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: I look behind to see if the other vehicles are still following us, see which one possibly got hit. I remember seeing the second vehicle and third vehicle but I couldn't see the fourth one. And I remember looking at a smoke cloud that rose to about 500 to a 1,000 feet in the air.

SEAN HANNITY: That's got to be one of the most frightening experiences anybody can go through.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: It is a heart-stopper for a second.

SEAN HANNITY: Now this was one of those moments where you did you lose one of your comrades, you did lose a friend, you lost a fellow Marine.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes, one Marine died and two were wounded.

SEAN HANNITY: Wounded pretty severely as I understand it.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes.

SEAN HANNITY: Explain what happens next. Reports are that there was enemy fire-this was a common practice of the insurgency. An IED goes off, obviously chaos begins, it's very difficult, you're trying to save your fellow Marines, and [insurgents] start picking off Marines with sniper fire, isn't that a common practice?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes, we call it a coordinated attack. They'll detonate an IED and .and immediately after anywhere from one to a company-size insurgent force will put small arms fire toward the area that they hit with the IED to further damage our convoy. And by the time the Marines would come back to assess the situation and fight back, they would already be gone.

SEAN HANNITY: And how long was it after this IED went off that you knew you had lost a fellow Marine?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: It was a minute to five minutes.

SEAN HANNITY: You knew you had a Marine who was murdered that day.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes.

SEAN HANNITY: And how soon after the IED went off did this gunfire start coming in on you guys?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Immediately.

SEAN HANNITY: Immediately. And was it rapid, was there a lot of people shooting at you?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Oh, yes.

SEAN HANNITY: So what did you do? What's the standard operating procedure? What did you do from that point?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: We called our QRF, which is a Quick Reaction Force, another squad in our platoon, they came down to get the casualties and take them to a CASEVAC, which is a landing strip for a helicopter, and they'll pick up the casualties and take them to a larger base in Iraq, if they need surgery.

So we called in for that QRF and the rest of the squad dismounted our vehicles, left a few Marines to keep security on the vehicles and we sent out a fireteam which is about four-plus Marines and we went toward the houses we were taking fire from.

SEAN HANNITY: So you're going right to the house from where you're taking fire.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes.

SEAN HANNITY: And you go into that house.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes, later on I did.

SEAN HANNITY: And what happened when you went into that house that was firing on these Marines?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: When I went in there, the firefight was already over.

SEAN HANNITY: What had happened?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: What I was told happened, when they went into the houses that there were insurgents hiding behind civilians.

SEAN HANNITY: Did you end up having to fire at anybody when you were there?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: I did, throughout the rest of the day. I had to fire in the last house and in another instance.

SEAN HANNITY: And what happened when you had to fire? Did you have to kill anybody?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes, I did.

SEAN HANNITY: Explain the circumstances.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: The situation I was in specifically was referred to as house four in all the reports. It was the last house. We went over there on a suspicion because there were Iraqi males poking their heads over walls looking at us. We watched them do this for about half an hour. At one point, my team leader, Corporal Salinas, fired a training purpose round out of his
grenade launcher on his M16. A training purpose round is what we call blue death. It's a plastic shell with orange paint inside it. So when it hits the wall, it's just going to splatter paint everywhere which would let those Iraqis know, hey, we're watching you.


SSgt Frank Wuterich and Cpl Hector Salinas

So the last time he did that, they went inside and then twenty minutes later, they kept doing it. So we down there to see exactly what they were up to.

So we walked down the road to the houses which ended up being two houses and one courtyard. The first house we went into had all women and children. And we asked them where the men were, the insurgents, did they have any weapons? And they pointed next door.

So we left one Marine to guard those women and children and myself and Staff Sergeant Wuterich went to the next house.

When we get in the house, the first room was completely empty. No one was even in it. I went to walk their doorway to continue searching. When I got to the doorway, there was an insurgent with an AK-47 pointed at me.

So I brought my SAW up, my Squad Automatic Weapon, a full automatic machine gun, and I went to fire at him and my SAW jammed.

SEAN HANNITY: That's got to be scary.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: It is. So what happened was I pulled out of that doorway and I had a 9mm pistol with me. I let my SAW hang on the sling and I pulled out the 9mm pistol. I went back up the doorway, hoping that insurgent would still be there. He wasn't at first. I waited a second and he popped back up, bringing his AK-47 up at me, so I shot at him, killing him. Then I went into the room, hoping I'd have the speed to get in there and stop any other threat. And when I walked in there, there were three Iraqi insurgents and the first one had an AK-47. He saw me and he was getting ready to draw it up. There were two other guys behind him. I couldn't tell if there were armed or not but I wasn't going to take any chance so I drew my 9mm pistol and I took them all out.

[Note: SSgt. Wuterich was involved in this shooting as well.]

SEAN HANNITY: And that's what you're supposed to do. That's what you're training teaches you to do.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Correct.

SEAN HANNITY: That those who would second-guess you when you're life is on the line like that is frightening.

We have to take a break here. When we come back, I want to play the Murtha tape and get your reaction to what Murtha said, and your dad's reaction. And I also read, because, in almost unprecedented language, you were exonerated and the word innocent was used in terms of the charges against you. And I want an update on John Murtha.

One of the brave Marines at Haditha, defending himself, Justin Sharratt (and his father Darryl is with us) who defended himself in Haditha. These are the Marines that John Murtha rushed to judgment and accused them of murdering innocent civilians in cold blood. Many including Justin have been exonerated. And one big question is, where is the apology from John Murtha?
We'll get to that. And if you'd like to talk to this brave Marine, our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-941-SEAN if you'd like to be part of the program.

I'm also putting together a very special edition of "Hannity's America" a week from this Sunday night. You're going to meet Justin and we're going to tell the entire real, truthful Haditha story that has never been told.

(Break)

Murtha's rush to judgment

SEAN HANNITY: Let's take you back. Without any evidence, without any investigation, a rush to judgment, there's no assumption of innocence. Here is Congressman John Murtha...




JOHN MURTHA: [tape from May 17, 2005] There was no firefight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure put on them. And they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.

When you hear that Justin, you were there, and now you have been exonerated, how does that make you feel?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: It will always make me feel upset that someone who doesn't know the facts is going to get on TV and talk about it like he knows the facts.

Me personally, what I think he should do is go to Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas' home and tell his parents what he said on the news--

SEAN HANNITY: Lance Corporal Terrazas is the one who was killed by the IED that day.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes.

LCpl Miguel Terrazas, 20, from El Paso, Texas
SEAN HANNITY: And that lead up to this.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes. I would like him to go to Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas' parent's house and tell them face-to-face that exact thing and I want to see what their reaction would be.

SEAN HANNITY: Let me ask you, Darryl, you're Justin's father, I assume that you're one angry person. I would be. I would be furious.

DARRYL SHARRATT: Yes, we were, Sean. The whole family, my wife and I, we had a problem with what Mr. Murtha said that day and we have done our best to get through it. But we feel that Mr. Murtha needs to answer, and he needs to answer in a way similar to what Justin and his six Marine comrades do. He needs to answer to a higher form of justice to where he will be able to sit down and he will be sworn in and he will go through the judicial process
similar to what my son and these six other Marines have gone through.

SEAN HANNITY: Are you going to sue Congressman Murtha?

DARRYL SHARRATT: Well, yes, we are. We have talked to quite a few attorneys. We have thought about getting on the tails of the suit that was brought on by Staff Sergeant Wuterich and [his attorney] Mark Zaid, but, in fact, I believe we have a New York City attorney who's willing to take the case. And he seems to be working with me well.

And I want the American public to know we're not after vengeance. We need justice. We need justice similar to what my son has had to go through. And I just feel that a Democrat controlled Congress will not bring Murtha to justice.

SEAN HANNITY: I don't want to stop you but we got what we call a hard break here. Murtha was asked if he'd apologize and I want to get your reaction to that and I want you to pick up that thought when we come back.

Justin Sharratt (and his father, Darryl), one of the ones accused of murder
by John Murtha when in fact they've been exonerated.

(Break)


JOHN MURTHA: [tape from May 17, 2005] There was no firefight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure put on them. And they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.

The current status of Haditha cases

SEAN HANNITY: That's Congressman John Murtha, rushing to judgment without any investigation, without any proof, without any evidence, and he accused innocent Marines-how many have now been exonerated, Justin?

Justin Sharratt is with us, and his father Darryl, Justin is one of the Marines that he was accusing of murdering innocent civilians in cold blood. How many now have been exonerated?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: On the enlisted side you've got myself, and a Lance Corporal Stephen Tatum which right now his Article 32 judge he has recommended that he has all his charges dropped.

SEAN HANNITY: All of them dropped in that case?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes.

SEAN HANNITY: And there's one outstanding Marine that murder charges against him have been [recommended to be dismissed].

SSgt Frank Wuterich
JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes.

SEAN HANNITY: And he'll probably end up being exonerated, too.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes.

The family's reaction to Murtha's false claims

SEAN HANNITY: That means this rush to judgment by John Murtha, a United States congressman, will have falsely accused you of murder.

You were saying something pretty power, Mr. Sharratt, during the break. This is a year and a half of your life, and your son is falsely accused, and he's a powerful congressman, and you felt at times powerless.

DARRYL SHARRATT: We felt like the world had just fallen on us when
Congressman Murtha made these statements on May 17th [2005].

When a congressman as powerful as Murtha comes on national television and calls your son a murderer, the American people want to believe him.

But what happened was, he was wrong. He was totally and absolutely wrong.

And we had the evidence, but, again, as an individual it was frustrating because, first, I couldn't reveal most of the evidence we had because it was classified. I did not come out and be an anonymous leak. I couldn't do that. I had to hold this information although I wanted to come out with my son and proclaim this.

In fact, two months after the Haditha incident Justin took a polygraph. Seven questions he was asked by the NCIS and he passed the polygraph. I had this, I had this information, it was stamped "NCIS eyes only". I couldn't get it out. But my son passed his polygraph.

SEAN HANNITY: We're putting together a very special edition that will air in a couple of weeks on "Hannity's America", telling the real truth, including an interview with you, Justin and Darryl.

But this is important.

Because a year and a half of your life is taken away from you. A United States congressman rushes to judgment, proclaims you're guilty of murder, and then when the investigation is finally complete, the findings by LtGen James N. Mattis, commander of the First Marine Expeditionary Force, exonerates you in a two-page document.

And I want everybody to hear. The very person that John Murtha accused of killing innocent civilians in cold blood. Mattis not only cleared you of all legal charges, but he went out of his way to call you innocent in the general's eyes.

The dismissal came after an investigating officer found that Sharratt acted appropriately when he shot a group of armed men while searching a house in Haditha hours after other members of his unit killed numerous women and children in an alleged killing spree through two other houses.

"Operational, moral, legal imperatives demand that we Marines stay true to our own standards and maintain compliance with the law of war in this morally bruising environment," [LtGen Mattis] wrote. "With the dismissal of this charges, you may fairly conclude that you did your best to live up to the standard followed by US fighting men throughout our many wars in the
face of life or death decisions made by you in a matter of second in combat."

That gives me chills just reading that.

Innocent of all charges.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes, that's correct.

SEAN HANNITY: I want to play for you, the Young American Foundation actually confronted Mr. Murtha and asked if he'd apologize to you for accusing you of murdering innocent civilians. Here's how this went down.

JASON MATTERA, YOUNG AMERICAN FOUNDATION: [tape from September 18, 2007]
Now that murder charges against LCpl. Justin Sharratt and Stephen Tatum have dropped in the Haditha incident, or are in the process of being dropped would you like to issue an apology for saying they killed innocent civilians in cold blood?

JOHN MURTHA: Is the trial still going on?

JASON MATTERA: Justin Sharratt and Stephen Tatum--two men you accused of murdering innocent civilians in cold blood--

JOHN MURTHA: Is the trial still going on?

JASON MATTERA: The charges are in the process of being dismissed.

JOHN MURTHA: Are they still going on? Out, out!

JASON MATTERA: Do you like besmirching our troops, sir?

JOHN MURTHA: Have you ever been in the service? I enlisted in Korea, and I enlisted in Vietnam!

JASON MATTERA: Sir, you accused them of murdering innocent civilians in cold blood. That's something that would come out of Al Jazeera, not a congressman, sir.

SEAN HANNITY: He's saying, "out, out,", he's kicking this kid out. We're going to show this in our special with you guys on "Hannity's America" in a couple of weeks.

But I got to tell you something. To not have the decency to apologize to you is beyond the pale. I frankly think he should be expelled from Congress over this. Do you?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes, I agree completely.


LCpl Stephen Tatum
Justin Sharratt for Congress!

SEAN HANNITY: And you're in his district. You know, you could run against him.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: That is a possibility.

SEAN HANNITY: Would you consider running?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: If I was old enough, that is a good possibility.

SEAN HANNITY: You're old enough, you're old enough to carry a Marine weapon, you're old enough-[laughs] We'll see what happens.

Callers

SEAN HANNITY: There are a lot of people on the line who want to talk to you. And I'm going to start with Greg Garvey who I see is on the line. Greg Garvey is a friend of this program. Greg lost his son in Iraq. And I'm honored to call this man a friend. We've met on numerous occasions, he's a great American, Greg, you're on the line. Welcome to the program, you're on
with Justin Sharratt and his father Darryl, how are you?

GREG GARVEY [caller:] I'm doing fine, Sean, and thank you for taking my call. Justin, welcome home.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Thank you.

GREG GARVEY [caller:] Darryl, we've spoken on the phone a few times I believe-I hope you remember me.

DARRYL SHARRATT: Oh, Greg, I remember you well. Your son Justin served well [breaking down] and I'm sorry you lost him.

GREG GARVEY [caller:] I know we've had this conversation in private many times. [struggling to keep his composure] I followed your son Justin's situation ever since I heard about it. And Justin, if you don't know this, maybe your dad shared it with you, but you enlisted in the Marines on July 28th, 2003. The same day I buried my son, Justin. And I followed your
situation since the beginning. I was in Johnstown, Pennsylvania a year ago, one of the guest speakers at the Boot Murtha rally along with David Beamer, Todd Beamer's father from Flight 93, our friend John Wrobleski, Earl Johnson (a 9/11 survivor), we were all there doing what we could for you. And I just want to tell you that I understand a father's love. Your father loves you, and he fought for you.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Thank you.

GREG GARVEY [caller:] Thank you.

SEAN HANNITY: Greg, you're a great American, buddy, you're the best.

GREG GARVEY [caller:] Thank you, Sean.

SEAN HANNITY: We appreciate your calling, my friend. Let's go to Gail who's in Seattle, KVI, Gail you're on Justin Sharratt and Darryl, his father. How are you?

GAIL [caller:] Hi, Sean. Thanks for taking my call. Hi, Darryl, hi, Justin.

I wanted to apologize to you on behalf of those who don't believe in you. I'm really sorry.

But I also wanted to thank you from bottom of my heart that you're doing what you do. I'm just sorry that you're having to go through it. But thank you very much.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: No, thank you.

SEAN HANNITY: You know something? We don't thank our brave Marines, our armed service guys enough. You know, here you are risking your life so that we can have the presumption of innocence in this country didn't offer that to you.

And in that sense, we have failed you.

Our system has failed you.

And it is heartbreaking.

Darry, I look at you, you're broken up. This really is painful.

DARRYL SHARRATT: Well, yes, it is, Sean. I've gone through this for a year and a half and just hearing from these great Americans calling in and showing their support for my son, I just want to thank them from the bottom of my heart.

SEAN HANNITY: I don't think most people know the pain that a family goes through being falsely accused. And especially when you're out there doing what your country asked you to do. I don't think anyone knows what it's like to go to bed every night with the stress of knowing that a United States congressman has accused you of murder when in fact you are really an American hero. Did you sleep a lot in the last year and a half, Darryl?

DARRYL SHARRATT: No, I didn't, Sean, no. My wife didn't sleep much either. All we could think about was Justin. [breaking down]

SEAN HANNITY: You think about your son and you think about how the country you love has let him down. How a war has become so politicized. Look at what's been said. John Kerry accused our troops of terrorizing women and children in the dark of night.

Folks, I know people out there may be saying, "Hannity, don't give me that litany again." But you think about it. The second most powerful Democrat compared our troops to Nazis at Guantanamo. Harry Reid sent these kids over there to fight and then told them that the war they're fighting is lost. Hillary Clinton calling a four-star general a liar, basically, "a willing
suspension of disbelief".

Let's go back to our phones. We have David from Marietta, Georgia, Newstalk 750 WSB, David you're on with Justin and Darryl Sharratt, how are you?

DAVID [caller:] Very good, Sean, thank you for taking my call. It's Marietta, California, but anyways--Justin? Thank you for what you've done for us.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Thank you.

DAVID [caller:] What I heard about this, I don't know a lot about it but in my opinion, since he besmirched me and the US Marine Corps, I would be going after [Murtha] and I would be asking him to step down personally. He's your congressman, you're from the same state?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Yes, actually, the same voting district.

DAVID [caller:] Well, I'd definitely make it a campaign right in my district. I'd go after him right to his voting base.

SEAN HANNITY: I want to tell you.

DAVID [caller:] That's my opinion.

SEAN HANNITY: That's my opinion, too, David, that's a good point. I'm going to make a promise to you, Justin. If you decide to do this, if you decide to run against John Murtha, I will do everything I can do to help you raise money and defeat him. I think the ultimate justice is--I believe the people in his district, if given a choice between somebody who is serving his
country and falsely accused-I think this could be incredible-I know you're a young man. How old are you?

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Twenty-three.

SEAN HANNITY: You're twenty-three years old. But you know what? You have the strength and maturity, you know, if you can go out in Iraq and the streets of Haditha and withstand multiple IED attacks and sniper gunfire on a daily basis. You've proven you have the character, the toughness, the strength, to take on John Murtha. And I can promise that this audience will back you up. And support you in every way imaginable: financially, everything they can
do, I'll give the maximum donation I can if you decide to do this.

We have our friend John Wrobleski on the line. And John, too, lost his son in Iraq and he's a dear friend of this program and a dear friend of mine. How are you, John?

JOHN WROBLESKI[caller:] Hey, Sean, how are you?

SEAN HANNITY: How are you, buddy?

JOHN WROBLESKI [caller:] You're a great American.

SEAN HANNITY: You're a great American.

JOHN WROBLESKI [caller:] I was listening to Justin Sharratt and like Greg Garvey, I just heard him a little while ago, our family followed the story intently. I just want to thank Justin for his service. Semper fi, Justin. You're a hero. And I just want to thank him also for the courage that he shows to expose John Murtha for what he really is. Just an amazing
individual, Justin, you're a true hero. I'm proud to be able to say that my son was a Marine, just like Justin, had courage that is just unparalleled.

SEAN HANNITY: Well, John, we know you paid a dear price. And you've been a champion, and given an alternative voice to parents. I know the mainstream media pays more attention to the Cindy Sheehans of the world. But there are a lot of Greg Garveys and John Wrobleskis out there that have lost their sons and believe we have to win and have victory in Iraq.

What does it mean to both of you that this war has been so politicized? And these horrible things that have been said by the leaders of the United States Congress?

DARRYL SHARRATT: Well, Sean, you would think we would have learned our lesson
with Vietnam, that we need to let our wars by fought by generals, and they people who know what they're doing. If you look at the background of all these generals. These are smart people. They know their business and they know what they're doing. We need to allow them to fight the war. You mentioned General Petraeus. He comes on and tells you that the 30,000 troop
surge is working. I have a question. If the 30,000 is working, let's send in 90,000. Just think how much better it would work. We'd have a Marine or an Army soldier on every corner of these city streets in Iraq and Justin and his comrades wouldn't have to worry about these IEDs because we'd catch them planting them. This would end a lot quicker. Give him more troops. If the 30,000 is working, give him more and it'll work much better and much faster.

But it is working, Sean.

SEAN HANNITY: I've said many times, could you imagine if people weren't using the war for political advantage, if America was united, if America put its time, its money, its energy, its resources, the best of the best, people like your son. And we all got behind it, does anyone doubt America would fail? The fact that it is politicized is frightening.

Tim, a Marine in Pennsylvania, wants to say hi and we're running out of time. Tim, you're on with Justin and his father Darryl. How are you?

TIM: [caller:]: Hi, Sean, I'm doing well. This is just real quick. Justin and Darryl: Semper fi. I served in the Marine Corps, I've been in Iraq. That's nothing to be ashamed about in what you did. You definitely followed your Corps values of honor, courage, and commitment. Keep trucking forward in terms of what you want to do as far as Congressman Murtha goes. American citizens shouldn't be putting our troops down. They need to be rallying behind them all the time. Semper fi.

DARRYL SHARRATT: Thank you very much, Tim.

SEAN HANNITY: We're putting together a special, the truth about the heroes of Haditha, on "Hannity's America", it's going to air in a couple weeks.

Justin, this country has failed you.

And for that, we apologize.

We owe you a debt of gratitude.

And you know something, Darryl? We failed you, too.

No parent should have to suffer as much as you have. And I want to thank you both for being with us. God bless you both and thank you for being here and we'll put together this special and we look forward to airing it in a couple of weeks.

JUSTIN SHARRATT: Terrific.

DARRYL SHARRATT: Thank you for having us on, Sean.

SEAN HANNITY: Thank you, guys.

(Break)

SEAN HANNITY: I hope this last hour made you as angry and resolved as its made me.

We're doing a special on Haditha, the truth and the horrible treatment of these families by John Murtha and our government coming up on "Hannity's America" in a couple of weeks.

(Break)

Sean sums it up

SEAN HANNITY: We'll do the mainstream media's job, we'll put together the truth about Hadtha. And we'll feature this brave Marine, Justin Sharratt, and his father, Darryl.

You could probably hear on the air in the last hour, the pain in this father's voice. The suffering that this family has been through.

You think of a Marine who signs up after 9/11. That knows he's likely to be put in harm's way. Because he wants to defend our country and our liberties and our way of life-including the idea that we have a presumption of innocence.

And then you have these blindly ambitious politicians out there, like John Murtha.

This is all roadkill. Destroying people's lives with abandon to make a political point, for some type of political advantage.

And never having to apologize. Never wanting to apologize.

That's not how most of us govern our lives. When we make mistakes, the first thing we want to do is make it right. We want to admit in our hearts we were wrong. We have a conscience, a soul. We're in conflict until we make it right.

Not in the case of John Murtha. There has been no apology.

And you can hear in this father's voice-you imagine the suffering they've been through. A year and a half. When it turns out their son is an actual hero.

We're going to have more on this. We're putting together a very special edition of "Hannity's America", the truth about Haditha.

A World of Political Hurt...

...is on its way to visit Jack Murtha.

I have it on good word that Justin Sharrat, one of the now-exonerated Haditha Marines, along with his father Darryl Sharrat, will be filming a segment on Friday with Sean Hannity to be played on Sunday's Hannity's America!

Set your TiVos for what will surely be an enlightening interview; the likes of which should send shivers down what's left of the spine of Jack Murtha, who will be discovering first-hand the concept of karma.

Sucks to be you, Jack.

Another Apology Required?

With Lt. Col. Paul Ware's recommendation that the murder charges against SSgt. Wuterich be dropped heading to Gen. James Mattis' desk, it's likely that none of the Haditha Marines will be charged with a single count of murder. That means that John Murtha's unambiguous declaration that the Haditha Marines had "killed innocent civilians in cold blood" because they "cracked under the pressure" will be proven totally false.

A Marine Corps official has recommended that murder charges be dismissed against a Camp Pendleton squad leader accused in the deaths of 17 civilians killed in the Iraqi city of Haditha two years ago.

The official, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, said in a recommendation obtained by the North County Times that rather than face murder charges, squad leader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich should be tried for the lesser offense of negligent homicide in the deaths of five children and two women.

Ware recommended 10 other murder charges against Wuterich be dismissed.

"I believe after reviewing all the evidence that no trier of fact can conclude Staff Sgt. Wuterich formed the criminal intent to kill," Ware wrote in reference to the women and children. "When a Marine fails to exercise due care and civilians die, the charge of negligent homicide, and not murder, is appropriate."

Ware's report, issued to prosecutors and defense attorneys this week, found the evidence against Wuterich contradictory. Ware's role as the case's investigating officer is akin to that of a judge presiding over a pretrial hearing.

"The case against Staff Sgt. Wuterich is simply not strong enough to conclude he committed murder beyond a reasonable doubt," Ware wrote. "Almost all witnesses have an obvious bias or prejudice."

If Gen. Mattis accepts Col. Ware's recommendations, it would be a big embarrassment for Rep. Murtha, especially after all the definitive statements that he's made on the subject. More importantly, the cases against the Haditha Marines will have essentially fallen to pieces.

Something else worth noting is that, if Gen. Mattis accepts Col. Ware's recommendation, the only charges pending against the Haditha Marines will be the dereliction of duty charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani and First Lt. Jeff Grayson, accused of failing to investigate the incident. Since it will have been determined that a major incident hadn't occured, it isn't likely that they'll be able to sustain charges against First Lt. Grayson or Lt. Col. Chessani.

It's worth noting that the only statement that Rep. Murtha was right about was this one:

There was no [bomb] that killed those innocent people,” Murtha explained.

Even that needs some clarification. The bomb he's referring to killed a Marine. Here's that statement in context:

“It’s much worse than was reported in Time magazine,” Murtha, a Democrat, former Marine colonel and Vietnam war veteran, told reporters on Capitol Hill. “There was no firefight. There was no [bomb] that killed those innocent people,” Murtha explained, adding there were “about twice as many” Iraqis killed than Time had reported.

The first logical question after finding out that he hadn't been briefed would be to ask Rep. Murtha how he knew that it was "much worse than was reported in Time magazine". It's clear that Rep. Murtha was attempting to characterize the Haditha Marines as cold-blooded murderers. First, Murtha says that the Time Magazine article wasn't accurate, that the bloodshed was far worse than Tim McGirk reported.

Next, Rep. Murtha said that a firefight didn't happen. That's a bald-faced lie. Capt. Jeffrey Dinsmore testified that he briefed the 3/1 Marines of a planned IED explosion and that a white vehicle would play a vital role in the ambush. That information proved accurate. That's now fact because of the video from the UAV and because Capt. Dinsmore listened to the firefight coming in on his radio.

Let's fill out the timeline a bit. Here's what I've pieced together:

Asked about his sources during a midday briefing on Iraq policy in the Capitol, Murtha confidently replied, “All the information I get, it comes from the commanders, it comes from people who know what they’re talking about.” Although Murtha said that he had not read any investigative reports by the military on the incident, he stressed, “It’s much worse than reported in Time magazine.”

That sounds pretty authoritative, doesn't it? First impressions can be deceiving. They are in this instance. Hint: Keep in mind that Murtha said that his sourcing was from commanders. You'll see why that's importantly shortly. Here's what Murtha later told ABC's Charlie Gibson:

GIBSON: Jonathan just mentioned, there’s no charges yet filed against any of the Marines that were in this outfit, but Jonathan mentioned a moment ago, defense lawyers are already saying, well, there’s drone video and there is actual radio traffic to higher-ups that will give a different picture than you have been talking about of this incident. What do you know about that?

MURTHA: I can only tell you this, Charles. This is what the Marine Corps told me at the highest level. The Commandant of the Marine Corps was in my office just last week, so you know, I know there was a cover-up someplace. They knew about this a few days afterwards and there’s no question the chain of command tried to stifle the story. I can understand why, but that doesn’t excuse it. Something like this has to be brought out to the public, and the people have to be punished.

That interview happened on May 30, 2006, meaning that the Marine Corps commandant gave Murtha his briefing well after Murtha first went public with his accusations on May 17, 2006. We later found out that Hagee's briefing happened on May 24, 2006:

Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, is being sued by one of the accused Marines for libel. He had told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Gen. Michael Hagee had given him the information on which he based his charge that Marines killed innocent civilians.

But a spokesman for the Marine Corps said Hagee briefed Murtha on May 24 about Haditha. Murtha had made comments on the case as early as May 17. On May 17, for example, he said at a news conference, “Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.”

A spokeswoman for Murtha was not immediately available.

After Murtha's first round of accusations, he said that commanders who "knew what they were talking about" had told him what happened. When pressed on it, though, he said that the Marine Corps Commandant, then Gen. Michael Hagee, had briefed him. Here's why that's important: Commanders serve in the field, usually in theater. Murtha would know that. Later, he said that he got his information from Gen. Hagee, who was serving as Marine Corps Commandant in the Pentagon.

Isn't it odd that a old soldier like John Murtha would offer such contradictory verification? I find that extremely odd. My theory is that Murtha made his first claims hoping that he wouldn't get challenged. It's also my theory that he changed stories after the Marine Corps issued a statement saying that Murtha had his facts wrong.

There's more deception that Murtha is caught up in. He's also on record as saying that he "knew there was a coverup someplace." If you know that a coverup has happened, it's logical that you'd know where it happened and who was involved. Since he said that it happened "someplace", it's a fair bet that Murtha didn't knkow if a coverup had happened. At best, he might've guessed that these Marines had covered something up.

Having a hunch that something happened isn't the same as knowing that something happened, is it?

When you put all the pieces of this puzzle together, you realize that the pieces don't fit together at all. It's like Murtha borrowed puzzle pieces from other puzzles to make something work.

When a high profile case like this has this many pieces that don't fit, it's extremely likely that the puzzle will end up a disaster. That's certainly what looks likely to happen here. The only question left is whether Murtha will ever apologize to these Marines and their families and to the Marine Corps itself.

I won't hold my breath on that.

Technorati: John Murtha, Michael Hagee, USMC, Jeffrey Dinsmore, Jeffrey Chessani, Frank Wuterich, Stephen Tatum, Justin Sharratt, Paul Ware, James Mattis, Charlie Gibson, Haditha