Jack Murtha & Time: So Far, So Wrong

That's the title of Phil Brennan's Newsmax article. It's the perfect title for the article because Murtha and Time have gotten precious little right about the insurgents' November 19 attack in Haditha. Let's start with what they got right since that won't take much time:

There was an insurgent attack in Haditha on November 19, 2005. The 3/1 Marines were involved. After that, you've got to do alot of searching for anything else that they got right. Let's get to Phil Brennan's article because, unlike Tim McGirk's article, it's got alot of important information.

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.

Phil Brennan has been one of the people who's actually disseminated Article 32 testimony. His reporting hasn't been perfect in terms of timeliness but it's been solid. Here's another important bit of information:

Typical of Murtha’s rantings were his comments on a May 28, 2006, ABC News broadcast. In response to George Stephanopolis’ comment that he claimed to have been briefed several times since Nov. 19 and said that that the evidence showed that the Marines had committed cold-blooded murder, Murtha said:

“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. That’s the thing that’s so disturbing. And even more disturbing is the fact that we know that the Iraqis knew about it because they made payments to the Iraqis for accidental deaths or salacious deaths whatever you want to call it. And in addition to that, they had … there has to have been a cover-up of this thing.”

That interview won't reflect kindly on Rep. Murtha. As I posted here, there's a YouTubed Hardball interview that totally contradicts Murtha's statements on Stephanopoulos' show. Here's the YouTube video:

Here's the transcript of that interview:

Matthews: Let me ask you something, Mr. Murtha, to give us some details, to tell us what happened at Haditha.
Murtha: Well, I'll tell you exactly what happened. One Marine was killed and the Marines just said "We're gonna take care of this." They don't know who the enemy is, the presure was too much on them so they went into houses and they actually killed civilians. And you know that I...
Matthews: Was this Mi Lai? Was this...When you say cold blood, Congressman, alot of people think you're basically saying that you've got some civilians sitting in a room or out in a field and they're executed.
Murtha: That's exactly what happened.
Matthews: Not because the Marines are scared...
Murtha: This was not an action. This was not...First they tried to say that it was an
IED. There was no IED involved in this. Those troops that went in, they were so stressed out, they went into houses and killed children...women and children, 24 people they killed. Now this is the kind of stuff...That's the kind of stress they're under. I understand this. I don't excuse it but I understand what's happening. And the responsibility for this goes straight to the top. This is something that should not have happened. It should have been investigated. As I understand it, they've already relieved three commanding officers. But this is the kind of stuff that stress is gonna cause these sorts of things. That's why I'm so upset about it.

My question to Rep. Murtha is quite simple. Do you want to stick with your statement to George Stephanopoulos where you said that an IED went off or do you want to stick with your statement to Chris Matthews where you said that there wasn't an IED explosion? It doesn't matter which choice Murtha makes. Either way, he's discredited because he's caught in a 'Heads, you win, tails, I lose' situation.

Personally, I agree with what Michelle Malkin said about Murtha:

Murtha indicts himself every time he opens his mouth.

Michelle, I couldn't agree more. My only question is whether Murtha is somehow related to Joe Wilson...

Technorati: John Murtha, Scandal, Corruption, Tim McGirk, Time Magazine, Joe Wilson, Haditha Marines, Jeffrey Dinsmore, Chris Matthews, YouTube, George Stephanopoulos

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Murtha’s Past Statements

Please indulge me for trotting out a reminder of Murtha's disgusting tactics in smearing the Haditha Marines. Here's a YouTube video that should be a wake-up call for people:

Here's the transcript of the Matthews-Murtha interview:

Matthews: Let me ask you something, Mr. Murtha, to give us some details, to tell us what happened at Haditha.
Murtha: Well, I'll tell you exactly what happened. One Marine was killed and the Marines just said "We're gonna take care of this." They don't know who the enemy is, the presure was too much on them so they went into houses and they actually killed civilians. And you know that I...
Matthews: Was this Mi Lai? Was this...When you say cold blood, Congressman, alot of people think you're basically saying that you've got some civilians sitting in a room or out in a field and they're executed.
Murtha: That's exactly what happened.
Matthews: Not because the Marines are scared...
Murtha: This was not an action. This was not...First they tried to say that it was an IED. There was no IED involved in this. Those troops that went in, they were so stressed out, they went into houses and killed children...women and children, 24 people they killed. Now this is the kind of stuff...That's the kind of stress they're under. I understand this. I don't excuse it but I understand what's happening. And the responsibility for this goes straight to the top. This is something that should not have happened. It should have been investigated. As I understand it, they've already relieved three commanding officers. But this is the kind of stuff that stress is gonna cause these sorts of things. That's why I'm so upset about it.

Let's look at what John Murtha said happened vs. what actually happened.

John Murtha said that "There was no IED involved in this." At the same time, he admits that a Marine was killed, which caused the Marines to snap before they went on their murderous tirade.

Question for Mr. Murtha: If there wasn't an IED explosion, how did LCpl. Miguel Terrazas get killed? The Time Magazine article Rep. Murtha is so fond of citing says that a roadside bomb killed LCpl. Terrazas:

The incident seemed like so many others from this war, the kind of tragedy that has become numbingly routine amid the daily reports of violence in Iraq. On the morning of Nov. 19, 2005, a roadside bomb struck a humvee carrying Marines from Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, on a road near Haditha, a restive town in western Iraq. The bomb killed Lance Corporal Miguel (T.J.) Terrazas, 20, from El Paso, Texas. The next day a Marine communique from Camp Blue Diamond in Ramadi reported that Terrazas and 15 Iraqi civilians were killed by the blast and that "gunmen attacked the convoy with small-arms fire," prompting the Marines to return fire, killing eight insurgents and wounding one other.

That's the only accurate part of the infamous McGirk article. Here's another Murtha fabrication:

Those troops that went in, they were so stressed out, they went into houses and killed children...

Whether they were stressed out or not, I can't say with total certainty. What I can say is that they followed their rules of engagement flawlessly during the firefight. That suggests to me that these Marines weren't stressed, that they didn't crack.

Here's the most flagrant lie Murtha tells in this exchange:

They don't know who the enemy is.

That's a bunch of crap. Their S2 intelligence officer told them to expect a white taxi to be part of the insurgents' ambush. It was part of the insurgents' ambush. The S2 told them that "that some 20 insurgents would take part" in the ambush. That's what happened.

A total of 24 Iraqis died that day in Haditha. Eight of those Iraqis were identified later as known insurgents. Five of those eight insurgents were shot immediately after they jumped out of the white taxi.

To summarize, the Haditha Marines knew alot of details about the insurgents' ambush, especially considering the fact that they "don't know who the enemy is."

That's why Murtha Must Go.

Technorati: Haditha, John Murtha, Chris Matthews, Insurgents, Haditha Marines, Miguel Terrazas, Intelligence

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

The Indictment Against John Murtha

Charges were dropped against LCpl. Stephen Tatum on Friday, leaving Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, Sgt. Frank Wuterich and Cpl. Andrew Grayson as the remaining three Marines who haven't had their cases resolved. Eventually, John Murtha will be exposed as a corrupt man who used the Haditha Marines in his attempt to become the House Majority Leader.

What We Know As Fact

We know that John Murtha accused the Haditha Marines of "killing innocent civilians in cold blood" before the investigation on Haditha had been completed.

We know that Rep. Murtha's story has changed several times. When reporters initially asked him about his sourcing on May 18, 2006, Rep. Murtha said this:

“All the information I get, it comes from the commanders, it comes from people who know what they’re talking about.”

That didn't last long. On May 30, 2006, he made this contradictory statement:

The Commandant of the Marine Corps was in my office just last week, so you know, I know there was a cover-up someplace.

He later offered another statement. This time, the spokesman for Marine Corps Commandant Michael Hagee had to correct Rep. Murtha:

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.

Let's highlight that conflict between rep. Murtha and the Marine Corps spokesman because it highlights extremely important information.

If Gen. Hagee did indeed brief Rep. Murtha on May 24, 2006, that means that Rep. Murtha couldn't make these accusations based on irrefutable facts; at least he couldn't do that on May 17, 2006.

That brings us to our first 'counts' against Rep. Murtha: Violating the Haditha Marines' constitutional protection of (a) being presumed innocent until provent guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and (b) violating their due process rights.

Another accusation Rep. Murtha made was that the officers in charge of the 3/1 Marines covered up their findings of what happened on November 19, 2005 in the city of Haditha. That's absurd because we know that Captain Jeffrey Dinsmore put together a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation, which was sent up the chain of command. That isn't speculation; that's his sworn testimony. The fact that the people further up the chain of command said that there isn't anything to investigate says it all.

Rep. Murtha told ABCNews' Charlie Gibson that he knew there was a cover-up "someplace." As I've said before, if you think something is true but can't prove it, then you should say that "I believe that there is a coverup someplace." You don't say that you know there's a coverup.

That's the second count in the indictment. Rep. Murtha made false accusations against the Haditha Marines. What's worse is that he made those accusations without verifiable proof of wrongdoing. Knowingly filing false charges against someone is a crime.

The third count in the indictment is possibly the weightiest of charges. Murtha's connections within the Pentagon are deep. He's built a mini-empire by acting as a 'recruiter' for companies in the military industrial complex. When they want a new hardware, Rep. Murtha gets it for them. As a result, they paid particularly close attention when Rep. Murtha made an accusation against the Haditha Marines.

With his clout, Rep. Murtha did everything except play the role of judge, jury and executioner. In civilian court, he would've been accused of poisoning the jury pool, which is another violation of the Haditha Marines' due process rights.

Speculation

I can only speculate that Rep. Murtha also knew about the "shadow body" within the Pentagon established to monitor the proceedings against the Haditha Marines. In the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib and Pat Tillman investigations, it's perfectly reasonable to think that there was a strong political component to these investigations. Here's what Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, said on that matter:

"The hysteria and media firestorm over Abu Ghraib and the Pat Tillman investigations led to fear of a similar media reaction to the Haditha incident, causing the military's civilian bosses to set up this shadow oversight body," said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center.

"This extraordinary action politicized the military justice system and was a clear signal to top generals that they were expected to hold individuals criminally responsible. The investigation turned into a quest for a prosecution, not justice," Thompson said.

If there was a political component to these investigations, then it's equally reasonable to think that John Murtha's fingerprints are all over that portion of the witch hunt.

Based on the known facts alone, Rep. Murtha would have a fight if he found himself in a court of law.

That's why it's time to turn up the heat on the House Democratic leadership to open a thorough ethics investigation into the role John Murtha played in the smearing of the American heroes we know as the Haditha Marines.

It should insult everyone's sensibilities when people's constitutional protections are ignored. That should go double when the people whose rights were violated are military heroes.

In the end, that's the most damning indictment against Rep. Murtha of them all.

UPDATE: Welcome Instapundit readers. I've been chronicling Mr. Murtha's accusations and 'revisions' since he first made the accusations against the Haditha Marines on May 17, 2006. Follow this link if you want a timeline of Murtha's 'revisions'. You'll want to check out this post. This one, too.

Hillary Gets SuperJack Endorsement

Every other significant Democrat in Pennsylvania is hitching his caboose to the Hillary train -- so why not Murtha?

A boost more powerful than a locomotive.....

Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, stirred up a hornet's nest in 2005 when he spoke out against the war in Iraq. Yesterday, the Vietnam War veteran created a buzz by endorsing Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. Murtha said Mrs. Clinton "will forge a consensus on health care, education, the economy, and the war in Iraq."

There's no way to measure the power of Mr. Murtha's endorsement as far as influencing voters, but he is a pretty good fund-raiser. And in a race this close, it's worth noting that Mr. Murtha is one of those all-powerful super-delegates.

I will try to set aside the image of John Murtha in spandex tights and concentrate on the topic at hand (thanks a lot, Mr. Post-Gazette reporter!).

Since Murtha has been an advocate of "declare defeat and bring 'em home!" for a few years now, it's almost surprising that he has not gotten behind Barack Obama, whose advocacy of a policy of surrender seems closer to Murtha's position than does Hillary Clinton, who is in favor of a gradual withdrawal. The only reason that the Murtha endorsement is NOT a surprise is that Pennsylvania politics are old-fashioned and somewhat bizarre. PA politics do not reflect the popular image of politics in other parts of America. This is the state (or should I say, Commonwealth) that is currently represented by a pro-life Democrat and a pro-abortion Republican (who is not a Christian) in the US Senate. Boom boom, out go the stereotypes. In the big elections, PA voters thumb their noses at party affiliations in many general elections. For a few decades now, Pennsylvanians have been electing a Republican Governor for two terms, then a Democrat for two terms, then a Republican for two, then a Democrat...and so on. A few years ago, every statewide elective office was held by Republicans except for one. Today, the exact opposite is true. Our voters are fickle. We are a political pendulum.

This goes a long way to helping understand John Murtha's success in getting re-elected to Congress, biennium after biennium. He's a Democrat. But he's a conservative! That's what the media tells us, and compared to most other Dems, he certainly seems that way. Considering Murtha's voting record over the decades, labels like "conservative", "liberal", and "moderate" are meaningless. The only description that accurately fits him is "Porkmonger". He's all about delivering the goods. Today, those goods are called Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Like his support for immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq, this endorsement is an example of Murtha going along with the prevailing winds. Governor Ed Rendell, the mayors of Philly and Pittsburgh, and other major league Democratic political players have publicly backed Hillary. Jack Murtha is following suit. Hillary has become Murtha's other white meat, so to speak. A Clinton victory already seemed like a foregone conclusion in Pennsylvania; Murtha has made it even more so.

Getting back to the Murtha-as-superhero image (more like super-villain), it's not hard to imagine him assuming the identity of...The Porkmonger! I don't know if the Porkmonger can fly off of rooftops, but I wouldn't mind seeing him try.

Leo adds:

There ya go, Dave :-)

Murtha Gets His Way On Haditha

According to this Thomas More Law Center action alert, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani is being thrown under the bus because the military caved to John Murtha's political agenda. Here's what Richard Thompson said on behalf of his client:

“Military Judge Colonel Stephen Folsom’s, USMC, ruling yesterday refusing our request to take the deposition of Congressman John Murtha, D-PA, is the latest indication that it will be impossible for Marine Lt. Colonel Chessani to get a fair trial regarding November 19, 2005, Haditha incident,” said Richard Thompson, Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, the Ann Arbor, Michigan based public interest law firm defending Lt. Col. Chessani.

“This entire prosecution is politically motivated and stinks to high heaven. Denying us the right to take Murtha’s deposition so that we could show undue command influence, as well as denial of our request for production of documents in the possession of Lt. Col. Chessani’s superiors makes it impossible for us to render this loyal Marine officer the effective assistance of counsel he deserves — they are attempting to throw him under the bus. In many ways this is a trial like the one in Alice in Wonderland—the verdict first and then the trial.”

Continued Thompson, “In the next couple of weeks we will reveal startling facts tracing the impetus for this prosecution to the highest levels of military and civilian
command.”

John Murtha's despicable behavior should turn every American's stomach. He started this in motion because he wanted to be the House Majority, not because he'd found out that the Haditha Marines had "killed innocent civilians in cold blood" but because he's a despicable human being without a hint of integrity.

If Murtha were to repeat under oath the things that he's said on TV, he'd be convicted of perjury in the shortest trial in history. This timeline reveals all the discrepancies in Murtha's evolving story. Here's Rep. Murtha's initial account:

Rep. John Murtha, an influential Pennsylvania lawmaker and outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, said today Marines had “killed innocent civilians in cold blood” after allegedly responding to a roadside bomb ambush that killed a Marine during a patrol in Haditha, Iraq, Nov. 19. The incident is still under investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Multi-National Forces Iraq.
———-
“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.

First of all, there was a day-long firefight. We know this because it was captured on film by a UAV monitoring the events of that day. Second of all, of the 24 people killed that day, eight were known insurgents.

When first asked by reporters how he got his information, here's Rep. Murtha's explanation:

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.”

It wasn't long before Rep. Murtha's story started 'evolving':

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.”

When ABC's Charlie Gibson pressed Rep. Murtha on this, here's the exchange they had:

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.

"I know there was a cover-up someplace"? You'd think that if Rep. Murtha knew it, he'd be able to point directly to it. It's worth noting Capt. Jeffrey Dinsmore's testimony on what happened that fateful day in Haditha:

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.

By now, it's clear that Rep. Murtha's deposition testimony would expose him as a liar. It's also clear that he threw innocent Marines under his bus strictly for political gain.

This is reprehensible behavior for a man who claims that he's the soldier's best friend. He's nothing of the sort. He's a disgusting, corrupt excuse for a man. Of all the sleazy people I've seen serve in the nation's capitol, John Murtha is easily the most corrupt, most reprehensible man to serve in elected office.

Because of Murtha's influence-peddling, it's now likely that Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani will be convicted of the “dereliction of duty” and “orders” violations broght against him. Here's something else that should get everyone's attention:

Murtha also has ties to Navy Secretary Donald Winters. Winters had over 65 NCIS investigators assigned to investigate Lt. Col. Chessani and the Marines charged in the case. The NCIS Director claimed that to be the highest number of investigators assigned to an investigation in the history of the NCIS.

This is extremely strange considering how straightforward this is. All that needs to be done is to look at Capt. Dinsmore's testimony and view the aerial footage shot by the UAV to know that these charges are without foundation or merit.

It's time for this travesty to end. It's time that Rep. Murtha apologized for his treachery perpetrated against the Haditha Marines. Most importantly, it's time to remove him from his position of power.

Technorati: Haditha, John Murtha, Corruption, Michael Hagee, USMC, Frank Wuterich, Jeffrey Chessani, Jeffrey Dinsmore, Insurgent Attack, Charlie Gibson, Stephen Folsom, Richard Thompson, Thomas More Law Center