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 Tags: John Murtha, NCIS, Corruption, Scandal, Haditha Marines, Randy Stone, Justin Sharratt
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
August 10th, 2007 at 6:19 am
[...] Cross-posted at California Conservative Categories: The Constitution, Military, Iraq, House of Representatives, Intel, Corruption, Investigations, John Murtha, Ethics | [...]
August 10th, 2007 at 8:09 am
The only people lower than Murtha are those who vote for him. Amazing.
August 10th, 2007 at 8:40 am
When he does comment it’ll be about the cover-up just announced.
Please don’t confuse Murtha with facts. It just makes him sweat more, and itching to get more of my tax money for payoffs. I mean, earmarks.
August 10th, 2007 at 9:16 am
I doubt if he says anything. The pile of crow on his plate is getting pretty tall.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Talk about knee-jerking pre-mature ejaculations! Do you not understand that this was just the dismissal of 2 of the defendants? Do you not understand that the squad leader has a hearing later this month? And, that one of his squad has testified that he watched his squad leader shoot 5 civilians who were trying to surrender?
I’m not a fan of Murtha’s, but what he said was aimed at the ACTIONS of those allegedly involved, and the INACTIONS of those who allegedly covered it up; not at Marines who were NOT involved. His comments were in the CONTEXT of bemoaning the very difficult situation that our policymakers have put our servicemembers into.
Also, on the subject of suing Murtha, he HAS been sued, by the squad leader whose hearing is coming up this month. Wuterich sued Murtha 53 weeks ago. He served him in March (apparently). Murtha filed motions to dismiss and to substitute the US as the correct defendant (Wuterich was trying to find out who gave info to Murtha, and said he wasn’t trying to get money - according to Wuterich’s atty.) There is a hearing scheduled for 9/28, 2:00pm. (Start making your clever signs.)
Our Marines ARE in a very difficult situation. They are trained to not shoot off until they are sure that they should. They may or may not have in this case. It is too bad you have not received the same training before shooting off your mouth (keyboard).
August 10th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
1. I certainly know that Frank Wuterich still has a hearing in a couple weeks. I know something that you don’t: that the evidence against him is the same as it was against LCpl. Sharratt.
2. Yes, I know that Sanick de la Cruz testified against Sgt. Wuterich in his Article 32 hearing. His testimony has changed several times because JAG tried putting their words in his mouth. That’s why his testimony isn’t credible anymore.
3. According to the man that’s done the research into these allegations, Tim Harrington, none of these men could be convicted in a civilian court of law because the ‘evidence’ against these men is filled with inconsistencies. Frankly, it’s difficult for me to consider it proof at this point. I’d say that conjecture or theory might be more descriptive at this point.
What he said was said without first having been briefed. He first made his accusations on May 17, 2006, 7 days before Gen. Hagee briefed him. In fact, I put together a timeline which I’ve posted here. The day after Murtha made these accusations, he said that he was briefed by commanders, “people who knew what they were talking about.”
A week later, he said that he’d been briefed by Gen. Hagee, who was the Marine Corps commandant at the time. Commanders serve in the field. The Marine Corps commandant serves in the Pentagon. MAJOR OOPS!!!
Immediately after Murtha’s claim that he’d been briefed by Gen. Hagee, Hagee issued a statement saying that he hadn’t briefed Murtha prior to Murtha’s accusations. That’s ANOTHER MAJOR OOPS!!!
Eventually, on May 24, 2006, Gen. Hagee briefed Murtha.
Finally, Murtha’s statements weren’t nuanced or conditioned; they were categorical. He meant all of the men of Kilo Company.
Next time you challenge me, you’d better have your facts straight because those comments were easy to fisk.
August 10th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
GG, thanks for your response. I’m not sure what you mean by “fisk”, but I think you must be saying that you ripped my “challenge” apart. Maybe that’s true, but I would like to see a few of your “facts”, that I was unable to verify. In addition, I have some reactions to your points.
1) If the evidence against Wuterich is the same as “it” was against Sharratt (which apparently wasn’t much!), then why didn’t Mattis dismiss the charges against Wuterich at the same time? Hey, you might still be right on that, though. We’ll see.
2) Likewise, we’ll see (maybe) about the credibility of de la Cruz.
3) My main questions about your (and other bloggers who either followed you or came up with similar facts) timeline are that they don’t appear to provide any true factual support for your claims. I challenge you to show me actual source material that MURTHA (not the LA Times, not the Philadelphia Inquirer, but Murtha) claimed that Hagee briefed him before 5/24/06. I reviewed the Inquirer article - as I am sure you did - and it did not make that claim. (You also state that “Hagee issued a statement saying that he hadn’t briefed Murtha;” I found no such statement, just a blogger (“patterico”) posting that a Hagee spokesperson said the first time he briefed Murtha was 5/24. Not quite the same.)
Further, you try to play “gotcha” (or “major oops”) with “commanders” or “commandant”, seemingly without acknowledging that he might have spoken with commanders in the field before he made his May 17 comments (remember, the initial reports had been several weeks earlier), and that he might THEN have spoken with the Commandant (Hagee). Actually, come to think of it, I guess Murtha never uttered the word “commandant”; it is you ASSUMING that he misspoke and caught himself in a weird web of fibs.
Finally, you’re right that Murtha’s words were not nuanced. But, he didn’t say anything that could be interpreted to refer to any in that company that did not participate. Nor, for that matter, did he criticize all Marines, as many (not you, specifically) tried to suggest. (Please be specific if you believe that is incorrect.)
Look, Gary, I wouldn’t bother to do this research and respond again if I didn’t have some respect for your efforts. I’m glad to see you have some substance behind your heated rhetoric. If you can back up everything and make a solid case why Murtha should be strung up, that’s fine with me. I just haven’t seen it yet. Respectfully, WP
August 10th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Hey, I suggest we try to spur Murtha on to a little action. I’ve got his office numbers up in a post over on my blog or you can get them off of the congressional website. Let’s see if a few more calls can help him find the right words to say “I’m sorry”.
August 10th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Give John Murtha A Call…
I’d say that maybe he should start with an apology. How about we call one of his offices and get the ball rolling?…
August 10th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Murtha Must Go!…
Congressman John Murtha, better known as "Mad Jack" Murtha, owes the Haditha Marines a very PUBLIC apology. Here is what he said way way back before there was even an investigation: Murtha’s categorical declaration that the Haditha Mari…
August 11th, 2007 at 7:54 am
I’d leave him alone.
With 5 guys still in the brig, its premature to start harrassing him.
If there’s an ounce of honor left in him, he’ll do it on his own when its all over with, and if he does not, then we know for certain he’s a scoundral.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:08 am
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