The Murtha Court-Martial

 

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa), one of the Bush Administration's chief critics, and an ex-Marine himself has made a public accusation that U.S. 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.19th.

What happened in Haditha we know not, but we can tell you that Murtha's description is false, for the simple reason that it is self-contradictory. If the Marines "overreacted," then the killings were not premeditated. They could not have killed both in the heat of the moment and in cold blood. Murtha therefore either is slandering the Marines by exaggerating their guilt or making excuses for horrific war crimes.

Why would he do such a thing? The key is that phrase "because of the pressure on them." They're depraved on account of they're deployed: Murtha seeks to maximize the evil of the alleged crimes while simultaneously deflecting blame from the actual perpetrators to those who have applied "pressure" to them--i.e., civilian leaders in the executive branch.[...]

Sound familiar? This was just what John Kerry did back in 1971, when he told tales (many of them false) of war crimes in Vietnam. Yet in his own mind, he wasn't accusing troops of anything, as he explained in a 2004 CNN interview:

I was accusing American leaders of abandoning the troops. And if you read what I said, it is very clearly an indictment of leadership. I said to the Senate, where is the leadership of our country? And it's the leaders who are responsible, not the soldiers. I never said that. I've always fought for the soldiers.

The fact that the incident is still under official investigation does not seem to bother Murtha, nor does the fact that this supposed 'brand new allegation' was already reported back in March seem to bother NBC, who are hyping this to be the hottest news story. Hardball's Chris Mathews is all ablaze at the 'revelation', video @ Political Pitbull:

MATTHEWS: Draw us a picture of what happened in Haditha.

MURTHA: Well I'll tell you exactly what happened. One Marine was killed and the Marines just said we're gonna take care...we don't know who the enemy is, the pressure was too much on them, so they went into houses and actually killed civilians and...I...

MATTHEWS: Was this My Lai? When you say cold blood Congressman, a lot of people think you're basically saying you've got some civilians sitting in a room or out in a field and they're executed on purpose...

MURTHA: That's exactly what happened.

MATTHEWS: ...not because any of the Marines are scared or anybody is scared...

MURTHA: ...this was not an action...this was not...first they tried to say it was an IED, there was no IED involved in this. This was troops, 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 stress they are under. Listen, I don't excuse it, but I understand what's happening and the responsibility goes right to the top. This is something that should not have happened, that should have been investigated, they've already relieved three commanding officers...but this is the kind of stuff...stress is going to cause these kind of things. That's why I'm so upset about it.

MATTHEWS: Congressman, I just want to read something from the Marine Corps and then you can continue. The Marine Corps told us today that they're not going to comment today because the investigation is still ongoing. So they're investigating...

Bob Owens gasps for breath:

I had no idea just how accurate those words would prove to be. Congressman John Murtha has now gone so far as to accuse American Marines of cold-blooded murder before an investigation has been completed, and roughly doubled the number of dead without any support for his charges, with the sole apparent goal of inflaming outrage at the expense of our military's safety.

It would seem appropriate that the United States House of Representatives should at the very least censure Congressman Murtha, who has gone so far out of his way to initiate such inflammatory and potentially dangerous rhetoric. He has dishonored his seat, the military criminal justice system, the Marine Corps and the United States of America.

How a man can make such vicious, unsupported claims and still claim to love the Marine Corps and America is beyond my understanding.[...]

it is unconscionable for any legislator to accuse U.S. military personnel of multiple counts of premeditated murder before an investigation into these charges is complete. Prosecutions must proceed at their own logical pace as evidence in the case dictates. Premature accusations by a public figure in such a case imposes an artificial timeline, endangering the accuracy and thoroughness of an investigation.

There is nothing new here. John Murtha is a disgrace. We knew that last year, when he was leading the charge for the Cut and Run prescription in Iraq, that turned out to be a Vote and Run with 403 to 3 against. A reader of mine Sgt Mark Seavey, delivered a slam dunk in Arlington, leaving us all aghast with Murtha's disgusting display of cowardice:

Yes sir my name is Mark Seavey and I just want to thank you for coming up here. Until about a month ago I was Sgt Mark Seavey infantry squad leader, I returned from Afghanistan. My question to you, (applause)

Like yourself I dropped out of college two years ago to volunteer to go to Afghanistan, and I went and I came back. If I didn't have a herniated disk now I would volunteer to go to Iraq in a second with my troops, three of which have already volunteered to go to Iraq. I keep hearing you say how you talk to the troops and the troops are demoralized, and I really resent that characterization. (applause) The morale of the troops that I talk to is phenomenal, which is why my troops are volunteering to go back, despite the hardships they had to endure in Afghanistan.

And Congressman Moran, 200 of your constituents just returned from Afghanistan. We never got a letter from you; we never got a visit from you. You didn't come to our homecoming. The only thing we got from any of our elected officials was one letter from the governor of this state thanking us for our service in Iraq, when we were in Afghanistan. That's reprehensible. I don't know who you two are talking to but the morale of the troops is very high.

Of course as he was admittedly nervous and extremely upset, and interrupted by the applause, he lost the form of the actual question giving Moran the opportunity to simply ignore him  and quickly say:

That wasn't in the form of a question, it was in the form of a statement. But, uhh... let's go over here." And he took the next question.

Now the cowardly Moran is taking another opportunity to take a swing at the Marines, taking some publicity limelight for the Bush Jihadists along the way. Hugh Hewitt is appalled:

I cannot imagine a more irresponsible statement from Congressman Murtha given that the investigation is still open. The Congressman should explain his sources, or face the charge that he has judged the men involved before the evidence is even compiled.

Reaction is pouring in, and even among those who believe that the accusation may be proven true there is outrage that a Congressman would advance a conclusion of guilt ahead of a court martial or even the release of formal charges.

You would think these may have been the words of the favorite lawyer of the left brigade Glenn Greenwald, who would be the first to cite what was legally wrong with Congressman Murtha's irresponsible outburst had it not been filled with the anti-Bush Administration poison. Again he shows utter bias by suddenly not mentioning a single word in that direction and writing a shameful post for a  legal eagle with the sole purpose of thrashing the right, praising the brave Murtha, and donating three words "pending Pentagon investigation" which is the first and the last time he mentions the fact that no verdict had been reached. So now he is the presiding authority, "the judge and the jury" on this issue in tandem with Murtha?  Perhaps I should have called the post the Greenwald-Murtha Court-Martial. Give me a break.

Regardless of what anyone thinks the outcome may be, the investigation has not been completed and any such outburst by a public figure is utterly reprehensible.

More @ Michelle Malkin, Stop The ACLU, Mudville Gazette, Expose The Left, California Conservative, Sister Toldjah, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Outside The Beltway, Blue Star Chronicles, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Sandbox

IMPORTANT UPDATE JUNE 19TH: From Michelle Malkin: "Haditha "No knowing cover up""

Comments

[Kenny Pierce]

Ghost,

What could possibly possess you to interpret anything anybody has said on this blog as, "People in war are incapable of losing control and doing wrong things"?

Would you think it fair of me to sarcastically say to you, "What? You think career politicians are incapable of callously, and with reckless regard for the truth, trashing the reputations of American servicemen out of sheer selfish partisan malice?" But I won't ask that, because you have not taken that absurd position, and therefore if I were to ask that particular rhetorical question I would be indulging in knocking down a "straw man." See how that works?

I agree that there's a good Yiddish term to describe Murtha but "mensch" wasn't the one I had in mind...

[Ghost Dansing]

What? You think people in war are incapable of losing control and doing wrong things?

When you have a pregnant woman in your sights and you know the only thing keeping you from slipping the trigger is your military impulse, your training, because you know the only thing you'd "feel" when you did it was the recoil of the weapon...how close to mayhem are you really?

Understand this...every American soldier is accountable for their actions in battle...the Marines will be tried by their code of honor...

To what code of honor do we hold our civilian political leadership for incompetence?

Granted, it is not a tryst in the oval office...but impeachment might be in order.

Murtha is more of a mensch than half of these clowns in this Republican administraton ever dreamt of being.

[beth]

Alexandria, excellent post! I always enjoy your posts. You always do a thorough job of examining an issue.....

[MarcH]

This doesn't call for a long comment. Murtha is a blue flamer . People who have been in know the significance of this term and its variations. For the uninitiated, Matt of http://froggyruminations.blogspot.com provides a good intro (http://buddyfucker.blogspot.com/).

Sorry this comment is somewhat coarse Alexandra, but it's the best way to describe a veteran who would stab his comrades in the back to advance himself.

P.S. Moran is no prize either (http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/lindachavez/2003/03/13/169284.html).