John Murtha's Legacy

It was announced yesterday that Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania passed away due to complications of gall bladder surgery. Now it is certainly not very Christian of me to speak ill of the dead, and the Supreme Judge of Creation is the only one that Mr. Murtha has to answer to now. With that being said my sincere and heartfelt condolences go out to John Murtha's family.

However, my own personal opinions, based on the facts that I have seen presented over the years, suggest that Congressman Murtha was the very embodiment of the problems that have plagued our federal government for years.

He was hyper-partisan in a caustic and abrasive manner. He also had the appearance of being corrupt on many levels. To my mind though, Congressman Murtha's greatest transgression was that of accusing Marines in Iraq of being cold blooded killers without evidence. These Marines in question were later exonerated of all charges, and Congressman Murtha refused to apologize to them.

Being a former Marine himself during Viet Nam, Mr. Murtha certainly did not give the benefit of the doubt until the facts were examined. For this and for his refusal to offer any sign of contrition when the Marines in question were found innocent, I regret to say that I have no respect nor honor for the man, despite his passing.

Senator Sherrod Brown, accordingly, put together a petition to decry the fact that the Secretary of the Navy under the Obama administration was awarding Murtha the highest non-employee honor for service rendered. The petition sums up Congressman Murtha's most egregious lack in judgement in my humble opinion.

http://www.petitiononline.com/usmc2009/petition.html

The petition reads:

To: Secretary of the Navy

On March 5, 2009 Congressman John Murtha was awarded the Department of the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award by the Secretary of the Navy, Donald C. Winter. From the press release: It is the highest form of public service recognition bestowed by the Department of the Navy for a non-employee. According to the Department, nominations for this award will be limited to those extraordinary cases where individuals have demonstrated exceptionally outstanding service of substantial and long term benefit to the Navy, Marine Corps, or as Department of the Navy as a whole.

The Citation reads:

Congressman Murtha's selfless devotion to the Nation's Sailors and Marines ensured they were provided the resources necessary to effectively conduct the Global War on Terrorism. His courageous leadership, vision, and loyalty to the men and women of the Department of the Navy greatly contributed to their quality of life and helped create the most modern and highly trained fighting force in history. As Chairman of Subcommittee on Defense of the House Appropriations Committee, Congressman Murtha's tireless advocacy helped maintain the Navy and Marine Corps team at the highest levels of combat readiness to meet the challenges of the 21st century. With grateful appreciation for his outstanding contributions to the Nation and the Navy and Marine Corps, Congressman Murtha is awarded the Department of the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award.

John Murtha deserves no such award. He has routinely and deliberately undermined the United States military, slandered servicemen serving in combat, and caused irreparable damage to our international reputation. While serving as a Representative from Pennsylvania, Murtha called Marines from 3d Battalion, 1st Marines "cold blooded killers" who "murdered innocent civilians." Before an investigation into the Haditha incident was even conducted, Murtha went on numerous television news programs and announced that the Marines "went into houses and killed women and children." He said, "There's no question in my mind about what happened here. There was no gunfire, they killed four people in a taxi...24 people were killed." When asked specifically if he claimed that innocent civilians were intentionally executed by Marines, he said, "That's exactly what happened." Not content to slander those Marines directly involved, he went on to claim that if these Marines were not punished, "other Marines would say well I'll do the same thing." Murtha then continued to use this incident to lobby for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, citing it as evidence that our military was incapable of winning the war.

Eight Marines were originally charged. As of March 17th, 2009 all charges were dropped against six Marines, one was found not guilty on all counts in courts martial. The prosecution has delayed the court martial of the final defendant indefinitely. The original allegations of a massacre and the statements of Congressman Murtha have been thoroughly discredited. Despite the facts, John Murtha refuses to apologize to those he slandered.

We the undersigned are appalled that the Secretary of the Navy would bestow the Department's highest award for a non-employee to John Murtha after his vile and despicable attacks against U.S. servicemen. This petition is a vehicle to express our bitter disappointment at this betrayal of our combat veterans. Congressman John Murtha should apologize for slandering the Marines of 3/1, and for undermining the efforts of those servicemen and women who fought in Iraq. If he does not, the Secretary of the Navy should rescind this award as a sign of his unwavering support for those who served in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

It is a petition of which I was unaware until after Congressman Murtha's death, but it is one I would have proudly signed had I known of its existence. I pray that Congressman Murtha does in deed rest in peace now but as the sinful man that I am, I do not mourn his passing. He certainly did NOT represent our greatest of all Nations in a manner befitting it and he did not represent the spirit or motto of the Marine Corps, Semper Fidelis... Always Faithful.

Update: Please note that I have since been notified by Senator Sherrod Brown's press secretary that Senator Brown is not the circulator of the previously mentioned petition. I would not attach any correlation between Senator Brown and this petition accordingly. My apologies to Senator Brown for incorrectly misidentifying the senator with regards to the petition.

On a personal note, despite the passing of Congressman Murtha, I am sorry to say that I am mildly disappointed that this petition did not originate with Senator Brown's office.