Jack Murtha, Again

I used to think of U.S. Representative Jack Murtha, (D) Pennsylvania as a dweeb. I no longer do. A dweeb is somebody who is considered to be silly, a joke, a caricature.

If you will recall, last year Murtha drafted a Dangerous Resolution calling for a quick pull out of all U.S. troops from Iraq because, he claimed, a U.S. victory is impossible.

Murtha has become a dangerous person. His inflated ego (or is it a flatulent ego?) has now placed our military sons and daughters in harms way of Islamofacist retribution.

Murtha made very stupid, but very dangerous statements during a press conference.

Murtha’s statements were about an incident in which several Iraqi civilians were allegedly shot and killed by U.S. Marines last November.

American military authorities in Iraq initially reported that one Marine and 15 Iraqi civilians in a bus were killed by a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) in Haditha, Iraq. In the ensuing firefight eight insurgents were killed. Haditha has been an insurgent and terrorist stronghold.

Knight Ridder reported yesterday that survivors of the firefight claim that U.S. Marines broke down the door of a house and began shooting everyone inside and that twenty three people were killed.

The investigation is ongoing and the U.S. military has declined comment until it is completed.

Murtha, however, has decided to demonstrate his psychic abilities and declared that he knows that our Marines did indeed murder innocent civilians. He also admitted that he didn’t read the report but heard about it from military commanders and other sources that he did not identify.

Murtha stated emphatically at the news conference that:

"There was no firefight. There was no IED (improvised explosive device) that killed those innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them. And they killed innocent civilians in cold blood. That is what the report is going to tell." (emphasis added)

The Marine Corps issued a statement in response:

"There is an ongoing investigation; therefore, any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process. As soon as the facts are known and decisions on future actions are made, we will make that information available to the public to the fullest extent allowable."

Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a spokesman for Marine Corps Forces Central Command (CENTCOM) in Tampa, Florida, said: - “I do not know where Representative Murtha is obtaining his information. Thoroughness will drive the investigation.”

Murtha also compared the firefight to the massacre at My Lai, Viet Nam.

When asked by that marvelous example of objective journalism, Chris Matthews from CNN’s Hardball:

“Let me ask you Mr. Murtha to give us some details about that. Draw us a picture of what happened at Haditha.

Murtha said:

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

Matthews then asked:

—was this My Lai? Was this a case of – when you say cold blood Congressman, a lot of people think you’re basically saying you got some civilians sitting in a room around a field and they’re executed.

Murtha’s response:

That’s exactly it.

Murtha’s statements can only be described as reprehensible. Murtha’s inflammatory rhetoric is extremely dangerous to our troops, and he has clearly placed them, your sons and daughters, in the crosshairs of any wannabe terrorist. When someone is killed or maimed because of his pompous, self centered, self righteous actions, what will be his response other than to blame President Bush?