Kudos to the editorial staff at the Augusta Chronicle.
To be added to the Murtha Watch ping list please notify myself or RedRover.
Posted on 06/20/2008 9:21:32 AM PDT by smoothsailing
Half-cocked on Haditha
Critics blasted Marines without benefit of facts or fairness
Friday, June 20, 2008
If you call someone a cold-blooded killer in public, you'd better have the facts on your side.
That's our free, untrained legal advice for Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who said precisely that about a handful of Marines once accused of killing civilians in Haditha, Iraq.
Seven of the eight Marines initially charged in connection with the alleged incident have been exonerated.
There were four charged with participating in the alleged massacre, and four charged with failing to properly investigate it. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani was charged with failing to properly investigate it, but a military judge this week dismissed the case.
Now, Chessani's lawyer says they are considering a lawsuit against Congressman Murtha.
That would be rich, indeed.
Murtha, who as a former Marine should have known better than to go off half-cocked, was as strident as possible in condemning our troops before they ever went to trial or were even fully investigated.
In May 2006, Murtha said the Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood."
We don't know what happened in Haditha. We don't know if Chessani would have a case against Murtha in a lawsuit. But one way or another, there ought to be accountability.
Were the allegations of atrocities ever true, or did the enemy's propaganda machine and penchant for lying dupe Murtha and the mainstream media?
With the criminal cases against the eight Marines crumbling, perhaps a lawsuit is the only way to get to the truth.
If the Marines were targeted as scapegoats to fulfill the scenario laid out by Murtha and the media, then no amount of apologies will suffice.
If some atrocity did happen, then why are the cases collapsing under their own weight?
And what obligation does the military and the public have to stand behind our troops when we put them in harm's way against an enemy that hides behind women and children?
Moreover, shouldn't our elected officials stand behind our troops in wartime until it's proven beyond a reasonable doubt that they weren't worthy of it?
You call someone a killer -- even in wartime -- you better be sure of it.
From the Friday, June 20, 2008 edition of the Augusta Chronicle
Haditha Marines-Murtha pings!
If only they’d sue him for slander.
Kudos to the editorial staff at the Augusta Chronicle.
To be added to the Murtha Watch ping list please notify myself or RedRover.
Ohhhh, I’m hoping and praying the Haditha Marines will bring a suit against him. No one is more deserving. In the same vein, there is an Army veteran (a colonel I believe) who is running against Murtha in the general this fall. We should all be behind him 100%. Dianne Orey deserved our support against Murtha in 2006 and this former Colonel does also.
Murtha is right up there with Joe McCarthy as far as unfounded allegations against private citizens. It’s interesting that they were both Marines and about the only two Marines I have ever been ashamed of. Any of these liberals who claim to be against the war but support the troops should be out there demanding Murtha’s head.
Refreshing support.
“Murtha is right up there with Joe McCarthy as far as unfounded allegations against private citizens. “
I don’t know about that.
McCarthy was pretty much proven right about what he said, and the things wrongly attributed to him have been thoroughly debunked.
Murtha stands alone on this.
A lawsuit would be good even if just to reveal who was Murtha’s source of information. Within the Corps there is considerable interest in who told Murtha what and when, and there is speculation that the source was a very senior...and very ambitious...flag officer.
I’m more concerned as to what the gov plans for the colonel and if their final turn of the dice will go bad for the Sarg.
wow! great stuff!
Maybe you should consider Augusta for your next vacation, smooth. Jaz and I can be packed in minutes.
Yes, support that refreshes.
Diana Irey bump! Sure wish she hadn’t settled for local politics and had run again.
My favorite is when I let libs cry about McCarthy’s “House Committee on UnAmerican Activities”.
I let them drone on for five or ten minutes, before I inform them that McCarthy was a SENATOR ;)
LOL! It’s a good one. Have you noticed the confused look they get? It’s so easy to confuse liberals, it almost takes all of the fun out of it! But not quite! ;)
Big bump to that on both points, Smooth.
I like asking them where the re-education camps would have been located, and how many Americans would have been imprisoned or killed?
The thing that always throws American commie-apologists is the simple question: so what would have happened if your side had won?
Hey, Red! I’m not going for Augusta either, Smooth couldn’t take his yacht!!!
We have to be realistic about these vacations.
Bump!
Oh, all right. Then how ‘bout we just drive through for some auto ogling on the way to Savanah?
You guys must be Gellin.
Okay on that, I’m always game for a little ogling. lol
Yeah, but don’t want to overdo it. :)
No you are not in over your head...Gellin....Dr. Scholls commercial.
Sounds good to me, never was one for ogling skeeters and I hear they’re big enough to carry you away down there.
“Murtha is right up there with Joe McCarthy as far as unfounded allegations against private citizens.”
I wouldn’t put Murtha in the same boat with McCarthy. McCarthy called out communists, and his accusations turned out to be true.
Oh, Dr. Scholls, you just proved my point. lol
Why do all the guys in the Gellin commercial seem to have a hint of mint?
It’s date! See you there!
Hmmm a hint of mint? Jr. Mints? Skoal mint? Or lispy mint as in....I am gellin and light in my loafers?
Go mow, for gosh sake!
See my response to SJSAMPLE in #40.
McCarthy: Blackisted by History
http://www.citizensforaconstitutionalrepublic.com/vernon12-10-07.html
There’s 8 more parts linked at this piece, very interesting reading
Hat tip to smoothsailing
I read the article you cited. It still did not answer my original question in post #40. Out of the people that McCarthy named in public, which one was prosecuted during his time or later found out to be (by the Verona papers or somewhere else) that they were indeed communist. In fact, the link really didn’t do much to specifically defend McCarthy.
So do you also agree with the smear by McCarthy (and alluded to by the writer of this link) of George C. Marshall? Our General during WWII? If you want me to pick between the judgement of George Marshall and Joe McCarthy concerning communists, I’ll go with Marshall.
Question, do you also feel that the way Joe McCarthy treated General Zwicker (a WWII war hero) was right?
In conclusion, yes there were communists in our government and the HUAC did a lot of good investigations into ferretting them out (past and present). Some people like McCarthy used the issue as political grandstanding and beat their opponents over the head with it. Sort of like Murtha did with the Haditha Marines.
McCarthy is a Marine you can be proud of, OTH. I certainly stand shoulder to shoulder with you about Murtha, however.
Done...but you were too entertaining w/your wise “CRACKS”.
IMO when it comes to Joe McCarthy he can’t be viewed in black and white. You say you’re ashamed of him as a Marine, I consider him a patriot as does Smooth.
Parts of our government were infiltrated with communists and he stood up and exposed that very thing. Was he absolutely correct in everything he said and did? Probably not.
As was stated in Part 9, “but added McCarthy erred in saying the general [Marshall] always and every time made the wrong decisions.”
McCarthy may not have been a purist or correct on everything but he didn’t do it for personal gain, he did it for the country.
I totally agree with you on Murtha and he definitely did it for political and personal gain.
McCarthy was never linked to HUAC and that’s the point. Too many people were fooled into believeing that he was a part of it and continue to recite it TO THIS DAY.
Congress never went after any of the people McCarthy named. Failure to prosecute was not a failure of McCarthy. They even misrepresented the 53 (?) people he named and expanded his list to 100+ and then tried to push that back on McCarthy.
Just as Hiss was PROVEN to be a Soviet agent, the things McCarthy warned about were proven valid decades later.
McCarthy was (is) dismissed and ridiculed as a zealot because, at that time, he was a lone voice preaching the truth from the mountaintop. His “zealotry” was understandable and warranted.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.