Remembering Charlie Wilson and John Murtha

The Wall Street Journal ^ | February 11, 2010 | John Fund

[jazusamo]

This week saw the deaths of two congressmen whose lives were bound together in representing much of the way the U.S. House used to operate—and sometimes still does.

Charlie Wilson was a Texas Democrat who in the 1980s teamed up with other Cold Warriors to funnel arms to the Afghan rebels, humiliating the Soviet Union and hastening its end. His frequent collaborator, Democrat John Murtha of Pennsylvania, was a senior member of the defense subcommittee that oversaw CIA..

Wilson was a fixer and a carousing libertine. But he promised constituents that if caught in a scandal, "I won't blame booze and I won't suddenly find Jesus." In 1981 he visited refugee camps in Pakistan and saw children maimed by explosives disguised as toys. "I decided to grab the commie sons o' bitches by the throat," he told me in 2006.

President Ronald Reagan was then signing top-secret directives to use covert action to weaken the Soviets. Wilson used his perch on a House subcommittee to expand covert aid to the Afghans to $1 billion a year. House Speaker Tip O'Neill and Murtha gave him a long leash.

Mr. Wilson told me in that same conversation in 2006 that the victory was only possible "because there was no partisanship or damaging leaks." He believed that nothing like the Afghan operation could survive today.

But the secrecy and skullduggery that Wilson said served the country well had a flip side. When Murtha died he had become a symbol of suspect pork-barrel projects linked to campaign contributions. Last May, he dismissed complaints by telling reporters, "If I'm corrupt, it's because I take care of my district."

The FBI would subsequently raid the offices of PMA Group, a lobbying shop founded by a former Murtha aide, and two defense contractors located in his district.

[jazusamo]

Ping!

[SC DOC]

Karmic balance ?

[colorado tanker]

Murtha did good service to the nation and then stained himself, IMHO, by his corruption and his unforgivable slander of our troops in Iraq.

Charlie Wilson, however, I will honor. Hell, more than that I’d love to have a drink with him, or two, or . . . .

[Patrick1]

Murtha should have taken Wilson’s hint and retired before he became little more than a Pelosi puppet.

[jazusamo]

Well said.

[NonValueAdded]

New rule proposal ... when you post something from a subscription site like the WSJ, the poster must give the remainder of the article a Cliff Notes / book report synopsis treatment in post #1.

[jazusamo]

Yes, I don’t have a subscription and could only get entire article once, didn’t know if everyone could.

FRmail coming.

[NonValueAdded]

Here’s the gist of the remainder of the story ... the Feds were closing in on Murtha’s part of ABSCAM and starting to look at Tip O’Neill’s office. According to George Crile’s book, “Charlie Wilson’s War,” Tip put Charlie Wilson on the ethics committee in order to shut down the investigation. Charlie wanted to be on the Kennedy Center board and the ethics committee was the price Charlie would have to pay. From the book “a teary Murtha had confided to a colleague that Wilson’s effort had saved his life.” Charlie felt he owed John for his help for “Charlie Wilson’s war.”

[jazusamo]

Thanks for the synopsis, NVA.

[whiterhino]

“Tip put Charlie Wilson on the ethics committee in order to shut down the investigation”

How ethically ironic.

[pandoraou812]

Thanks for the ping. I guess I can take down what I have posted on my page since Murtha is gone. I can’t forgive that man for his behavior.

[jazusamo]

I hear you, Pandy, I’ve revised my page.

[pandoraou812]

I was sitting here thinking about it & I am leaving it. Maybe we all need to remember what Murtha said & did for awhile yet....I will have to think more about it. So it will stay until I can replace it with another issue . We must never forget what Murtha did nor forgive him IMHO. At least I never will & I will pray for the soldiers & their families whose lives he made hell.

[smoothsailing]

the Feds were closing in on Murtha’s part of ABSCAM and starting to look at Tip O’Neill’s office. According to George Crile’s book, “Charlie Wilson’s War,” Tip put Charlie Wilson on the ethics committee in order to shut down the investigation. Charlie wanted to be on the Kennedy Center board and the ethics committee was the price Charlie would have to pay. From the book “a teary Murtha had confided to a colleague that Wilson’s effort had saved his life.” Charlie felt he owed John for his help for “Charlie Wilson’s war.”

The "colleague" Murtha was blubbering to was fellow Pennsylvania Congressman Don Bailey...

"At the time, you were feeling particularly vulnerable because it wasn’t too long after you had called me crying and sobbing, thanking me for ’saving your life’ before the ethics committee"...(on Abscam-related charges)."
Source: A Cybercast News Service investigation in January of 2006

Don Bailey's full letter to John Murtha

[Candor7]

Murtha shit on a few good Marines who did not in any way deserve his manipulations to redefine the Iraq war as unpopular.

He died of infection from his own shit from a perforated bowel.Poetic justice occasionally happens.

[jazusamo]

Thanks for posting that, Smooth.

I remember that it was Bailey now that you mention it and remember that letter, I don’t believe Murtha ever addressed that did he?

[smoothsailing]

I remember that it was Bailey now that you mention it and remember that letter, I don’t believe Murtha ever addressed that did he?

He never responded to Bailey, but he did bellyache to the Huffington Post!

[jazusamo]

That’s hilarious. He speaks to Huffpo about the charges but never actually addresses Bailey’s charges.

He was rated #1 in fitness reports therefore misrepresenting wounds for Purple Hearts excused his actions.

Typical Murtha. :-)