Murtha Award Sparks Vet Outrage

[fontman]

Murtha Award Sparks Vet Outrage
by Christian Lowe
*************
March 26, 2009

In one of his last moves before leaving office March 13, then-Navy Secretary Donald Winter quietly awarded 19-term Democratic congressman John Murtha (Pa.) with the service's highest civilian honor.

Citing Murtha's "courageous leadership, vision, and loyalty to the men and women of the Department of the Navy," Winter presented the influential chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's defense panel with the Navy's Distinguished Public Service Award, an honor bestowed in "those extraordinary cases where individuals have demonstrated exceptionally outstanding service of substantial and long term benefit to the Navy, Marine Corps, or the Department of the Navy as a whole," a Murtha release stated.

The award generated little publicity when it was given to Murtha in early March, but as news of the honor trickled out, some veterans groups ignited a firestorm of protest.

The primary reason for their ire stems from the congressman's statements in May, 2006, that a squad of Marines who responded to an IED ambush and short firefight in Haditha, Iraq, rampaged through the village, murdering civilians "in cold blood."

Murtha made those comments in the heat of the 2006 congressional mid-term election campaign, in a move some political analysts saw as an attempt to stoke the anti-war vote for a Democratic takeover of the House. The former Marine and distinguished Vietnam veteran continued his accusations in follow-up media appearances before an official Pentagon and Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation had been completed.

When the dust settled more than two years later, six of the eight Marines and Sailors accused of crimes in the Haditha incident had their cases dismissed, one was found not guilty and the last has been continued indefinitely.

The Navy did not respond to a request for comment on the award or the backlash from veterans groups by post time.

Murtha has refused to recant his accusations or apologize to the Marines he accused of war crimes. When asked by ************* in late 2007 whether he regretted his initial statements and owed the exonerated Marines and Sailor an apology, Murtha refused to comment, saying the cases were still being adjudicated.

Murtha spokesman Matthew Mazonkey did not respond to a request from ************* for a comment on the award, or the controversy surrounding it among some vet groups.

In a release shortly after the award, Murtha gushed over the prestigious honor.

"I'm proud of the service and sacrifices our troops are making, and I'm honored to receive this distinguished award from the Navy," commented Murtha. "We have an obligation to ensure that our men and women in uniform have the most modern equipment, effective training, first-class medical care, and family advocacy resources."

But one influential veterans group has reacted strongly against the award, crafting a petition to lobby the Navy to rescind it.

Vets for Freedom, a group that generally supports the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, called Murtha's award "appalling" and his accusations against the Haditha Marines "vile and despicable."

"Congressman John Murtha should apologize for slandering the Marines of [3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment], and for undermining the efforts of those servicemen and women who fought in Iraq," the online petition states. "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."

So far more than 35,000 supporters have signed the online petition.

"It shows a lack of foresight from the Navy to not understand the long term effect of making Marines look like war criminals," said Vets for Freedom president Pete Hegseth, whose organization embraced the petition effort started by VFF Senior Fellow and former Marine Iraq vet Gabe Ledeen.

"I'd be surprised if the Navy stepped back and rescinded the award," Hegseth told *************. "But there's a chance they could conduct an internal review to see how it was awarded and why."

[Jonboyi2001]

GREAT, JUST GREAT....Now there's another metal that's not gonna be worth the material it's made of because the Navy just made it meaningless by give it to a guy who by all rights should be drummed out of the military if we still did that!

For those of you that don't know, "Drumming out" is highest from of dishonorable discharge emaginable. It is a formal parade of be kicked out and means the Military is absolutely ashamed of your vary pressence, and futhermore has turned its collective back on you as you have done to it.

[Luke]

As I understand it, the charges were dropped because they bungled the investigation, not because there wasn't any evidence.

And Murtha is a highly decorated Marine who volunteered for Vietnam and served for 38 years.

Still, he shouldn't have gone off like that without a conviction.

[Alisium]

They were dropped because the evidence was dubious and Gen. Mattis does not want to second guess Marines doing their job.

Murtha is a POS and should be retroactively given a dishonorable discharge, at the very least.

[Luke]

They were dropped because the evidence was dubious and Gen. Mattis does not want to second guess Marines doing their job.

Murtha is a POS and should be retroactively given a dishonorable discharge, at the very least.

Fair enough.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007..._204_20_07.txt

Yeah, the case must have been pretty thin if they were handing out immunity left and right in exchange for testimony.

[thedrifter]

Please do not honor Congressman Murtha
March 26th, 2009 Posted in The SandGram v1.0 | 1 Comment »

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/redirect....m.blogspot.com



This has just hit the streets, please go to this site and sign up. I don’t normally send out things asking for you to sign up but feel this is important!!

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

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



Ellie

[OLE SARG]

ms murtha ranks right there with pos kerry. They make a perfect set of AZZHOLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
murtha is a total disgrace to our Marine Corps!!!! He may have earned the title but he sure ****ed it away while trying to play politician!!!!!!!!!!! I'd sure like to spit tobacca juice in his fvcking eyes!!!!!!

SEMPER FI,