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Marine sues Marine for
libel
Rep. John Murtha Hit with
Defamation Lawsuit!
According to today's Washington Post,
Marine Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich
"will file a lawsuit today in federal court in Washington, D.C.
claiming that Congressman (and former Marine). John P. Murtha defamed
him when the congressman made public comments about the incident
earlier this year."
 Wuterich
led the Marines squad in the Haditha incident, which is still under
investigation.
The Post's article reports the defamation lawsuit is based on public
comments Murtha made outside his scope as a congressman:
Attorneys for Frank D. Wuterich, 26, argue in court papers that
Murtha tarnished the Marine's reputation by telling news organizations
in May that the Marine unit cracked after a roadside bomb killed one
of its members and that the troops "killed innocent civilians in cold
blood." Murtha also said repeatedly that the incident was covered
up....
... statements made by members of Congress generally are protected
under the "speech or debate" clause in Article I, Section 6, of the
Constitution. But legal experts said the clause grants immunity only
for what lawmakers say in legislative proceedings and does not apply
to news releases, speeches and other public comments.
Putting Murtha under oath in Federal Court, the attorneys for Sgt.
Wuterich will seek the source(s) for Murtha's libelous statements:
...the filing is designed partly to force Murtha to disclose what
information he received from the Defense Department and the Marine
Corps commandant to form his opinion.
>>>read entire news article
UPDATES ON THE JOHNSTOWN
TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT STORY:
Aug. 2...
Pittsburgh Trib-Review gets it right
>>>read story
Aug. 2...
Johnstown paper corrects its article
>>>read corrected version
Aug. 1......Associated
Press and UPI news outlets use Johnstown newspaper's error'd story...
Aug. 1...Vets
For The Truth / Boot Murtha contacts AP and UPI, formally request
corrections....
Aug. 1...Murtha's
hometown newspaper, Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, writes story full of
errors:
BootMurtha.com is aware of many errors contained in an article in
today's (Aug. 1, 2006) Johnstown Tribune-Democrat.
LINK [NOTE: story corrected Aug. 2] We have
contacted the newspaper about these issues.
NOTE: Vets For The Truth and Swift
Boat Veterans
are not the same. They are 2 distinctly different groups.
NOTE: Larry Bailey is not a
Swift Boat Veteran. He retired from the U.S. Navy in 1990 after a
27-year career as a SEAL officer.
NOTE: Larry Bailey did not
co-author the book,
"Unfit for Command." John E. O'Neill and Jerome R. Corsi
are the co-authors of that NY Times best selling book.
Welcome, Max!
 VFTT/BootMurtha
welcomes Max Cleland
to Johnstown this Thursday am
As previously announced, Vets For The Truth / Boot Murtha will hold a
press conference Thursday morning in front of Congressman John
Murtha's office in Johnstown, PA. We are pleased to see former Sen.
Max Cleland and other cut-n-runners will be joining the event, per the
Washington Observer-Reporter [LINK]:
But before that press conference, former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, who
lost three limbs in Vietnam, will appear with Murtha, and two
pro-Murtha veterans groups will take to the sidewalk in the same place
to speak in support of Murtha, spokesman Brad Clemenson said.
Max Cleland was a favorite of John Kerry during his failed 2004
presidential bid.
NOTE: the article states that Murtha will also appear with Cleland.
There is some confusion, as later in the same article it states Murtha
will NOT appear with McCleland:
Representatives of The Patriot Project and VetPAC also will speak
at that event on behalf of Murtha, even though he will not be there.
Murtha is scheduled to be in Lackawanna County, campaigning for
Democratic congressional candidate Chris Carney.
McCleland's own abandoning of his common-sense, conservative Georgia
constituents' values cost him re-election in his home state back in
2002. As did former Minority Leader Tom Daschle's discarding of his
South Dakota constituents' beliefs and views (re-election defeat,
2002).
McCleland was defeated due to his voting record, which showed a clear
departure from back-home folks' values. Below is a good synopsis,
written by Rich Lowry/NRO [LINK]:
Cleland had voted 11 times against a homeland-security bill...
setting himself up for the charge that he was voting with liberals and
the public-employees unions against...
... If you can't criticize the Senate votes of a senator in a
Senate race, what can you criticize?
...Cleland's undoing was that he couldn't negotiate the dilemma
facing many Southern Democrats — how to vote liberal in Washington
while appearing conservative at home. The Democrat was on record
supporting countless tax increases, and voted with his party's
leadership against protecting the Boy Scouts from a campaign to keep
them out of public schools and against banning partial-birth abortion.
In many of these votes, he parted ways with his more conservative and
popular colleague Miller, thus creating a major political
vulnerability. He lost fair and square.
Sen. Tom Daschle's defeat came about due to his abuse of the
filibuster, invoked by Daschle to block voting on federal judicial
appointees. That opened him up to scrutiny, which revealed Daschle had
turned away from his original anti-abortion stance. Result:
anti-abortion South Dakota voted not to return Tom Daschle to the U.S.
Senate.
 Like
Max Cleland and Tom Daschle, Rep. John Murtha has veered away from the
beliefs and values of his constituents, motivated by announced goal to
become Majority Leader. He has by word and action aligned himself with
the Cindy Sheehan, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi ultra-liberal left wing
of the Democrat Party.
And he's hoping the voters back home won't notice.
Murtha's most recent departures from his constituents' values:
·
Campaigning in Pennsylvania with ultra liberal,
pro-abortion, anti-military DNC Chairman Howard Dean
·
Aligning with 'San Francisco' Nancy Pelosi to campaign
on behalf of 41 other Democrat candidates.
So, thanks, Max McCleland, for coming to Johnstown, PA, this Thursday
morning. You will certainly help Vets For The Truth/Boot Murtha's
efforts to bring focus on Congressman John Murtha's record there in PA
District 12.
Welcome, Max!
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