Murtha and Inducements
A June 28th editorial in the Washington Times exposes the "tiptoeing
away from Rep. John Murtha" within his own party. [LINK
to entire article]
[EXCERPT]
The sound you hear is the sound of election-conscious Democrats
tiptoeing away from Rep. John Murtha. As they once did with Cindy
Sheehan, whose own Democratic-orchestrated popularity peaked when she
demanded U.S. troops leave "occupied New Orleans," Democrats perhaps
are realizing their mistake in pumping Mr. Murtha's antiwar views all
over the televisions of ordinary Americans who now associate him with
their party.
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, at a panel discussion
in Miami on Saturday, Mr. Murtha said that the "American presence in
Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North
Korea or Iran." No matter which way you view the Iraq war, that's a
pretty spectacular claim to make, not to mention spectacularly silly.
No offense to the terrorists in Iraq, but one well-placed nuclear
warhead in Tel Aviv or Tokyo and suddenly their three-year guerrilla
war against U.S. troops and innocent Iraqis looks amateur in
comparison. Yet such is the fate of media-made politicians who must
ever up the ante of their rhetoric in order to stay in the headlines.
This has led not a few to wonder if Mr. Murtha's antiwar extremism
isn't entirely selfless.
New Evidence
Emerges in Haditha Case
NewsMax's Phil Brennan reports on the evolving Haditha story, citing "
New evidence continues to emerge that U.S. Marines did not wantonly
kill Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November - and the soldiers'
accounts of what happened are backed up by videotape shot by an
ultralight vehicle, NewsMax has learned." [LINK
to entire article]
[EXCERPT]
In the aftermath of the action two investigations were launched, one
by Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell, who was charged with investigating
how the incident was reported through the chain of command. A second
investigation, headed by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS),
is looking into any possible criminal aspects of the incident.
The Bargewell report has not been released and is still being reviewed
by Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, a top U.S. commander in Iraq. But
military officials told the Los Angeles Times that although it
concludes there was no deliberate cover-up by senior Marine officers,
the Corps failed to follow up and ask questions that the known details
should have provoked them to ask.
The NCIS investigation is still ongoing.
In May, when Rep. John Murtha, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, appeared
on "Good Morning America," he accused the Marines of K Company of
killing innocent civilians "in cold blood" and said that the killings
had been covered up by higher officers.
The Bargewell report has disproved that allegation, and with the NCIS
investigation so far incomplete and no soldier charged with a crime,
how would Murtha know?
Intelligence sources tell NewsMax the facts of the Haditha incident
paint an entirely different picture from the one Murtha and others are
propagating.
Murtha's Daschle-itis
Bob Novak's latest column nails it again...[LINK]
[EXCERPT]
Rep. John Murtha (D.-Pa.) appears to be suffering "Daschle-itis," a
figurative disease which makes entrenched incumbents become national
celebrities and, in the process, risk alienating the voters that put
them in office.
Since seizing his party's anti-war mantle, Murtha has become a great
draw for Democratic fundraisers, helping his party boost its prospects
for a congressional takeover. Naturally, this helps his
party-leadership bid as well.
But at the same time, his outspokenness made him a huge target for the
Internet right. His district went for John Kerry with only 51% in
2004. What originally seemed like a long-shot bid by Diana Irey (R.)
to unseat Murtha has taken on new credibility as she raises money from
the Internet and as Murtha makes more and more outrageous statements.
Murtha's opposition to the war has never been the real issue. He was
misquoted stating that the
U.S. is the greatest danger to world peace, but the misquote went
unchallenged for days, and it was quite believable that he would say
such a thing. It looked like another potentially dangerous venture
into the great left. Even more offensive were his statements
condemning Marines who allegedly participated in a massacre in Iraq,
which gave no regard to the presumption of innocence or the existence
of evidence (the Marines involved maintain their innocence).
In fact, by stating that he had high-level confirmation that a
massacre occurred, Murtha may have set a trap for himself. As the
court martial begins, he is likely to be subpoenaed in the pre-trial
hearings to testify to allegations of inappropriate command influence
on the trial. He risks having his high-level sources of information
exposed, or exposed as flimsy -- or even non-existent.
Irey, who looks quite young, is a bit green, but her handlers see her
as great raw material. She has scored a series of unopposed television
appearances on Fox News that have helped her raise money, and her
message could resonate in what has always been a conservative
Democratic district. Murtha was previously known as a pro-life,
pro-gun Democrat. He received biennial votes for speaker from Rep.
Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), who, until this year, had refused to support
any candidate for the position who was pro-choice on abortion. Leaning
Democratic Retention.
errrrrr... "Mis-Quote"!
Last weekend in Florida did John Murtha say that the United States
posed the greatest danger to world peace? That's the report heralded
for days by the press, and for days unchallenged by Murtha.
But that's changed. Murtha's come out a-cryin' that he's been
MISQUOTED!! [LINK
to entire article]
[EXCERPT]
Murtha claims he was misquoted
U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Johnstown) says he was quoted out of
context on two recent occasions.
The first occasion, he said, was coverage in the South Florida
Sun-Sentinel on his appearance in Florida over the weekend.
Murtha said, "I was recently misquoted following a speech I gave at a
Veterans forum at the Florida International University Biscayne Campus
on June 24, 2006. During the speech, I made a point that our
international credibility was suffering, particularly due to our
continued military presence in Iraq and that we were perceived as an
occupying force. For illustrative purposes, I provided the example of
a recent Pew Poll which indicates a greater percentage of people in 10
of 14 foreign countries consider the U.S. in Iraq a danger to world
peace than consider Iran or North Korea a danger to world peace.
Murtha removes unfavorable troop poll
Just for the record, and as NewsMax reported on June 22, Rep. John
Murtha's website took down its own online poll... the one that showed
an overwhelming disapproval of his call to withdraw US troops from
Iraq. [LINK
to NewsMax article]
[EXCERPT]
The congressman at the center of the battle last week over withdrawal
of troops from Iraq removed the results from his own Internet poll on
the subject after online voters overwhelmingly opposed his stance.
Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., posted the poll after he ignited a firestorm
in the House that led to Republicans forcing a quick vote on the issue
Friday.
While a
revised poll page remains on the site, the link to it from his
homepage has been removed, making the survey effectively invisible
to the public.
A contributor to Web forum
Free Republic.com, however, posted results as of 3:34 p.m. Eastern
time.
The call for immediate withdrawal garnered just 12 percent of the more
than 12,000 votes.
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