On Thursday, I posted commentary here entitled ‘Murtha and jihadi TV still holier than thou over Haditha Marine’s acquittal.’ While charges remain against SSgt Frank Wuterich, they have been reduced to multiple counts of negligent homicide, those crimes, if proven, were not committed “in cold blood.” In addition, all charges against the three Marines who fought alongside Wuterich have been dismissed. My commentary pointed out that Marine Lieutenant Michael Grayson had been acquitted of all charges the day before, June 4, 2008, and summarized the good and likely reasons for his acquittal. Primarily, I was taking Murtha to task for his continuing refusal to retract his slander:
Crime in connection with Haditha has yet to be proven in a court of law. Yet killings there, “in cold blood,” have been alleged by U.S. Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania’s 12th District. If he ever decides to resign over those slanderous remarks, he could easily find employment with a novel, Middle-Eastern TV station that also continues to falsely accuse United States Marines of war crimes.
I must now make a correction. This morning, the following comment was posted here by Alsumaria TV:
After verifying that the commenter’s IP matched who they alleged themselves to be, I sent this email to Alsumaria TV:
Which “News Agencies” were you referring to? I ask that question because none of the news agencies we monitor here allege either a “massacre” or “war crimes” were committed by United States Marines in Hadtiha, Iraq, on November 19, 2005. Perhaps Alsumaria TV is confusing the opinions expressed within editorials or by columnists with the news. An ‘opinion’ is not news, nor is an ‘opinion’ a fact. At least 15 of the 24 people who died that day were innocent civilians yet the only war crime known to have occured is (per the Geneva Conventions) unlawful combatants participated in war and attacked lawful combatants (U.S. Marines); those are the facts.
Yet something may have been lost in translation. Perhaps Alsumaria TV did “strive to be neutral” when they reported a “panel” [court] “has cleared” LT Grayson of all “charges.” If so, a novel, Middle-Eastern TV station has far more character and moral courage than Congressman John Murtha. The latter remains silent about his original statements.
Excerpts from a transcript of John Murtha’s May 17, 2006, news conference:
Now, two days after I made my statement [calling for withdrawl from Iraq], on November 19th, [2005] we had an incident in Haditha in Anbar province, where a Marine was killed with an IED. Time magazine reported it, and it’s kind of a puzzling report, because they’re investigating it right now. Let me tell you what the consequences of this have been. It’s much worse than reported in Time magazine. There was no fire fight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood. And that’s what the report is going to tell.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
Congressman Murtha: Yes. If you look, the basis laid for it. It happened on November 19th. It was discovered by Time magazine in March, and they started to investigate it in March. And I kept hearing reports from Marines who had come out of the field that something like this had happened. And now I understand the investigation shows that in fact there was no firefight …
[
Editor — Army Colonel Wood Watt was sent to Iraq to investigate in February, 2006, before Time magazine published its article. The investigation to date has revealed that the Marines came under sniper fire immediately after the IED explosion (that killed one Marine and wounded two others) from the area of the four houses, SSgt Wuterich was ordered by his platoon leader to assault the buildings, and surveillance aircraft recorded additional insurgents moving into position beyond those four houses. All told, five platoons came in contact with enemy forces in and around Haditha on November 19, 2005, sustaining casualties of one Marine dead and ten more wounded.]
QUESTION: Have you read that report?
Congressman Murtha: I have not read it, no.
QUESTION: But you’re aware of…
Congressman Murtha: I’m basing it on information that I’ve gotten from — all the information I get. It comes from the commanders. It comes from people who know what they’re talking about.
MSNBC, May 17, 2006, on the show Hardball:
MATTHEWS: Draw us a picture of what happened in Haditha.
MURTHA: Well I’ll tell you exactly what happened. One Marine was killed and the Marines just said we’re gonna take care…we don’t know who the enemy is, the pressure was too much on them, so they went into houses and actually killed civilians and…I…
MATTHEWS: Was this My Lai? When you say cold blood Congressman, a lot of people think you’re basically saying you’ve got some civilians sitting in a room or out in a field and they’re executed on purpose…
MURTHA: That’s exactly what happened.
MATTHEWS: …not because any of the Marines are scared or anybody is scared…
MURTHA: …this was not an action…this was not…first they tried to say it was an IED, there was no IED involved in this. This was troops, they were so stressed out, they went into houses and killed children, women and children. 24 people they killed…
CNN, The Situation Room, with Wolf Blitzer, May 19, 2006:
BLITZER: He was responding in part to you, because you’ve suggested this week that there in effect was a massacre.
MURTHA: Well there was. There’s no question about it. I know, in talking to a number of people, and the information…
I apologize to Alsumaria TV for doubting their integrity.
But Congressman John Murtha remains a slandering skunk.
