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Pollack and O'Hanlon returned from eight days of meetings with US generals, diplomats and Iraqis saying they were more hopeful than they had expected, seeing signs of market improvement. "I dismiss it at as rhetoric," said US Representative John Murtha. "I don't know where they were staying. I don't know what they saw. But I know this: that it's not getting better," Murtha said on CNN television. PHOTOS TOO GRAPHIC FOR ABC, CBS, CNN AND NBC Pictures From Iraq That Are Too Shocking & Graphic for The Mainstream Media. "It's over-optimist. It's an illusion," the Pennsylvania lawmaker continued.

Leading lawmaker dismisses US scholars' upbeat report on Iraq Jul 31 01:18 PM US/Eastern A top Democratic lawmaker Tuesday dismissed the findings of two longtime Iraq war critics, who cited a dramatic improvement in the situation there following the infusion of thousands of additional US troops. "I dismiss it at as rhetoric," said US Representative John Murtha, a former marine, congressional heavyweight on military matters, and outspoken Iraq War critic. "I don't know where they were staying. I don't know what they saw. But I know this: that it's not getting better," Murtha said on CNN television. "It's over-optimist. It's...

I visited John Murtha's Congressional district office in Johnstown yesterday and delivered these emails, as promised, with Darryl Sharrett's on top of the stack. For the benefit of anyone new to this thread: On May 17, 2006, Congressman Murtha said Marines had, "killed innocent civilians in cold blood," in Haditha, Iraq. Darryl Sharratt lives in the district that Congressman Murtha represents. Mr. Sharratt's son, Marine Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt, is under investigation for the November 19, 2005, deaths of civilians in Haditha. The investigating officer has strong recommended that the charges against LCpl Sharratt be dismissed. On July 10, 2007,...

Murtha pushes new troop withdrawal plan By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer 3 minutes ago A leading Democratic House Iraq war critic said Wednesday he'll soon push legislation that would order U.S. troop withdrawals to begin in two months and predicted Republicans will swing behind it this time. A vote on Rep. John Murtha's proposal likely will come in September, when Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus delivers a long-anticipated assessment on the war and members of Congress weigh some $600 billion in defense spending requested by President Bush. Under his plan, Murtha, a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,...

Once again ordinary Americans rise to the challenge while our overpaid political elite ponce about on the stage making outrageous remarks and proposals in an effort to get approving coverage from a media (which itself for the most part seems determined to bury the significance of the mission and its remarkable achievements). But nothing - not even the 300 pointless investigations of an Administration marked by remarkable probity nor the base predictions of failure even before the additional troops hit the ground - proves the lack of serious purpose as much as the Congressional failure to censure Congressman John Murtha.

Peacenik ShootsWhere's Murtha's Haditha Apology? July 11, 2007 Listen To It! WMP | RealPlayer Audio clips available for Rush 24/7 members only -- Join Now! BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, to follow up, last November, a group of US Marines apparently went on, quote, "the worst rampage by US service members in the Iraq war, killing as many as 24 civilians in cold blood." Remember what Jack Murtha, the architect of defeat in the House of Representatives, said after US officials learned of the alleged massacre a few days after it had happened? He said it was an organized a cover-up....

Today's Best of the Web contains a nice item noting that the government has dropped its case against one of the Marines accused of murdering Iraqi civilians. They note that John Murtha had adopted the prosecution's view of the world and repeated the accusation, and they now ask whether Murtha will apologize. Says the Journal: "This was the incident in which Rep. John Murtha accused the Marines of killing Iraqis "in cold blood"--a charge, as we noted in May 2006, that was self-contradictory. In November ScrippsNews reported that Cpl. Sharratt's parents were "enraged" with Murtha, who is their congressman. Perhaps...

June 29, 2007 Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is targeting Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) as part of his crusade against earmarks. Flake offered 12 amendments to House appropriations bills to cut 12 earmarks, a quarter of which were Murtha’s requests. No other lawmaker or state was hit as hard — the Arizona Republican included two other earmarks destined for Pennsylvania. “It is tough to avoid them. It really is,” Flake said of the proposed cuts to what he called Murtha’s “earmark incubators.” Murtha’s office declined to comment. His three earmark requests noted in Flake’s amendments totaled about $1.5 million and were...

June 28, 2007 Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) will recuse himself should the House ethics committee review Rep. John Murtha’s (D-Pa.) earmark activities. Doyle, who sits on the panel, said through a spokesman that members of the same delegation rarely participate in an ethics inquiry of each other. There is no indication that such an investigation has been launched, and Doyle would not discuss matters before the committee. “It’s common practice for members of the committee who have someone from their home state before them to recuse themselves from taking part in the investigation,” Doyle spokesman Matt Dinkel wrote in an...

Funny how attempts at congressional ethics reform keep running into roadblocks like Rep. Jack Murtha. The Pennsylvania Democrat and chair of the House defense appropriations subcommittee is best known in this context as the man who once called the ethics package "total crap." He represents an economically depressed corner of southwest Pennsylvania whose largest city, Johnstown, has lost 5 percent of its population since 1990. Not even considering the man's unique personal qualities, one senses where this earmark story is headed. "Murtha has almost — but not quite — single-handedly created a new economy in his district," concludes Roll Call...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYgBLYhWjXs&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fredstate%2Ecom%2F

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) threatened to deny any further spending projects to a Republican who challenged him over an earmark, his antagonist has charged -- a potential violation of House rules. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) had challenged money that Murtha inserted into an intelligence bill last week. Rogers turned the tables later that night by saying he would propose a reprimand of Murtha for violating House rules. The Republican is planning to insert a transcript of their exchange in the Congressional Record to document the potential violation. The privileged resolution will also require a House vote to reprimand Murtha...

WASHINGTON -- Pennsylvania's Rep. John Murtha yesterday said he would start pushing the Bush administration to move military trials for high-level terrorism suspects from the controversial detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to the U.S. mainland. Such a step, he argued, would help improve the nation's image abroad after years of negative publicity surrounding the prison camp, which first opened in January 2002 and now holds about 380 detainees. "We don't want anybody released who is a threat," Mr. Murtha, D-Johnstown, said after a hearing of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. "But, on the other hand, we have to...

On “Hardball” last night, John “Okinawa” Murtha bashed Gen. Petraeus, claiming he only came to Washington to “make political statements” and “only talks to the news media.” Video at link

On “Hardball” last night, John “Okinawa” Murtha bashed Gen. Petraeus, claiming he only came to Washington to “make political statements” and “only talks to the news media.”

NPR.org, April 30, 2007 · President Bush on Tuesday will receive a bill funding the war in Iraq from Congress. It contains a timetable for a troop withdrawal — and as the president has said for weeks, he will veto it. So what happens next? Rep. John Murtha (PA), chair of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and a leading anti-war Democrat, talks to Melissa Block about what compromises the Democrats are willing to make on the bill. This week, you are sending the president a bill that he has vowed to veto. Where do you think this goes from here,...

Murtha Joins Debate Over Reinstating Military Draft By Randy Hall CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor April 03, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - Seeking to boost the movement to reinstitute a military draft, Rep. John Murtha is arguing that the U.S. should have a "citizen's army" in addition to a "volunteer, professional army." However, a critic of the Pennsylvania Democrat on Monday called his statement "ridiculous" and "without merit." "I voted against the volunteer army because I felt if we ever had a war, we wouldn't be able to sustain [it]," Murtha said during the March 29 edition of CNN's "The Situation Room." "This is...

John Murtha, Hero of the War Protesters He's Pro-Gun, Likes Pork, But on Iraq, the Legislator Is Firmly in Their Camp By Lyndsey Layton Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, March 22, 2007; C01 Gruff, jowly John Murtha wouldn't seem to be a Code Pink kinda guy, what with his appetite for pork and his pro-gun, antiabortion Marine hero bona fides. But there the congressman was, in a Rayburn House Office Building hallway, gallantly protecting some war protesters from the group who had been tossed out of a hearing room and threatened with arrest. "He said 'I know these people,' he...

Rep. Jack Murtha is expected to lay out his Iraq plan later this week to the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee, Rep. James Moran, D-Virginia, told CNN Monday. Murtha will propose initially giving Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki 80 days to "fulfill the promises" he made to the Bush Administration, Moran said. Namely, there must be fair sharing of Iraq's oil revenue between the three main ethnic groups, the Iraqi constitution must be approved, and there must be "sufficient security" in Baghdad. Murtha's plan calls for redeploying U.S. troops during the subsequence six months after the 80 days expires if the...

Video: Hume smacks down Murtha; doesn’t know “what the heck is going on in the world”Brit Hume smacked down John Murtha on this morning’s edition of Fox News Sunday. The Fox News host started his sizzling with “it’s time a few things be said about him.” Indeed. Continuing, Hume said Murtha is not “well informed about what’s going on over there [Iraq]” and he doesn’t have the “foggiest awareness of what the heck is going on in the world.”(Video at link)

Murtha Seeks to Prohibit Action in Iran Feb 15 1:16 PM US/Eastern By ANNE FLAHERTY Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- A leading Iraq war opponent threatened Thursday to try prohibiting any U.S. military action against Iran without congressional sanction as House Republicans used military veterans within their ranks to oppose a resolution renouncing President Bush's Iraq troop buildup. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said he would seek to tie future deployments in Iraq to troops meeting high standards of training and getting enough rest between combat tours. Murtha said he believes the Army may have no units that can meet...

The Republican Study Commitee isn't leaving on a jetplane; the latest: After the Pentagon rejected pressure from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democrat leaders to provide her a military C-32 Jet, Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) responded angrily after the media reported the story.  So angrily, in fact, that the Defense Appropriations Chairman apparently believes that it is "in the interests of the United States" to threaten Department of Defense funding over the flap. THE INITIAL THREATRep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the Pelosi ally who chairs the House military appropriations subcommittee, said he has spoken to Pentagon officials about the need...

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and Five to Watch) (Available online here.) John Murtha is a seventeenth-term member of Congress, representing the 12th district of Pennsylvania. His ethics issues stem from abuse of his position as Ranking Member of Defense Appropriations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee to benefit clients of his brother, Robert "Kit" Murtha, a registered lobbyist....

PA-12: Murtha Challenger Diana Irey: 'This Battle's Worth the Fight' by Ivy J. Sellers — 10-10-2006 @ 05:23 PM The spunky Diana Irey, who is challenging Rep. John Murtha (D.-Pa.) for the House seat he's occupied for over three decades, spoke with conservative bloggers today during our weekly lunch meeting near Capitol Hill. Irey, a petite brunette who's "pushing five feet," stands out in stark physical contrast to the robust, white-haired Murtha -- but the differences between the two don't end there. A staunch conservative, Irey entered the race in March because she wanted to ensure her three teenagers could...

10/03/2006 Dual Rallies Show Pennsylvanians Divided About Murtha By: JIM PANYARD , Special To The Evening Bulletin Johnstown - There were more hawks and doves in this small Pennsylvania town over the weekend than you could find in an aviary. Separate rallies on Saturday and Sunday praised and maligned U.S. Rep. John "Jack" Murtha, a 32-year veteran of the House, for his position on the war in Iraq. Murtha, a highly decorated retired U.S. Marine colonel, wants the U.S. to withdraw. He says the U.S. troops are worn out, the war has been mismanaged and our efforts in the Middle...

For more than 26 years, Congressman John P. "Jack" Murtha (D-Penn.) has not been truthful about his involvement in Abscam, court records and the complete video of his meeting with the FBI show. In recent years, only a 13-second video of Murtha's videotaped meeting with the FBI agents was publicly available. TAS has obtained a copy of the full, original video from a source close to the Abscam investigation on the condition of anonymity. The court transcript is publicly available at the National Archives. (To see the full video, click here. For a transcript of the meeting, click here.) Murtha...

Sorry for the vanity, but does anyone have anything on the current polls of Abscam man v. Irey? It almost seems like a blackout.

Washington, PA is in Murtha's district. The poll results indicate this guy is toast and Irey will win. 6/8/2006 Should there be a constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriages? 199 Yes 134 No 16 Unsure 6/9/2006 Should Rep. John Murtha have gone public about allegations that U.S. Marines killed civilians in Iraq, even though it is still under investigation? 143 Yes 333 No 19 Unsure 6/11/2006 Should high schools name more than one valedictorian? 36 Yes, any student that meets pre-determined requirements should be named valdeictorian 26 Yes, but only the two or three students with the highest grades should be...

Here is a simple way to get the facts out about ABSCAM Murtha. If you have a website or blog, it is simple to post a copy of the video as an embed on your website without having to upload a thing. The American Spectator has posted a full copy of the video on Google Video, found here. To get the HTML code, simply click "Blog" and then click "Embed HTML" and the code will be revealed. Paste this code into your blog or website (or even message boards which allow embeds) and the video can be played from your...

WASHINGTON – For more than a decade, Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania has operated a political trading post in a back corner of the House of Representatives. A gang of about two dozen Democrats mill around his seat. A procession of others walk back to request pet spending projects, known as earmarks. And Republicans come by, asking him to enlist some of those Democrats to join them on close votes. “Whether they get what they want in the bill or they get the votes they are looking for, nobody ever leaves completely disappointed,” said Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., who often...

The question of whether Rep. John Murtha is a crook or not is now definitive. Congressman John Murtha’s full 54-minute ABSCAM meeting is out. An article in today’s American Spectator, based on the 54-minute video and scores of sworn testimony given by Murtha under oath, reveals a congressman anxious to cut a deal on his terms. The article includes a link to the full 54-minute video online. Here Everyone would expect a congressman who had a near-fatal brush with the ABSCAM scandal to steer as far away from further controversy and ethical questions as possible. This has not been the...

... John Murtha did his own version of Bill Clinton's recent tear on Fox News. Mr. Murtha's reaction was misdirected; the reporter represented Reuters, which is not known for vast right-wing conspiracy bona fides. The reporter: "...[y]our position paper calls for a pullout of all combat troops by 2008. Do you folks have a plan to prevent Iraq from becoming a failed state that could prove a breeding ground for more terrorism that could directly threaten the United States?" Mr. Murtha: "Where have you been? ...[i]t's cost over $400 billion today. Let me tell you they said that they would...

"surprise – Rep. John Murtha will go down to a much-deserved defeat in Pennsylvania" Philip V. Brennan / Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006[EXCERPT] I don't like to make predictions – it's a dangerous thing for any columnist to do – but I'm going to stick my neck out and state unequivocally that the GOP was never – got that? never – in any real danger of losing control of either the House or the Senate. It was just made to seem to be the case by the media. Rick Santorum will win in Pennsylvania, Virginia Senator George Allen will trounce...

I attended my first FReep yesterday and posted my first ever AAR to the Minnesota forum last evening. I have been asked to share it with all of you here. I'm kinda nervous, so be nice!!! Sorry, no pictures....;-( Well, that was fun! My first FReep and now, my first AAR..... I arrived at the Rosemount VFW at noon, thinking that I'd be pretty much alone. I had spoken to PW Leo and he was going to be late because of several reasons. I didn't expect him until after 12:30. I pulled into the driveway of the VFW and both...

One day after a Muslim state representative, Keith Ellison, captured the Democratic nomination for Congress, his Republican opponent on Wednesday unleashed a bitter attack on Ellison's past ties with Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, has a history of harshly criticizing Jews. Business professor Alan Fine, who's running an uphill race in Minnesota's bluest district, compared Ellison with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, emphasizing the black Democrat's Muslim background with a series of pen names formerly used by Ellison. "I'm extremely concerned about Keith Ellison. Keith Hakim. Keith X Ellison. Keith Ellison Muhammad," Fine,...

Labor Day has always been considered the traditional start of the campaign season in an election year......contribute to the polarization that has been gripping this country for too long. People don't debate, they toss partisan-party and special-interest talking points back and forth. ...[b]ut we will print letters that arise from a writer's impassioned thoughts about the issues that surface during the elections... More insidious in the campaign process are the 527 groups... The groups are exempt from taxes under the [IRS] code if they collect funds to influence or attempt to influence "the selection, nomination, election or appointment of an...

September 2, 2006 Well, it seems that my briefing have gotten a little behind schedule, and I apologize for that! In self-defense, however, I have to say that things have been hectic. Since the last update, a lot of things have happened, most of which Linda Eddy has already put up on the website. But let me just mention a few things that have happened and are still happening; we are on the MOVE! First, we have confirmed that the Oct. 1st rally will be indoors in a climate-controlled environment—in the Cambria County War Memorial Arena. Next, we have lined...

Come to the National VFTT Boot Murtha Rally Sunday, Oct. 1st in Johnstown, PA Rally Location: Cambria County War Memorial Arena, 2 p.m. If you're considering going and spending the night, book your room now! The Max Cleland groupies that are rallying the day before aren't simply there to counter us. They're also trying to fill hotel rooms before we do.

[Diana Irey is the Republican challenger to Rep. John Murtha for the 12th Congressional district in Pennsylvania. As a follow-up to Meet Diana Irey, I talked with her again, Tuesday, August 22. It was more of a conversation than an interview, strictly speaking, so I have left myself out of the transcript here, except to add some general headers and a few bracketed comments to provide some context.] The Campaign We have two headquarters: this one in Monongahela and one in Johnstown. We’re close to a thousand volunteers. We’re at all the fairs. We’ve been door-knocking every weekend. And we’re...

LETTERS, FAXES AND E-MAILS TO THE EDITOR (Star-Telegram) Veterans against Murtha Jim Wright and other Democrats have been bemoaning a potential "Swift-boating" of Democratic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania. (See Sunday commentary "Another casualty of war.") Beautiful poetry aside, let's set the record straight. In 2004, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth provided a tremendous service by exposing the disgraceful Vietnam War conduct of John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee. I happily donated to their cause and would proudly join them again in defense of our nation's military. But that stellar organization isn't involved with the planned Oct. 1 rally...

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...

SAN DIEGO // On Nov. 19, 2005, a unit of Marines arrived at the Iraqi village of Haditha to remove the bodies of civilians reportedly killed by a roadside blast. What they found were infants, women and children shot in the face and chest and the body of a wheelchair-bound elderly man riddled with bullets. A group of Marines are under criminal investigation that could lead to murder charges in the slayings of 24 civilians in the western Iraqi village. Like Abu Ghraib, Haditha has become synonymous with war atrocities, in this case an alleged act of retribution for the...

[Poetry and flowery garbage edited out]...My point in reminding us of these lingering wounds of war that refuse to be healed is to ask that we take reasoned care to protect ourselves from the ultimate affliction of war -- that we should let it make us so insensitive to verbal venom that Americans begin, self-destructively, to hate and mistrust one another. That happened to us, tragically, in the bitterly prolonged Vietnam conflict. Americans mistrusted, protested, hated and insulted other Americans for simply disagreeing with them. [Coop note: Who did that, Jimmy?] Today, our self-appointed jihadist enemies could do the United...

"...[w]hen people lose confidence in that official, they have no power at all." [said Murtha] Mr. Murtha's outspokenness has made him a target. A North Carolina-based group called Vets for the Truth has launched a "Boot Murtha" campaign, inviting protesters to an Oct. 1 rally in Johnstown. Organizer Larry Bailey is a retired Navy SEAL who said he was driven not by Mr. Murtha's stance on troop redeployment but by the congressman's assertion in May, before a thorough investigation, that Marines in Haditha had killed innocent Iraqi civilians "in cold blood." "I have some misgivings myself about what's going on...

Boot Murtha Daily Update: Thanks, Sean Hannity!VFTT's National Oct. 1st Boot Murtha Rally got a big 'boot up' yesterday by Sean Hannity during his afternoon radio broadcast. Hannity hosts one of the top conservative radio talk shows in America, and co-host of Fox News Channel's "Hannity and Colmes." During Hannity's broadcast our Boot Murtha Rally (set for Oct. 1st in Johnstown, PA) got several mentions along with our website's URL.

LAT Falsely Claimed Murtha Had Been Briefed Before Making Charges Pennsylvania Democrat Jack Murtha has become a liberal media darling for his non-stop pounding of the surrender drum, and his jumping on the bandwagon to accuse the Marines of misconduct and covering up an alleged massacre in Haditha, Iraq. The Haditha talk got started after Marine general Michael Hagee briefed certain members of congress about the start of an investigation into the deaths of at least 20 Iraqi civilians. After some of the briefings, Murtha almost immediately began accusing the Marine Corps of engaging in war crimes. Trouble is, though,...

Murtha received his Bronze Star V one year after his service and during his campaign for the 22nd Congressional District according to an article from The Daily Courier dated October 21, 1968. The article says he served one year in Vietnam from August 18, 1966 to July 1, 1967 yet he received his Bronze Star over one year later.

CLICK ON IMAGEP.S. -- Please see their web site hat tip to Andi at Andi’s World