"While an investigation may be warranted, I think the timing is bad. Murtha is a Marine and has served his country, no doubt."
Screw this "Marine." Just because you went through it when you were younger does not give you a lifelong license to act like an asshat, and be disloyal to the President, and, in effect, disloyal to all the current armed forces. Kerry was in the military too, you know.
As for this "steering" of Pentagon contracts to firms and people he knows...he just lost any shred of "honor" he might have convinced me he had. It's all about the money and/or the politics.
Semper screw Murtha.
I agree. In my eight short years in the Army I made a few acquaintances like Murtha, both enlisted and officer. They are known as "Empire Builders" and they learn to game the system for all that they can get out of it. What little I read about Murtha, I learned that he enlisted in the Marine Corps during Korea. Many, many of the Korea "lifers" would have mustered out of the service in the '60's, had it not been for Vietnam. This situation gave the Empire Builders another chance to prosper and rise within the military services.
By the end of the draft and America's involvement in Vietnam, there were more senior NCO's and light colonels in the rifle services than there were privates and corporals. When the Empire Builders finally retired with an extra 10 to 15 years punched on their retirement tickets, provided by Vietnam, the entered the public and private sector to practice their trade that they polished in the service. I can't state that Murtha is categorically one of them, but he has all the history and personality attributes of an "Empire Builder". His history merits that Congress "follows the money".
No, I didn't know that. Was he in Vietnam, by any chance? :->