In this photograph provided by 'Meet the Press,' Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., appears during the taping of 'Meet the Press'' Sunday, June 18, 2006, at the NBC studios in Washington. (AP Photo/Meet The Press, Alex Wong)
Posted on 06/26/2006 8:55:54 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
San Antonio has paid a price in the war on terror.
To date, 14 San Antonians have been killed in action and many more wounded. How many of these casualties may have been the result of the constantly changing "Rules of Engagement" is anybody's guess.
War is a nasty business. Ask anyone who has ever been in combat and witnessed the death and destruction first hand. The military has a mission to kill the enemy and destroy their potential to wage war. Unfortunately, people, including civilians, get killed.
During WWII the US and their allies deliberately bombed cities in Germany and Japan killing tens of thousands of civilians. The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were wiped out with atomic bombs. Hamburg, Germany was destroyed in a single night raid by 1000 allied bombers.
With few exceptions in all the wars that America has fought, the enemy has never followed any established rules of war.
The Geneva Convention that spells out how prisoners of war are to be treated, for example, has been ignored by the enemy.
One only has to look at how American POWs were brutalized by the Japanese during WWII. The Bataan death march is a stark example. The horrible treatment of POWs by the North Koreans and Red Chinese during the Korean War is yet another example. During the Vietnam War American POWs were tortured and murdered by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese.
In Iraq terrorists have killed hundreds of innocent men, women and children in shootings, beheadings and suicide bombings.
Although there were atrocities inflicted on American POWs by German troops in WWII, in large part the American POWs were well treated by the Germans. German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel the famous "Desert Fox" insisted that all prisoners receive humane treatment.
The United States is not a signatory to the Geneva Convention but follows its policies in the treatment of prisoners.
Regardless, combat veterans of WWII, Korea and Vietnam will tell you that there were incidents where enemy prisoners, including civilian collaborators, were killed in retaliation for the torture and murder of American POWs and innocent civilians. This was especially so in WWII.
In order to prevent the killing or mistreatment of innocent civilians and enemy troops, the military established "Rules of Engagement." Certain restrictions were placed on military personnel before they could engage in combat against hostile forces.
These rules became so restrictive during the Vietnam War that American lives were lost because troops were hesitant to take action. This was especially so for pilots, chopper pilots in particular.
For fear of being charged with a "crime," chopper pilots would often hold their fire giving the enemy time to react and shoot them down and and kill our troops on the ground.
As a combat veteran of three tours in Nam I know of which I write. The only rule the enemy had was to win by any means available and this has been the case in every war the US has fought, including the one we're in now.
During WWII in America the people, including the media, were pretty much unified and solidly behind the troops. War correspondents would never badmouth or file a report that endangered the lives of troops. They would occasionally take a jab at Gen. Patton as was the case where he slapped a couple of battle fatigued GIs that he said were cowards. German generals usually shot their troops for the same offense.
Gen. Eisenhower briefed a room full of war correspondents just prior to the D-Day Invasion of Normandy. Top Secret stuff. Eisenhower told them that they now knew as much about the invasion as he did. Not one word was leaked. As Eisenhower left the room he was given a standing ovation.
Can you imagine that sort of reaction today in Iraq or Afghanistan? They would be tearing the walls down to file their reports.
Today in Iraq and Afghanistan reporters are scurrying around like a pack of rats trying to find US troops mistreating civilians or terrorist prisoners. They even downplayed the death of al Zarqawi.
The latest bad news coming out of Iraq, being happily reported by the media and the Democrats, is the alleged massacre by US Marines of 24 civilians in Hadithah, an insurgent stronghold.
Democrats say it's a scandal worse than the Abu Ghraib prison incident.
Abu Ghraib? What's worse? Being humiliated by GIs or beheaded by terrorists? I'll bet you Nicolas Berg, who had his head hacked off with a dull knife, would have opted for a dog leash around his neck.
It's bad enough that the liberal media continues to badmouth our troops, but it's even worse when members of Congress condemn them.
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa, a war critic, who has called for a "cut and run" policy in Iraq, has already "convicted" the Marines and called them "cold blooded killers." Sen. Dick "Turban" Durbin compared them to Nazi SS troops.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., accused our troops of terrorizing innocent civilians in their homes.
It makes you wonder just whose side these guys are on.
Murtha and Kerry, besides being anti-war activists, have something else in common. Both are phony Vietnam War heroes. Both suffered minor scratches that have raised questioned as whether they were the result of enemy action or merely accidents. Both put themselves in for decorations, Both have refused to release their military medical records.
Murtha was awarded two Purple Hearts and a Bonze Star during his tour of duty in Vietnam in 1967.
Murtha gave three different accounts of his injuries.
On May 12, 2002, the Pittsburg Post-Gazette reported that they had obtained records that show Murtha was injured on Mar 22, 1967 and May 7, 1967.
"In the first incident, his right cheek was lacerated, and in the second, he was lacerated above his left knee. Neither required evacuation."
Murtha claimed he received the injuries while involved in chopper operations.
Former Rep. Don Bailey, D-Pa., a decorated Vietnam War combat veteran who served in the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions and was awarded the Silver Star and three Bonze Stars said Murtha admitted to him that "he did not deserve his Purple Hearts."
It's pretty easy for the anti-war crowd, from the comfort of their plush, air-conditioned offices, to attack our troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Murtha, Kerry and the rest of the "cut and run" Democrats give aid and comfort to the enemy when they badmouth our troops.
When have you ever heard the liberal Democrats call for winning the war in Iraq? It's always "we" can't win, we've got to get out and woe is us." What a bunch of losers.
Now they're calling for the heads of our troops when reports surface that "innocent civilians" may have been killed in the heat of battle.
I saw much death and destruction during my combat tours in Nam. And, yes, it's possible a few "innocent civilians" were killed as may have been the case in Hadithah.
When you see your buddies blown apart by mines planted by 10-year-old kids or a young woman or an old man, you get mad as hell.
I used to tell my troops "If you're the next one killed it doesn't make any difference if the one that killed you was 10-years-old or 50 you're still just as dead."
In many cases civilians, including women and kids, are willing helping insurgents kill and wound our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
US Marines in the Hadithah operation were attacked by insurgents. One marine was blown in half by an improvised explosive device (IED) and another Marine seriously wounded.
It's alleged that following the attack the Marines killed 24 so-called innocent civilians.
As a result seven Marines, without being formally charged, were shackled and thrown in the stockade (brig) like mad dogs.
"Rules of Engagement" that favor the enemy over US troops will seriously affect troop morale, reduce combat effectiveness and result in increased combat casualties.
Phony war heroes and anti-war critics like "Porky Pig" Murtha and "Swiftboat Kerry" and their Democrat cohorts in Congress would be well advised to shut up and quit attacking our troops.
As a combat trooper, I may have killed a few "civilians" who turned out to be Viet Cong or NVA. I say, "Get those Marines out of chains and the stockade and return them to duty. They should be decorated not be court-martialed."
Its bad enough that our troops are fighting a nasty, dirty bunch of terrorist thugs who hide behind and use women, children and old men to spy on and kill and wound as many as they can.
Let's not make it worse by throwing our troops in the stockade every time a few civilians are killed during a firefight.
To Hell with Murtha and the rest of the anti-war, anti-military crowd.
Better yet, let's put Murtha and Kerry back in uniform and ship them to Iraq as point men on a combat patrol in Hadithah. They may get the chance to earn their decorations the hard way.
Got the message Murtha? Probably not. As Dirty Harry would say, "He's a legend in his own mind."
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Are we talking Murtha's right “but-tox”?
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I think murtha got his metals the same place kerry did.....off EBAY.....
As my deceased father-in-law , a retired colonel, would say...."they (Murtha and Kerry) are not worth a tinker's damn".
When I saw Murtha's picture on Drudge this morning, it struck me how angry he looked and how much he acts like Cindy Sheehan. This man has obviously lost it and is incapable of objectivity. It's frightening to know that this man is part of our Congress making important decisions. Pelosi knows how to turn it on and off. Murtha is acting like an old fool who is a nut.
In this photograph provided by 'Meet the Press,' Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., appears during the taping of 'Meet the Press'' Sunday, June 18, 2006, at the NBC studios in Washington. (AP Photo/Meet The Press, Alex Wong)
Instead of weening homosexuals from the military, we should ween democrats from 'serving' our country.
We don't need their kind of service!
Murtha says U.S. poses top threat to world peace
MIAMI — American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said to an audience of more than 200 in North Miami Saturday afternoon
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/135159
Murtha isn't acting at all. It's just his true self shining through.
Little wonder if this dude was in MI during VietNam that it turned out as it did.
I was at the Fort Riley main PX a few days ago and saw some sort of shoulder flash, wasn't sure what it was and learned that's what they give to those who served in Iraq, but not infantry.
The Combat Infantry Badge (CIB) is now reserved to infantry, as it should be, while not taking anything away from the other branches.
(See LBJ: Silver Star for flying as a passenger in Pacific theater, WWII; John Effin Kerry, and now, Murtha.)
Major Miles said it all for me!
Hey Kid! Pull my finger!
We killed more civilians on the night of 8-9 March 1945 than we did at Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Hamburg, or Dresden. We sent hundreds of B-29s to Tokyo, at night, at low level, with no more precise aiming instructions than "put your bomb load within this quadrant, marked by burning buildings." The planes carried hundreds of clusters of M79 incindiaries. Little napalm firebombs that would scatter over a thousand-foot area when dropped from a B-29 at 5,000 feet traveling three hundred miles an hour.
Sixteen square miles of Tokyo were obliterated by firebombs. Not damaged--burnt TO THE GROUND. Nothing left. A hundred and twenty thousand Japanese, mostly civilians, dead. A million made homeless. In one night.
And then we went back and did it again. And again. And again. Kobe. Osaka. Nagoya. The list goes on and on and on. By the time August 1945 rolled around, Hiroshima was the target for the first atomic bomb almost by default. All the other Japanese cities of any size were already nothing but ash and rubble.
We could not win World War II today. Sixty years of liberal claptrap has robbed us of the will we would need to do it.
}:-)4
I just want everone to know that even though I'm from Pa. I don't agree with or believe anything this moron has to say.
Texan John Nance Garner, who was VP from 1932 to 1940, might have said they aren't worth a bucket of warm piss!
Didn't Lincoln have Federal troops track down and arrest Congressman Vanlandingham for speaking out against the Union war effort?
You can not separate the man from his message. He is an opportunistic politician under investigation for past and present corruption. Like Kerry, his military service is questionable. I am a career military veteran who remembers those who supported our enemies and gave them a political victory they could not win on the battlefields of Vietnam. Murtha has squandered his military and political capital. The man has apparently lost his grasp of reality.
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Phony war heroes and anti-war critics like "Porky Pig" Murtha...
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