Murtha destroyed any chance for an unpolitical investigation back in May. For those who missed it, six months ago, Murtha said that the Marines' investigation would show that there was no firefight and that the Marines' killed "innocent civilians in cold blood".
The investigation was a farce. Murtha had already dictated the outcome.
Is Mattis strong enough to release a report that contradicts Murtha? How long would Mattis keep his job? Murtha controls the appropriations and has many old and powerful friends in the Corps. That's the real story.
On May 17 with Chris Matthews, among other things, he said there was no IED involved in this incident. He was either lying or relating untrue information.