This is in reply to the letter from Joe Farrell about Rep. John Murtha and my son, Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt. Justin was honorably discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps. Justin was and always will be a Marine, not an ex-Marine.
Justin was exonerated of all charges involving the Haditha incident in a military Article 32 hearing (the civilian equivalent of a grand jury.) The evidence exonerated my son, and the general officially dismissed the charges because the evidence showed him innocent. Full disclosure of this evidence and the Article 32 testimony appears on the Defend Our Marines web site.
My son owes no apology to these Iraqis. He honorably defended himself when four insurgents tried to take his life in Haditha, Iraq, on Nov.19 2005. When you point a weapon at a U.S. Marine in a combat zone, bad things happen. In this case, the bad guys died, and my son is with me today.
My family and Justin feel an apology from Murtha would be too little too late. Murtha needs to apologize to the American people. He denied the Haditha Marines their rights of due process and the presumption of innocence. Murtha threw the Constitution of the United States "under the bus" to further his political agenda. How much more of the Constitution is he willing to trash to further his political agenda?
The American people are awaiting his answer.
Darryl Sharratt
Canonsburg
Great letter....glad they printed it.
It answers one jerk and indicts another.
Just, excellent!
Glad to see the O-R printed it, I hope murtha’s cronies all read it.
Great letter. I’d love to see it posted in the NYT, LAT, and WaPo, as well.
Super! I am glad it got printed.
Darryl’s letter deserves it own thread. I’m working on it. Thanks for the heads up!
My family and Justin feel an apology from Murtha would be too little too late.
Murtha needs to apologize to the American people.
The only way an apology would be considered by me, as one of those Americans, would be after he mouthed his scripted apology he would say;
"And now, as restitution for being one of the biggest, treasonous, crookedest, perfidious, unscrupulous, unpatriotic pieces of excrement that ever took up space on planet earth, I hereby RESIGN my hot seat in the US CONgress, forfeiting any and all benefits that would normally accompany my retirement. To show my good faith and sincerity in this matter, my office will be vacated by 3:00 PM this afternoon."
"Certified checks have been sent to each of the honorable Haditha Marines, that I so calculatingly and premeditatively slandered, for full payment of the defense costs incurred as they were forced to hire attorneys to defend themselves against the horrific circumstances that my traitorous actions brought down upon them."
"Further, I have set up accounts for each of the these magnificent Marines, that I despise, in the amount of $1,000,000.00, to use in any way they see fit, in the hope that one of these brave, outstanding American heroes, who I have treated so shamefully, will one day find it in their hearts to forgive me. In begging forgiveness of the American people, I have also started trust funds for each of the children and future children of these wonderful men. I hope one American can see clear to forgive this old, dilapidated, decrepit, criminal EX-marine.
I'm John "they killed innocent civilians in cold blood" al Murthawi and I approve this message.
I'm not saying I would accept the apology, but it would be a START!
Amen, and Amen!
Murtha needs a dressing down -— PUBLICLY in front of his “peers” and then his EMPLOYERS.....
The SOB obviously violated his oath of office....
He has FAILED as a Congressman, a Marine and a Citizen....
He's a liberal, so ipso facto, all of it.