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Chip Minemyer
— The final years of John Murtha’s life were stained by a controversy over comments he made concerning actions by U.S. Marines in late 2005 in Haditha, Iraq.
He was sued by soldiers for slander and chastised by political foes.
And the echoes of that debate followed Murtha to his grave years after he said Marines killed innocent civilians “in cold blood.”
But a powerful new investigative report by The New York Times seems to support assertions by the late congressman that Marines – stressed to the breaking point by the nature of that conflict – killed 24 people, including women and children, on Nov. 19, 2005.
A Times reporter found in a junkyard near Baghdad numerous pieces of evidence from the investigation into the Haditha incident.
Michael S. Schmidt wrote that some 400 pages of top-secret interviews and interrogations which were to be destroyed as the last American troops pulled out of Iraq were instead casually discarded. The junkyard also held additional classified information such as maps of helicopter routes.
Schmidt wrote: “An attendant was burning them as fuel to cook a dinner of smoked carp.”
Schmidt’s in-depth story charts both the atrocities committed at Haditha, as described in testimony by Marines who were involved, and the intense stress those military personnel faced each day from the threat of suicide bombings and roadside explosive devices.
He wrote: “Troops, traumatized by the rising violence and feeling constantly under siege, grew increasingly twitchy, killing more and more civilians in accidental encounters. Others became so desensitized and inured to the killing that they fired on Iraqi civilians deliberately while their fellow soldiers snapped pictures, and were court-martialed. The bodies piled up at a time when the war had gone horribly wrong.”
As has been reported, eight Marines were charged after the Haditha incident. Charges against six were eventually dropped, while one was acquitted and the eighth may face a trial for voluntary manslaughter in 2012.
The incident took place during the most intense period of the Iraq war – which was declared “over” just this past week, as U.S. soldiers began packing up and heading home.
The Times describes how on that 2005 morning, a convoy of military vehicles was headed to an outpost in Haditha when one vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb.
One Marine died and others were injured.
Some of the remaining Marines went looking for those responsible for the bomb.
A day later, 24 Iraqis were dead – “including a 76-year-old man and children between the ages of 3 and 15 ... many inside their homes,” the Times reported.
Murtha, an ex-Marine and Vietnam War veteran, understood the horrors of combat.
He knew the circumstances those soldiers faced.
And he realized that such incidents were damaging to efforts to reconcile U.S. military actions with the Iraqi people.
Murtha had access to reports based on the same classified information uncovered – quite literally – by The New York Times.
Several months after the Haditha incident, the veteran congressman uttered the words that fueled political campaigns and led to twin slander lawsuits filed against him.
Former Murtha spokesman Matthew Mazonkey, reached by email, said Murtha’s goal was to help the public and others in government understand that soldiers in Iraq faced very challenging circumstances which sometimes led them to take actions that resulted in unnecessary civilian casualties.
“Congressman Murtha’s purpose all along was to draw attention to the high number of civilian casualties in Iraq, said Mazonkey, who is now chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Mark Critz, D-Johnstown.
“And, in many cases, it worked – civilian casualties were significantly reduced as we started focusing on winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.”
In his final interview, with The Tribune-Democrat’s Randy Griffith a short time before his February 2010 death, Murtha recalled the moment when he spoke out:
“What I was doing here was I was looking at the big picture. I make comments when I believe it might (bring) change. I felt very strongly because of what was going on.”
At least two political opponents – Republicans Diana Irey and William Russell – attempted to gain ground with voters and potential donors by attacking Murtha for his statements.
In 2006, Irey said: “Shame on you, Congressman Murtha. You have clearly lost your way.”
There is now speculation that the Times report will lead to a reopening of the investigation into the handling of the Haditha incident, both by the soldiers on the ground and by others later, as well as a probe of how classified documents wound up in a dump.
In addition, someone in our military needs to step forward and acknowledge that Murtha got it right, and that stances such as his helped turn the tide of this war in a direction that is allowing our soldiers to come home – six years after that bloody day at Haditha.
Chip Minemyer is the editor of The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 724-532-5091.
Haditha Marine-Murtha Ping
In a perfect universe, that filthy corrupt ‘Rat should even now be fellating Kim Jong Il WAY downstairs.
Everyone says that there’s no such thing as an Ex-Marine.Well,Murtha was the exception that proves that rule.
Both are/were despicable humans and most Vets would not consider either one our "Brothers," though both served in harms way.
And while Murtha slimed a group of Marines in one instance/incident, Kerry's (Knowingly) faux accusations, tarred with that broad brush, ALL of us who served in Vietnam and we were made to feel ashamed of our service to the point, most of us hid that fact for 30+ years.
Thank God Murtha, the Iraq Vets Against the War (an offshoot and sponsored by the Vietnam Vets Against the War) as well as Code Pink and sundry other Anti-War Zealots--though they tried--were not successful in attributing atrocities and War Crimes to all who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Some of us Nam Vets vowed to never let that happen again and for the most part, have been successful in that those who have made such accusations, were not simply left to their own designs absent any documentation or proof (as Kerry was able to get away with) and when pressed for same, their charges were seen to be specious, malicious and fabricated.
Maybe God will forgive Kerry (and Murtha to a lesser degree) for all the hurt, pain and suffering they caused, but I won't....not ever!!!
Goes to show, you can always trust some scumbag editor for a second-rate Democrat newsroom to put the soiled reputation of a corrupt Democrat politician (co-conspirator, Abscam) ahead of the legacy and reputation of a group of brave US Marine combat veterans. Minemyer is the ultimate coward. What a sick, slimy bastid.
Excellent piece by Bill Russell and he couldn't be more correct about Murtha. The below pic shows just exactly where Murtha's priorities were on the war in Iraq.
Somebody needs to remind Minemeyer that Murtha just re-spewed Tim McGirk’s lie.
Glad that bastard is dead.
What would you expect from them? The truth?
Tell a lie often enough and you will believe it and probably become insane.
I went to Iraq in 2005 with 2/28th ID. National Guardsmen from Murtha’s home district.
Big mean steel-town union thugs who loudly proclaimed that Republicans should be hung in the town square.
People like that, just like Murtha, are beyond redemption.
Murtha is learning there are no earmarks in hell.
The T-D rarely prints anything with a reasonable semblance of truth...KOS extension, pure & simple...
I'm really having trouble believing this. "Top Secret" documents were found in a junkyard? The person who was responsible for those documents needs to be sitting in a cell next to Bradley Manning for violating the chain of custody and improper disposal of classified documents.
Thanks for posting and pinging.