John Murtha

John Murtha
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 12th district
In office 1974 - present
Preceded by	John P. Saylor
Personal details
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Joyce Murtha

John Patrick “Jack” Murtha, Jr. (born 17 June 1932) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A Democrat, he has served in the United States House of Representatives since 1974 as the representative from Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district, covering Johnstown and suburban Pittsburgh on both the east and south.[1] Congressman Murtha is presently the Ranking Member on the House Appropriations Sub-Committee on Defense. According to CNN, Murtha is considering a run for House Majority Leader should the Democrats retake the House of Representatives in the fall.

Early life and military service

Murtha was born in New Martinsville, West Virginia, near the border with Ohio, and grew up in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, where as a youth he became an Eagle Scout. He also worked delivering newspapers and at a gas station before graduating from The Kiski School, an all-male boarding school in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania.

Murtha left Washington and Jefferson College in 1952 to join the Marine Corps and was awarded the American Spirit Honor Medal for displaying outstanding leadership qualities during training. Murtha rose through the ranks to become a drill instructor at Parris Island and was selected for Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia. Murtha was then was assigned to the Second Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Murtha remained in the Marine Corps Reserves, and ran a small business, Johnstown Minute Car Wash. Murtha attended the University of Pittsburgh on the G.I. Bill, and received a degree in economics. Murtha later took graduate courses from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Murtha married his wife Joyce on 10 June 1955 — they have three children and live in Johnstown.

In 1959, Murtha, then a captain, took command of the 34th Special Infantry Company, Marine Corps Reserves, in Johnstown. He remained in the Reserves after his discharge from active duty until he volunteered for service in the Vietnam War, serving from 1966 to 1967, serving as a battalion staff officer (S-2 Intelligence Section), receiving the Bronze Star with Valor device, two Purple Hearts and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He retired from the Reserves as a colonel in 1990, receiving the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.

Political career

Murtha was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1968 and served there until 1974, when he ran in a special election for Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district. The seat had come open after 24-year incumbent Republican John Saylor died in October 1973. Murtha won by 122 votes, making him the first Vietnam veteran to serve in Congress. He won a full term later that year with 58 percent of the vote and has been re-elected 14 times without substantial opposition. He chaired the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense from 1991 to 1995, and has since served as its ranking Democrat.

Murtha's lowest percentage came in 1980, when he received 59.6 percent of the vote against Charles A. Getty. This challenge occurred during the Abscam investigation in which the FBI, in the early stages of the investigation, named Murtha as an unindicted co-conspirator.

The video used to convict seven other congressmen showed him refusing the initial bribe. Murtha refused the bribe, saying “I'm not interested. I'm sorry, at this point.” He suggested that the alleged sheik invest money in his district instead, and walked out of the room. The charges against him were dropped in return for his testimony against Representative Frank Thompson; a grand jury refused to indict him. Murtha was eventually cleared by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (House Ethics Committee) in July 1981. Murtha has always declared he was innocent and has said that

I met with two men who I believed had a substantial line of credit that could provide up to 1,000 jobs for the district. I broke no law. I took no money.[2]

The full, unedited, 54-minute FBI video tape of the 7 January 1980 meeting with Murtha has surfaced online in an American Spectator article, “Murtha and the FBI: Full Director's cut”. Here is a quote from Murtha on the tape:

Just, let me tell you something, I'm sure if, and there's a lot of things I've done up here, with environmental regulations, with all sorts of waivers of laws and regulations that if it weren't for being in the district, people would say, “Well, that son of a bitch, I'm gonna tell you something — this guy is on the take.” Well once they say that, what happens? Then they start going around looking for the goddamn money. So I want to avoid that by having some tie to the district. That's all. That's the secret to the whole thing.

In 1980 Murtha said, "I did not consider that any money was offered." Jack Anderson column, 1980 On Sept. 29, 2006 Murtha said, "I was offered $50,000." CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" show transcript

Murtha dedicates the National Drug Intelligence Center in Johnstown in 1993.

Murtha faced tough primary challenges in 1982, 1990 and again in 2002. The 1982 challenge occurred when the Republican-controlled state legislature redrew the district of fellow Democrat and Vietnam War veteran Don Bailey and incorporated most of Westmoreland County into the 12th District. Bailey had initially defended Murtha before the Ethics Committee, but later claimed that Murtha had deceived him.

The 2002 challenge occurred when the state legislature redrew the district of fellow Democrat Frank Mascara to make it more Republican-friendly, but incorporated a large chunk of Mascara's former territory into Murtha's district. Mascara opted to run against Murtha in the Democratic primary since he had represented more of the new 12th than Murtha had. However, Mascara was badly defeated.

The redistricting will again pose a challenge for Murtha as he seeks reelection in 2006. More than half the district has been represented by Murtha for only four years, and his Republican challenger, Diana Irey, is a politician from that area, currently serving as a Washington County Commissioner. Furthermore, the recent controversies which made Murtha a national figure have also given national exposure to Irey, who has been interviewed several times on Fox News, as well as Hardball with Chris Mathews on MSBNC.

In June 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that a lobbying firm run by the congressman's brother, Robert Murtha, represents 10 companies that received more than $20 million from last year's defense spending bill.

Political views

Congressman John Murtha is a Democrat with a relatively populist [3]economic outlook, and is generally much more socially conservative than most other House Democrats. He opposes abortion, consistently receiving a 0% rating from NARAL; however, he supports stem-cell research. Murtha was also one of the few Democrats in Congress to vote against the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. However, he is strongly pro-labor, and opposes both NAFTA and CAFTA. Like other Democrats, he opposes Bush's tax plan and Social Security privatization, and he also opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment. Unlike other Democrats, he generally opposes gun control, earning an A+ from the National Rifle Association. He supports conscription and is generally more hawkish than other Democrats currently holding office.

In 2001, he co-authored (with Congressman Duke Cunningham, R-CA) the Flag Desecration Amendment which passed the House of Representatives, but not the Senate.

In late 2005, he led the effort of House Democrats to offer a motion to endorse language in a military spending bill, written by Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona and a fellow Vietnam veteran, that would prohibit abusive treatment of terror suspects.

Views on the 2003 Iraq war

Murtha voted for the 10 October 2002 resolution that as a last resort authorized the use of force against Iraq. However, he later began expressing doubts about the war. On 17 March 2004, when Republicans offered a “War in Iraq Anniversary Resolution” that “affirms that the United States and the world have been made safer with the removal of Saddam Hussein and his regime from power in Iraq”, Murtha called for a recorded vote and then voted against it.

Still, in early 2005 Murtha argued against the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. “A premature withdrawal of our troops based on a political timetable could rapidly devolve into a civil war which would leave America’s foreign policy in disarray as countries question not only America’s judgment but also its perseverance”, he stated.[4]

In May 2005, he said that the problems that the military had in Iraq were due to a “lack of planning” by Pentagon chiefs and “the direction has got to be changed or it is unwinnable”.

On 17 November 2005, he touched off a firestorm when he called for the redeployment of U.S. troops in Iraq,[5] saying the “military has accomplished its mission and done its duty.”[6] “The U.S. cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. It is time to bring them home.” Murtha later detailed what he was calling for was redeployment as opposed to a withdrawal, noting that he supported the establishment of an “over-the-horizon” presence of Marines within the region.

He has also said that terrorists want an American military presence in Iraq: “I think they’re trying to get this administration to stay. I think they want us there. Because we have united the Iraqis against us. We’re spending all this money and diverting our resources away from the war on terrorism because we’re involved in a civil war in Iraq.”

In June 2006, Tim Russert asked Mr. Murtha on Meet the Press to respond to a question that Karl Rove had asked rhetorically in a recent speech. After noting that Rep. Murtha had called for U.S. troops to “get out of Iraq and go to another country”, Mr. Rove asked: “What country would take us? What country would say after the United States cut and run from Iraq, what country in the Middle East would say ‘Yeah, paint a big target on our back and then you'll cut and run from us?’” Mr. Murtha named Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, three small countries in which U.S. troops were based during the march on Baghdad, but then added: “We can go to Okinawa. We can redeploy there almost instantly.”[7] In a press release explaining how many have taken his Okinawa comment out of context, Congressman Murtha explains, “We currently have a Marine division headquartered in Okinawa, thus logistics and existing facilities are already in place. Additionally, during the course of this war, Marines at the battalion level or lower have already been deployed from Okinawa to Iraq.”[8]

Resolution on removing American armed forces from Iraq

On November 17, 2005, Murtha submitted the following resolution (H.J. Res. 73) in the House of Representatives:

Whereas Congress and the American People have not been shown clear, measurable progress toward establishment of stable and improving security in Iraq or of a stable and improving economy in Iraq, both of which are essential to "promote the emergence of a democratic government";

Whereas additional stabilization in Iraq by U. S. military forces cannot be achieved without the deployment of hundreds of thousands of additional U S. troops, which in turn cannot be achieved without a military draft;

Whereas more than $277 billion has been appropriated by the United States Congress to prosecute U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan;

Whereas, as of the drafting of this resolution, 2,079 U.S. troops have been killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom;

Whereas U.S. forces have become the target of the insurgency,

Whereas, according to recent polls, over 80% of the Iraqi people want U.S. forces out of Iraq;

Whereas polls also indicate that 45% of the Iraqi people feel that the attacks on U.S. forces are justified;

Whereas, due to the foregoing, Congress finds it evident that continuing U.S. military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the people of Iraq, or the Persian Gulf Region, which were cited in Public Law 107-243 as justification for undertaking such action;

Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That:

Section 1. The deployment of United States forces in Iraq, by direction of Congress, is hereby terminated and the forces involved are to be redeployed at the earliest practicable date.

Section 2. A quick-reaction U.S. force and an over-the-horizon presence of U.S Marines shall be deployed in the region.

Section 3 The United States of America shall pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy.

Republican counterresolution

Murtha's comments forced a heated debate on the floor of the House on 18 November. Republicans led by Duncan Hunter of California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, responded by proposing their own resolution (H. Res. 572) which read:

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately.

Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated right away.

Republicans said that this resolution was intended to demonstrate that those calling for immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq are "out of the mainstream." Democrats in turn charged that the resolution was a sham that misstated Murtha's position. While Hunter's resolution demanded "the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately," Murtha's resolution included the qualifier that the redeployment take place "at the earliest practicable date" and that a quick-reaction U.S. force would remain in the region in case of emergencies.

Notwithstanding Murtha's actual resolution, however, his own website's press release for 17 November 2005 included a call “To immediately redeploy U.S. troops consistent with the safety of U.S. forces.” And during his press conference announcing the resolution, Rep. Murtha said:

The United States will immediately redeploy — immediately redeploy. No schedule which can be changed, nothing that’s controlled by the Iraqis, this is an immediate redeployment of our American forces because they have become the target.

The Democrats also noted that Hunter himself did not support his own resolution. Murtha took the floor during debate on the resolution, after the Democrats yielded all of their time to him, and denounced the Hunter proposal.

The resolution was overwhelmingly defeated, 403-3, with only three Democrats voting for it.

Jean Schmidt and the “coward” controversy

During debate on adopting the rule for the resolution, Congresswoman Jean Schmidt, a Republican from Ohio, made a statement attributed to Danny Bubp, an Ohio state Representative and Marine Corps reservist, “He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do.”

Seeing Schmidt's remarks as an unwarranted cheap shot against Murtha, outraged Democrats brought House business to a halt for ten minutes until Schmidt herself asked and received permission to withdraw her comments. Bubp has since stated that he never mentioned Murtha when making the quoted comment. He added that he would never question the courage of a fellow Marine. Bubp later said, “I don't want to be interjected into this. I wish (Congresswoman Schmidt) never used my name.”[9][10]

Haditha

In November 2005 Murtha announced that a military investigation into the deaths of Iraqi civilians at Haditha had concluded that U.S. Marines had killed innocent civilians.[11] Referring to the first report about Haditha that appeared in Time magazine,[12] Murtha said:

It's much worse than reported in Time magazine. There was no fire fight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood. And that's what the report is going to tell.

Now, you can imagine the impact this is going to have on those troops for the rest of their lives and for the United States in our war and our effort in trying to win the hearts and minds.[13]

The Haditha incident occurred on 19 November 2005, and since then there have been differing accounts of exactly what took place. The Marine Corps responded to Murtha's announcement by stating that “there is an ongoing investigation; therefore, any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process.”[14] As details of the Pentagon investigation's findings have emerged, however, they have been consistent with Murtha's characterization. [15]

Murtha was criticized by conservatives for presenting a version of events as simple fact before an official investigation had been concluded.[16]

On 2 August 2006, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich filed a law suit against Congressman Murtha for character defamation during an ongoing investigation into the Haditha incident. Donald Ritchie, associate historian in the Senate Historical Office, said "that such defamation suits happen from time to time but that they tend not to go anywhere because of the constitutional protections members have."[17] Murtha's notes his statements are based on a report prepared by the military in July.[18]

Sun-Sentinel story and correction

In a 24 June 2006 speech at Florida International University, Murtha said that the military presence in Iraq was hurting U.S. credibility, citing a poll by the Pew Research Center indicating that people in several countries consider the U.S. in Iraq to be a greater threat to world peace than either Iran or North Korea.[19] When the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported the speech on 25 June 2006, it asserted without further evidence that it was Murtha's own view that the U.S. was a greater threat to world peace: “American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said to a crowd of more than 200 in North Miami Saturday afternoon.”[20]

The Sun-Sentinel story was picked up by the Drudge Report website, leading several conservative pundits, including Bill O’Reilly, Tucker Carlson, and Newt Gingrich to comment.[21] After the Sun-Sentinel issued a correction on 28 June,[22], O'Reilly publicly apologized,[23] while other commentators such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity continued to misquote Murtha even after the paper retracted the quote.[24]

In August of 2006, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman repeated this falsehood.[25]

The InfoZone was cited in Murtha's press release as the source tracking down parts of this story. The video clip of the event is online at Yahoo Video.

Bob Woodward on Abizaid and Murtha

In State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III (as excerpted in Newsweek magazine), journalist Bob Woodward of the Washington Post writes

On March 16, General John Abizaid, the commander of CENTCOM and thus the top military officer for the Middle East, was in Washington to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He painted a careful but upbeat picture of the situation in Iraq. Afterward, he went over to see Congressman John Murtha, the 73-year old former Marine who had introduced a resolution the previous November calling for the redeployment of troops from Iraq as soon as practicable. Sitting at the round, dark wood table in the congressman’s office, Abizaid, the one uniformed military commander who had been intimately involved in Iraq from the beginning and who was still at it, indicated he wanted to speak frankly. According to Murtha, Abizaid raised his hand for emphasis and held his thumb and forefinger a quarter of an inch from each other and said, “We’re that far apart.”[26]

Questioned by Mike Wallace on a 1 October 2006 broadcast of the television show Sixty Minutes, Woodward stood by this version of events, as well as a claim that Abizaid had stated privately to friends that “we had to get the f… out of Iraq”.

Majority Leader announcement

On 9 June 2006, Murtha informed Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that he will run for Majority Leader if the Democrats gain control of the House in the 2006 midterm elections; however, the current Democratic whip, Rep. Steny Hoyer, may prove to be competition.[27]

External links

Official

• Official Congressional website
• Official re-election campaign website
• Vets for Murtha

Articles

• Murray, Shailagh (Nov. 25, 2005). "The About-Face of a Hawkish Democrat". Washington Post, pg. A02.
• Murtha Details His Exit Strategy. 60 Minutes. Broadcast by CBS on 2006-01-15.
• Miklaszewski, Jim and Viqueira, Mike (May 17, 2006). "Lawmaker: Marines killed Iraqis ‘in cold blood’". NBC News.
• Congressman Murtha's Book From Vietnam to 9/11
• Veteran Lawmakers Allied Against Abuse (Associated Press)
• John Murtha's Iraq Exit Strategy
• H. Res. 557, the "War in Iraq Anniversary resolution"
• 'Unwinnable' comment draws GOP fire (CNN)
• Murtha transcript: The only people who want us in Iraq are Iran, al Qaeda and China
• Murtha calls for change in U.S. Iraq policy (Associated Press)
• USA Today profile
• Rep. Murtha says Rumsfeld, Cheney should resign

Media

• YouTube video clip of John Murtha during the ABSCAM scandal
• YouTube video clip taken from C-SPAN of Rep. Louie Gohmert criticizing Murtha and Murtha's response
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Cheney Slams War Critics, Praises Murtha (Associated Press) on michaelmoore.com
• Fox tries to hurt Murtha's campaign