| BIG MOUTH MURTHA SLAPPED DOWN BY FEDERAL
JUDGE - MUST GIVE SWORN DEPOSITION AS TO HIS
RECKLESS STATEMENTS ABOUT "GUILTY" MARINES
AT HADITHAH - THREE CHEERS FOR USMC S/SGT
FRANK WUTERICH, WHO FILED SUIT AGAINST THE
CONGRESSMAN FOR "PREJUDICIAL" REMARKS
Few politicians are more roundly loathed in the Marine Corps today than that fat bag of wind, the loud-mouthed congressman from Pennsylvania, John Murtha. And deservedly so, after the Democrat hack publicly declared Marines "guilty" of "cold-blooded murder" in a 2005 incident at Hadithah, Iraq even before the case had been investigated.
Apparently getting his pumpkin head on TV was more important than reason and restraint. Just because a lawmaker is supposedly immune from lawsuits for defaming others on the floor of the House or Senate, doesn't make it right to do so.
The media spread Murtha's condemnation of his fellow Marines - the politician was allegedly in combat in Vietnam and not back "in the rear with the gear" - far and wide, and if there ever was a case of "command influence," this is it.
The self-declared "king of pork" in his central Penn. congressional district broadly hinted that he had sources within the Corps that had informed him the Marines were guilty as sin. We think his "sources" were wrong, as charges have already been dismissed against four of the eight Grunts who were initially charged with murder or failure to investigate the deaths of civilian Iraqis at Hadithah.
MURTHA SLAPPED UP SIDE OF THE HEAD BY FEDERAL JUDGE
Now District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer has slapped Murtha up the side of the head with an unexpected but very welcome ruling that the congressman must give a sworn deposition about his outrageous comments. She also refused to toss out a defamation case brought against Murtha by a Marine NCO who was incensed by the politician's reckless and "prejudicial" remarks. In addition, the judge ordered Murtha to turn over any documents "related to his comments."
Mark Zaid, attorney for plaintiff, Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, says Murtha was running off his mouth trying to gain "political points" on former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [an old enemy of ours here at MilitaryCorruption.com], and in the process, smeared the reputations and violated the rights of the Hadithah Marines.
Wuterich, who bravely brought suit against the powerful politician, will soon find out if he'll be recommended for court-martial. But as for now, he is still innocent until proven guilty.
However, that Constitutional provision seems to have escaped the grand-standing Murtha, whose hog-like jowls, hang-dog look and mean, squinty eyes makes him appear to have had more than a few nips of the bourbon. We haven't heard the congressman "apologize" to the four Marines already cleared in this case. Probably we won't, but we hope the voters in his Penn. district, especially Marines, retired Grunts, and their families, remember who rushed to judgment come next election. |
