Then another Marine was exonerated and still no apology from Murtha.
A Marine is suing John Murtha for defamation and a judge refused to dismiss the case and ordered Murtha to give a sworn deposition and her words were:
"You're writing a very wide road for members of Congress to go to their home districts and say anything they choose about private persons and be able to do so without any liability. Are you sure you want to do that?" Collyer said, adding later, "How far can a congressman go and still be protected?"
Collyer said she was troubled by the idea the lawmakers are immune from lawsuits regardless of what they say to advance their political careers.
Another Marine, Col. Jeffrey Chessani plans on hauling Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha, into court, suing him for libel.
The NYT as well as countless other media outlets also owe the Marines and the American public a huge apology.
Today, as Gateway Pundit so succinctly puts it, The NYT is mourning the loss of what they call Iraq's "defining atrocity".
NYT:
BAGHDAD, Oct. 5 — Last year, when accounts of the killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha by a group of marines came to light, it seemed that the Iraq war had produced its defining atrocity, just as the conflict in Vietnam had spawned the My Lai massacre a generation ago.
But on Thursday, a senior military investigator recommended dropping murder charges against the ranking enlisted marine accused in the 2005 killings, just as he had done earlier in the cases of two other marines charged in the case. The recommendation may well have ended prosecutors’ chances of winning any murder convictions in the killings of the apparently unarmed men, women and children.
My personal favorite part of the NYT atrocious piece today is seem to be whining about Lt. Col. Paul J. Ware, who presided over the hearings and concluded that all three cases lacked sufficient evidence.
In the end, in Colonel Ware’s view, expressed in dozens of pages of analysis and opinion in his reports on all three cases, the Haditha prosecutors failed to amass enough evidence to win a conviction.
In his latest report, in which he recommended dismissing 10 murder charges against Sergeant Wuterich and reducing seven others to negligent homicide, Colonel Ware wrote that the evidence presented to him “is simply not strong enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.”
He made similar conclusions in his reports on the cases against two other infantrymen for whom he urged the dismissal of all charges: Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, whose murder charges were subsequently thrown out by the commanding general overseeing the case, and Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, who is still waiting to hear the general’s decision. Commanders usually follow investigators’ recommendations.
“When you have an investigating officer like Ware, who says ‘don’t go there if you can’t prove,’” your case, Mr. Solis said, “we’re left with what appear to be very reduced charges.” He added: “He’s aggressive, and he seems to make his judgments without regard for anything but the law. He must know that people — civilians, primarily — are going to howl about this, but that doesn’t seem to be a concern.”
So, what? Was Ware supposed to ignore the law and be more concerned about people "howling"?
Gateway Pundit reminds us of NYT's complicity in convicting these marines in the media, just as John Murtha did, by showing us 3 previous pieces the NYT published on this subject:
The New York Times
June 4, 2006:The apparent cold-blooded killing last November of 24 Iraqi civilians by United States marines at Haditha will be hard to dispose of with another Washington damage control operation. The Iraqi government has made clear that it will not sit still for one, and neither should the American people. This affair cannot simply be dismissed as the spontaneous cruelty of a few bad men.
This is the nightmare that everyone worried about when the Iraq invasion took place. Critics of the war predicted that American troops would become an occupying force, unable to distinguish between innocent civilians and murderous insurgents, propelled down the same path that led the British to disaster in Northern Ireland and American troops to grief in Vietnam.
That is only one of the pieces Gateway Pundit shows, go there to see the rest.
Democracy Project thinks the NYT just excused itself, or tried to.
The other day I said that I didn’t expect to hear any apologies from the major media for their trial by press error, and the New York Times’ latest excuse for itself, a poor excuse for a self-purported newspaper of record, is decidedly not an apology but a cop-out, which only convicts itself.
Every excuse that the New York Times raises for not obtaining the lynching it desired is directly refuted by facts. I’m so disgusted that I don’t even feel like documenting them all now. For those interested, please visit the extensive writings I’ve posted over the past 1+ years: The real evidence and circumstances are all there: Iraqis who all knew of the planned attack on the Marines; Contradictory stories from Iraqis; Iraq customs do allow autopsies; Multiple contradictions by immune witnesses; Forensics that did not support a massacre; etc.
The NYT needs to stop creating excuses and apologize. More importantly though, John Murtha needs to apologize and the last time he was confronted about it, he still refused to issue that apology.
NOW he wants to wait for all the facts...well where was that line of thought when you were condemning those Marines Mr. Murtha?
From a previous post:
Yesterday Hot Air provided a video of John Murtha being confronted on the issue where he STILL is refusing to issue an apology.
Murtha was quick enough to publicly slander these Marines and yet when evidence shows that he was wrong, he is eerily quiet and still no apology.
At this point, an apology isn't good enough.
Murtha should not be holding a political position at all.
John Murtha needs to step down.
As Back Talk says:
Except, of course, in the minds of John Murtha and many other Democrats who unquestionably support the troops. To them, the mere charge was sufficient to convict our soldiers of having committed cold-blooded murder.
Black Five points out:
Do you see the missing factor he completely neglects to mention? Maybe no crimes were freaking committed. Huh? Maybe that is what hampered the effort to win murder convictions, and note the use of the word "win" not obtain. I am unable to read this as anything other than a requiem for the "defining atrocity that should have been".
This writer did a decent job of chronicling the case against MSG Anderson and CPT Staffel so it is a bit surprising to see such a nakedly biased bit like this. It is plenty fair to look at the difficulties faced in gathering evidence to try and prosecute these men. It is low and shameful to fail to note that all charges were dropped against 5 of the 6 and maybe, just maybe that was because they were innocent. I know, I know that's crazy talk.
The charges have been dropped against 5 of the 6..... with that said, now lets look at John Murtha" s original slanderous statements made to the press on may 2006 , before the investigations had even been completed:
On Wednesday, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said the accounts are true.
[...]
Murtha, a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq, said at a news conference Wednesday that sources within the military have told him that an internal investigation will show that "there was no firefight, there was no IED (improvised explosive device) that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."
[...]
The Marine Corps issued a statement in response to Murtha's remarks:
"There is an ongoing investigation; therefore, any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process. As soon as the facts are known and decisions on future actions are made, we will make that information available to the public to the fullest extent allowable."
Murtha held the news conference to mark six months since his initial call for "redeployment" of U.S. forces from Iraq.
He said U.S. forces were under undue pressure in Iraq because of poor planning and allocation of resources by the Bush administration.
Disgusting, pathetic excuse for a human being. I hope they sue him for every cent he has and the public should DEMAND he step down, he doesn't deserve to hold any political position.
[Update]
For those that agree that John Murtha owes this Marine and the others a huge apology for making statements about their guilt without a benefit of a trial and having now found out that all charges have been dropped, below I am listing the ways for you to contact him.
Via the Web:
His Web Contact Form.
Call him:
800-289-2642 from Western PA (or) 814-535-2642 (or) 202-225-2065
Fax him:
814-539-6229 -- District
202-225-5709 -- Washington
Write him or Visit him:
647 Main St, Suite 401
Johnstown, PA 15901
For those that want to visit him, here are some directions, right from his website.
Directions to Congressman Murtha's Main District Office
People sometimes need or want to find our main office in Johnstown for various reasons. We can't offer directions from every community in this sprawling new 12th District, but these should be sufficient for most people to find their way.
From Uniontown, the fastest route is:
- Take US-119 North.
- Turn Right onto PA-31 East.
- Turn Left onto PA-711 at Donegal and proceed through Ligonier.
- Turn Right onto PA-271 about five miles north of Ligonier.
- Remain on PA-271 into the City of Johnstown -- the Route becomes Menoher Boulevard, makes a right turn onto Haynes Street at a traffic signal, passes through 3 traffic signals and turns left at the 5th traffic signal onto Bedford Street.
- Proceed one block on Bedford Street and turn Right onto Main Street
- 647 Main Street is called the Feeder Canal Building and on the left immediately past the railroad tracks. Parking is available on Feeder Street across from the building.
- Estimated Time: 1 hour and 40 minutes; Total Distance: 67 miles.
From Washington , PA , the fastest route is:
- Take I-70 E toward New Stanton .
- Take Exit-9 at Donegal.
- Turn Left onto PA-31 east for a very short distance.
- Turn Left onto PA-711 North, and follow 711 through Ligonier.
- Turn Right onto PA-271 about five miles north of Ligonier.
- Remain on PA-271 into the City of Johnstown -- the Route becomes Menoher Boulevard, makes a right turn onto Haynes Street at a traffic signal, passes through 3 traffic signals and turns left at the 5th traffic signal onto Bedford Street.
- Proceed one block on Bedford Street and turn Right onto Main Street
- 647 Main Street is called the Feeder Canal Building and on the left immediately past the railroad tracks. Parking is available on Feeder Street across from the building.
- Estimated Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes; Total Distance: 90 miles.
From the New Kensington area, the fastest route is:
- Take PA-366 East.
- Turn Right onto PA-66.
- Merge onto US-22 East toward Blairsville.
- Turn Right on PA-56 East.
- After entering the City of Johnstown , remain on Route 56 through several turns and a series of traffic signals on Broad Street , which is both PA-56 and PA-403.
- The road turns right and follows the Conemaugh River under a railroad overpass.
- Turn Left at the next traffic signal onto Washington Street .
- Turn Right at the fourth traffic signal onto PA-271/Clinton Street .
- Turn Left at the second traffic signal onto Main Street .
- 647 Main Street is called the Feeder Canal Building and on the left immediately past the railroad tracks. Parking is available on Feeder Street across from the building.
- Estimated Time: 1 hour and 40 minutes; Total Distance: 60 miles.
From most places in Cambria or Somerset Counties , the fastest route is:
- Take Route 219 North or South toward Johnstown .
- Merge onto Route 56 West/Johnstown Expressway.
- Take the first Downtown Johnstown exit -- Bedford Street .
- Turn Right at the end of the exit ramp onto Adams Street .
- Proceed one block and turn Left at the stop sign onto Main Street
- 647 Main Street is called the Feeder Canal Building and on the right immediately past Feeder Street (just before the railroad tracks). Parking is available on Feeder Street across from the building.
What is everyone waiting for, lets tell John Murtha exactly how we feel, shall we?
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