The Discerning Texan

Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt for killing three Iraqi brothers in November 2005.

The hearing officer, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, wrote in a report released by the defense Tuesday that those charges were based on unreliable witness accounts, insupportable forensic evidence and questionable legal theories. He also wrote that the case could have dangerous consequences on the battlefield, where soldiers might hesitate during critical moments when facing an enemy.

"The government version is unsupported by independent evidence," Ware wrote in the 18-page report. "To believe the government version of facts is to disregard clear and convincing evidence to the contrary."

Prosecutors allege Sharratt and other members of his battalion carried out a revenge-motivated assault on Iraqi civilians that left 24 dead after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine nearby.

Sharratt contends the Iraqi men he confronted were insurgents and at least one was holding an AK-47 rifle when he fired at them.

In addition to Sharratt, two other enlisted men are charged with murder and four officers are accused of failing to investigate the incident—the largest single Iraqi civilian death case of the war. Sharratt's case is the first among the three charged with murder to go to a hearing known as an Article 32 investigation, the military equivalent of a grand jury.

Back in June, I linked to an incredible must-read by J.R. Dunn on Haditha (if you didn't read it then, I highly recommend it now because it provides a very thorough dissection of the whole case).

Now today, as we mentioned, they are recommending also dropping charges against two other Marines.

But even more incredible--especially the enormous foot he stuck in his mouth right out of the box, and since there has been an outcry from Republican Congressmen for him to apologize--the disgusting Jack Murtha hung up today in an interview where the subject of Haditha was brought up, which Bryan of Hot Air has on tape: give it a listen. Bryan comments:

When he wasn’t busy over the past year or so arguing that we ought to fight al Qaeda in Iraq from our bases in Okinawa and Diego Garcia, Rep. Jack “Abscam” Murtha has been busy stuffing his face with pork, behaving questionably over appropriations and smearing US Marines. Now that three of the Marines Murtha prejudged to be guilty of cold-blooded murder have been cleared of all charges, Murtha ought to answer for what he has been saying about them.

Only one non-expletive word comes immediately to mind: Scum.

I don't care how much money it costs the RNC: Murtha needs to be taken out in next year's elections. Someone please get this disgraceful human being out of my sight...

Labels: Defeatocrats, Democrat Sabotage, Enemy Propaganda, Iraq, John Murtha, The Left, Travesty of Justice, US Marines

Murtha, the defense industry’s darling, has been known throughout his tenure on the defense panel to shell out a large number of earmarks. His biggest earmark in the bill is $23 million for the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), a move that sparked a fierce fight with Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), who earlier this year voted in a private meeting to strip Murtha’s earmark.

The Bush administration requested $16 million to shut down the center, which is in Murtha’s district, because it replicated the work of a similar center.

Murtha’s second highest earmark is for $15 million for a military molecular medicine initiative.

Labels: Defeatocrats, Democrat Sabotage, Earmarks, John Murtha, Pork, Surrender Caucus

Labels: Corruption, Democrat, John Murtha

Labels: Congress, Democrat Sabotage, Earmarks, Ethics, John Murtha

Labels: Democrat Sabotage, Iraq, John Murtha, Surrender Caucus

Rep. John Murtha suggested the possibility of impeachment to “influence” the President to “compromise” over funding for Iraq. Is it just me or does John Murtha sound like Vito Corleone? Does Murtha not know he is talking about impeaching the President of the United States because he is not compromising with the will of the far-left of Congress? That’s neither a high crime nor even a misdemeanor, which are the behaviors that are supposed to trigger impeachment. Murtha’s suggestion is outside the bounds of what Congress is supposed to do to influence the behavior of a sitting president, to say the least.

Labels: Appeasement, Bush Derangement Syndrome, Democrat Sabotage, John Murtha, Nutroots, Surrender Caucus