The USS John P. Murtha
It pains me to even type the title.
In a travesty of honor the Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has announced that the 10th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship will be named after John Murtha, Congressman and former Marine who died February 2010. This is a ship that will be used to transport Marines for amphibious assault operations. The Secretary of the Navy has made an egregious error in judgement.
Murtha accused U.S. Marines of killing Iraqi civilians “in cold blood” in Haditha, Iraq. He claimed that the Marines had “overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” “There’s no question in my mind about what happened here,” declared Murtha. “There was no gunfire [from the Iraqis]. They [the American Marines] killed four people in a taxi and then in addition to that, they went into the rooms and killed them.” He further alleged that the U.S. military was trying to “cover up” what had occurred in Haditha.
“One woman, as I understand it, in talking to officials in the Marine Corps, was kneeling over a child pleading for mercy and they shot her in cold blood. That’s the thing that’s so disturbing. And even more disturbing is the fact that we know that the Iraqis knew about it because they made payments to the Iraqis for accidental deaths or salacious deaths whatever you want to call it. And in addition to that, they had … there has to have been a cover-up of this thing.”
~John Murtha’s unsubstantiated remarks to ABC
Murtha’s caustic and disdainful statements regarding the Haditha Marines is shameful. For this former Marine to make disparaging remarks toward Marines in combat is to discredit himself from any good he may have done in his life. It bears reminding that all of the accused Marines were exonerated except one. Murtha never apologized and appeared shameless to the day he died.
There are so many others that are actually deserving of having a United States Naval Ship bear their name. Here are the names of just a few that are shining examples of courage, valor and honor. Captain John McKenna, who received the Silver Star for coming to the aid of a fallen Marine in Fallujah only to be mortally wounded himself. Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, 19, and Cpl. Jonathan Yale, 21 were standing guard at an outpost in Ramadi when they fired on a truck with 2,000 pounds of exposives racing toward the compund, both were killed after the vehicle exploded. They were both awarded the Navy Cross. Sgt. Jeffrey Lynn Kirk was awarded the Silver Star for valor while clearing a house of insurgents in Fallujah and later succumbed to his wounds from that fight. These Marines were cut down in the prime of their lives. There are many more. They never castigated their brothers in arms. The naming of this ship after John Murtha is a direct insult to those that paid the ultimate price for upholding our freedom and liberty.
The airport in Johnstown, Pennsylvania that bears the Murtha name built with millions of dollars of taxpayer money should be more than enough of a monument to the amount of pork barrel spending he represented. No Navy ship should ever bear the name of this man. No sailor or Marine should have to serve aboard a ship that has the stern stained with Murtha’s name.
I’m not one to make a habit of speaking ill of the dead. I make an exception in the case of John Murtha. The only lasting object that should bear his name is the headstone where he lies buried.
Reader Comments
It pains me to think that you are an American citizen. All I know is John P. Murtha has kept my hometown from becoming a complete ghost-town and providing the hard-working people of his district with some well-paying employment.
This post is coming from a “writer” that is standing up for young Marines killing a woman, in cold blood, that is pleading for her life while kneeling over a child. How would any decent-minded American citizen even have the same twisted morals you portray in this post?
What have you done for hundreds of thousands of people D.R. Weeks? Other than spew out your hatred and dislike for a deceased former congressman, that has done all that he could for a community he grew-up in and loved, whose actions you disagreed with.
You sir are classless.
I would be surprised if the people from your hometown didn’t revere Congressman John Murtha, he certainly funnelled enough of hard-working America’s money into that district. How else would he have stayed in office for so long?
If you stepped outside your hometown you would find that I am not the only “classless” American that shares the same sentiments toward your beloved Congressman. I was not in Haditha that day nor were you or Congressman Murtha that saw fit to spew baseless accusations before the facts.
As far as what I have or have not done, I’ll let my years of honorable service to my country speak for itself.
Dave,
As a Retired Marine and Iraq veteran, I am outraged by the honor bestowed on the late Mr. Murtha as are every single Marine I know. Classless? That would condemning those Marines in the national media without a trial during a time of war. Enjoy the airport we bought you.