John Murtha

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John Murtha
United States Representative from Pennsylvania's 12th district
In office 1974 - present
Preceded by	John P. Saylor
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	17 June 1932 New Martinsville, West Virginia
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Joyce Murtha
Religion	Roman Catholic

John Patrick “Jack” Murtha, Jr. (born 17 June 1932) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

A Democrat, Murtha has served in the United States House of Representatives since 1974, representing Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district. The district is based in Johnstown and includes a large portion of southwestern Pennsylvania, including several suburbs of Pittsburgh on both the east and south.^[1]

Murtha made a bid to run for House Majority Leader^[2] after the Democrats won control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections, and was supported by likely House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.^[3] On November 16, 2006, Steny Hoyer was elected as House Majority Leader over Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania by a margin of 149-86 within the caucus.^[4] Despite this defeat, Murtha will become chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee in the 110th Congress. He had previously chaired this subcommittee from 1991 to 1995 and has since served as its ranking Democrat.

Contents 1 Early life and military service 2 Political career 2.1 Elections 2.2 Political views 2.3 Abscam bribery investigation 3 Views on the 2003 Iraq War 3.1 Resolution on removing American armed forces from Iraq 3.2 Republican counterresolution 3.3 Jean Schmidt and the “coward” controversy 3.4 Haditha, Iraq killings 3.5 Sun-Sentinel story and correction 3.6 Bob Woodward on Abizaid and Murtha 4 References 5 External links 5.1 Official 5.2 Books by Murtha 5.3 Articles 5.4 Media

[edit] 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 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. He also 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.

[edit] 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 P. 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.

On 9 June 2006, Murtha informed Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that he would run for Majority Leader if the Democrats gained control of the House in the 2006 midterm elections. Despite Murtha receiving Pelosi's support, current Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer was elected to the post.^[2]

In September 2006 the left-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) listed Murtha under Honorable Mention in its 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (one of only four Democrats listed on the site). The report cited Murtha's steering of defense appropriations to KSA Consulting, which employed his brother Robert, and the PMA Group, founded by Paul Magliocchetti, a former Murtha senior aide.^[5]

[edit] Elections

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.

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

In 2006, Murtha's Republican challenger was Diana Irey, a county commissioner from Washington County, the heart of Mascara's former district. Irey attacked Murtha for his criticism of the Iraq war. Even though Irey was Mascara's strongest Republican opponent in decades, she polled well behind Murtha throughout the campaign. An 12 October 2006 poll by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review showed Murtha with a commanding lead over Irey, 57%-30%.^[6] In the November election, Murtha won 61%-39%.^[7]

[edit] Political views

Murtha is a Democrat with a relatively populist 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.^[8]

In 2004, He was one of only two congressmen to vote for a measure proposing reinstating the draft.^[9] He is also considered generally more hawkish than other Democrats currently holding office.

In 2001, Murtha was a co-author (with Congressman Duke Cunningham, R-CA) of 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 forbid abusive treatment of terror suspects.

[edit] Abscam bribery investigation

Main article: Abscam

Murtha became embroiled in the Abscam investigation, which targeted dozens of congressmen, in 1980. The investigation entailed FBI operatives posing as intermediaries for Saudi nationals hoping to bribe their way through the immigration process into the United States. Murtha met with these operatives and was videotaped, and he was named by the Justice Department as an "unindicted co-conspirator," but he was never indicted or charged. He did testify against Frank Thompson (D-NJ) and John Murphy (D-NY), the two Congressmen mentioned as participants in the deal at the same meeting. The FBI videotaped Murtha as saying, "I'm not interested...at this point. [If] we do business for a while, maybe I'll be interested, maybe I won't" to $50,000 cash right after Murtha had offered to provide names of businesses and banks in his district where money could be legally invested.^[10]

[edit] Views on the 2003 Iraq War

Murtha voted for the 10 October 2002 resolution^[11] 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”,^[12] when JD Hayworth called for a recorded vote, Murtha then voted against it.^[13]

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.^[14]

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, saying, "The U.S. cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. It is time to bring them home.”^[15] Murtha later stated that he was calling for 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.”

On Meet the Press in June 2006, Tim Russert asked Murtha to respond to a question that Karl Rove had asked rhetorically in a recent speech. After noting that Murtha had called for U.S. troops to “get out of Iraq and go to another country," 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.”^[16]

In a press release explaining how many have taken his Okinawa comment out of context, Murtha explained, “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.”^[17]

[edit] Resolution on removing American armed forces from Iraq

On 17 November 2005, Murtha submitted the following resolution (H.J. Res. 73) in the House of Representatives[1]:

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.

[edit] Republican counterresolution

Murtha's comments forced a heated debate on the floor of the House on 18 November.^[18] 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, 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. During debate on the resolution, the Democrats yielded all their time to Murtha. He loudly denounced the Hunter proposal as a sham.

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

[edit] Jean Schmidt and the “coward” controversy

During debate on adopting the rule for the resolution, Congresswoman Jean Schmidt of Ohio, made a statement attributed to Danny Bubp, an Ohio state Representative and Marine Corps reservist, “He also asked me to give Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do.”^[19]

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.”^[20]

[edit] Haditha, Iraq killings

Main article: Haditha killings

The Haditha incident occurred on 19 Novemeber 2005, and since then there have been differing accounts of exactly what took place.

In November 2005 Murtha announced that a military investigation into the Haditha killings concluded U.S. Marines had killed innocent civilians.^[21] Referring to the first report about Haditha^[22] that appeared in Time magazine, Murtha said:^[23]

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.

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."^[24] Murtha was criticized by conservatives for presenting a version of events as simple fact before an official investigation had been concluded.^[25] As details of the Pentagon investigation's findings have emerged, however, they have been consistent with Murtha's characterization."^[26]

On 2 August 2006, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich filed a lawsuit against 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."^[27] Murtha noted his statements were based on a report prepared by the military in July.^[28]

[edit] Sun-Sentinel story and correction

In a 24 June 2006 speech at Florida International University,^[29] Murtha said that the military presence in Iraq was hurting U.S. credibility, citing a poll by the Pew Research Center^[30] 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.^[17] When the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported the speech on 25 June, 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.”^[31]

The Sun-Sentinel story was picked up by the wire services and the Drudge Report website,^[32] leading several conservative pundits, including Bill O’Reilly, Tucker Carlson, and Newt Gingrich to comment.^[33] After the Sun-Sentinel issued a correction, O'Reilly publicly apologized,^[34] while other commentators such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity continued to misquote Murtha even after the paper retracted the quote.^[35]

[edit] Bob Woodward on Abizaid and Murtha

In State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III (as excerpted in Newsweek), journalist Bob Woodward of The Washington Post wrote that "General John Abizaid, the commander of CENTCOM and thus the top military officer for the Middle East, was in Washington (on March 16, 2006) to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He painted a careful but upbeat picture of the situation in Iraq." Subsequently, "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." Abizaid said he wanted to speak frankly, and "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".^[36]

On 1 October 2006, an interview of Woodward by CBS reporter Mike Wallace was broadcast on the television show Sixty Minutes. The interview was about Woodward's book State of Denial and Wallace mentioned the Murtha-Abizaid conversation. Wallace asked Woodward to confirm that Murtha had told him of this tale of meeting with Abizaid; Woodward nodded his head in assent and said yes. Woodward said that Murtha was the “heart and soul of the military”.^[37]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Official

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

[edit] Books by Murtha

• Murtha, John (2004). From Vietnam to 9/11: On the Front Lines of National Security with a New Epilogue on the Iraq War. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0271023961.

[edit] Articles

• Murray, Shailagh (Nov. 25, 2005). "The About-Face of a Hawkish Democrat". Washington Post, pg. A02.
• Miklaszewski, Jim and Viqueira, Mike (May 17, 2006). "Lawmaker: Marines killed Iraqis ‘in cold blood’". NBC News.

• John Murtha's Iraq Exit Strategy
• H. Res. 557, the "War in Iraq Anniversary resolution"
• 'Unwinnable' comment draws GOP fire (CNN)

• Murtha calls for change in U.S. Iraq policy (Associated Press)
• USA Today profile
• Rep. Murtha says Rumsfeld, Cheney should resign
• Washington Post: Confessions of a "Defeatocrat"

[edit] 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

Political offices
Preceded by John P. Saylor	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district 1974–	Succeeded by Incumbent

Pennsylvania's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators: Arlen Specter (R), Rick Santorum (R) Representative(s): Bob Brady (D), Chaka Fattah (D), Phil English (R), Melissa Hart (R), John E. Peterson (R), Jim Gerlach (R), Curt Weldon (R), Mike Fitzpatrick (R), Bill Shuster (R), Don Sherwood (R), Paul E. Kanjorski (D), John Murtha (D), Allyson Schwartz (D), Michael F. Doyle (D), Charles Dent (R), Joseph R. Pitts (R), Tim Holden (D), Tim Murphy (R), Todd Platts (R) All delegations: Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming — American Samoa • District of Columbia • Guam • Puerto Rico • U.S. Virgin Islands