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July 16, 2007 Congress Should Support the Troops by Censuring MurthaBy Clarice FeldmanIt's customary for stories about Washington D.C. written in the final hours before Congress takes its August break to make some comparison to the city's sweltering steamy heat. This has been a rather cool and dry summer as a matter of fact, but if Congress can't wait to get out of here, most of us are so steamed at its behavior that we can't wait for these pampered, self-serving clowns to beat it out of town. Our military pulls the laboring oar to complete the mission in Iraq, and the troops seem to be doing quite a job of it only weeks into the surge, which Congress signed on to under General Petraeus (whom they approved for this position). But the Democratic Congress seems hell-bent on undermining the troops and their mission at every turn. For the most shabby and obvious partisan advantage. Even some erstwhile Republican supporters of the Iraq Mission seem to have lost their spine just as the tide is definitely swinging in our favor, making an honorable withdrawal of our troops possible in a not-so-distant future. The unserious proposal by Senators Warner and Lugar comes to mind. Once again ordinary Americans rise to the challenge while our overpaid political elite ponce about on the stage making outrageous remarks and proposals in an effort to get approving coverage from a media (which itself for the most part seems determined to bury the significance of the mission and its remarkable achievements). But nothing - not even the 300 pointless investigations of an Administration marked by remarkable probity nor the base predictions of failure even before the additional troops hit the ground - proves the lack of serious purpose as much as the Congressional failure to censure Congressman John Murtha. In May of 2006, Congressman Murtha said that
At the moment he uttered those words and prejudged the Marines charged with wrongdoing, the Time story which focused attention on the incident in Haditha was already showing signs of terminal weakness. But Murtha claimed he had special information supporting the charges in that now-thoroughly discredited propaganda piece. At the time he made those statements Murtha suggested his claims were made on the basis of a briefing that he'd received from General Hagee, something it later turned out was not true. Hagee briefed Murtha on May 24 about the incident. But Murtha's statements tarring the men who'd risked their lives for us only to find themselves in legal jeopardy were made as early as May 17. It would appear, though we've no idea where he actually got any of his information, that at best he may have had some access to the raw investigative NCIS files, something because of their very nature, that were never to be deemed conclusive or public, though leaks of damning portions of those reports did appear from time to time in the press. Whether those leaks were from NCIS or from Congressional staff or members with access to them is unclear. Wherever they came from, it is an outrage that this kind of information was leaked to the public. Surely it dispirits the men in the field and poisons the well for a fair hearing. Last week, Murtha's slander became even clearer than it did a year ago. The Investigating Officer who reviewed the record on the first of the Marines to be charged found:
In other words, the Investigating Officer found what many of us in the blogopshere noticed over a year ago, at the very time Time and Murtha were slandering the Marines and adding to their pain and the pain of the families, friends and the Marine Corps itself: the story was an utter hoax. Laughably, when his office was contacted for comment, his spokesman said the Congressman had none because the investigation was "ongoing". Interestingly, he didn't feel this way when the defendants were first charged and the public and the investigating officer hadn't an opportunity to view their evidence. He poisoned the well when they couldn't easily respond, and now that he's proven wrong he's hiding from the consequences of his unspeakable behavior. If Congressman Murtha does not personally apologize to the Hilo Company Marines for his intemperate, false and unsupported charges for his own partisan advantage before Congress recesses, upon its return every single member of Congress should be demanding his censure. And anyone who doesn't demand his censure clearly does not seriously support the troops. If the Congressional majority does not act on this calumny, we will have further evidence of the true nature of our political elite: self-serving demagogues who care not for the men and women sacrificing so much for them. We will have yet another reason to throw a lot of people out of office at the next opportunity. And perhaps instead of ludicrous hearings which even their friends in the press are beginning to ignore, Congress should show its support for the fighting men and women by initiating some hearings on how damaging portions of the raw NCIS files made their way to the press, and punish anyone on the Hill who is found to have played a role in that. In addition, in exercising its oversight responsibilities, Congress should be taking a close look at how the NCIS operated in this case and others. The mantra "We support the troops" should, after all, encompass efforts to protect their legal rights with at least the same fervor the Democrats have argued for the legal rights of those charged with terrorism and held in Guantanamo. Shouldn't it? Clarice Feldman is an attorney in Washington, DC and a frequent contributor to American Thinker.
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