*(Politico) Former Congressman and outspoken critic of the Iraq War John Murtha (D-PA) died on Monday afternoon at age 77 due to complications as a result of surgery. He died at 1:18 p.m. at the Virginia Hospitcal Center. He was admitted there after having his gallbladder removed at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. A Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, he won national fame for standing up against the military involvement in Iraq in November 2005. He made national headlines when he stood up against the continuing war in Iraq after having voted for the authorization to go to war against Iraq in 2002. He symbolized a generation of old-school Democrats going back to then House Speaker Tip O'Neill and the Democratic heydey of the '70's when the House was less divided by partisan ideology than often by regional interests. He was forever "Captain Jack"--the mayor of Murtha's corner. He was involved in vote swapping and pork barrel politics. He was the king of pork barrel politics. He was known to leave home early and read history and monitor the BBC broadcasts to gain their perspective on overseas wars.
When Murtha stood out against the Iraq War, the Republicans poured millions of dollars into their campaigns to try to unseat him after he came out against the war. He was rarely in the public eye prior to November 2005 when he opposed the Iraq War. There were internet sites devoted to attacking Murtha. He was unprepared for the exposure. He had rarely been on television and his blunt backroom style invited ridicule. Reporters began looking for a scandal behind the millions of dollars he steered towards home-state projects in his annual defense bill.
In the spring of 2006, Murtha made himself a target with public comments which I believe were to former Clinton aid George Stephanopoulos when he was pressuring the Marine command to investigate allegations of civilian casualties at Haditah, Iraq. He was accusing the American troops there of killing innocent civilians in cold blood. That statement that Murtha made turned me against him. He was second-guessing the troops. I couldn't understand that given he supposedly understood the strain of war on the troops. However, Murtha was a politician and he was looking out to promote himself, I believe. Murtha was even a regular visitor to the Bethesda Naval and Walter Reed Army Hospitals. I found it very troubling when he tried to identify with the pain our troops were suffering but then used a knife to stab the troops in Haditha, Iraq in the back. Those troops that were on trial were later acquitted but Murtha never made any apology towards those troops that he had second-guessed. Murtha was opposed to torture and he made a behind-the-scenes effort to save an anti-torture amendment, which he did. Then Vice President Dick Cheney was strongly opposed to the anti-torture amendment. He and some House colleagues helped save the amendment.
John Murtha was elected in a special election in February of 1974. Murtha was the first of the "Watergate babies" of that year. He was also the first Vietnam Marine veteran to win a seat in Congress as well. That year during the fall elections, the Democrats gained 49 Republican seats due to the Watergate scandal that forced the disgraced president Richard Nixon to resign. Murtha established himself early on the House Appropriations Committtee--he befriended the late Appropriations Chairman Jamie Whitten (D-Miss). Murtha paid a heavy price when he was drawn into the FBI's Abscam sting operation in 1980. He was never prosecuted but was severely embarrassed when a videotape showed his exchanged with a purported sheik. He could be immensely useful to former House Speaker O'Neill but a rambunctious irritant. An aide to O'Neill said that Murtha was good at solving problems, but many of them were of his own making.
Murtha was also a supporter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He was a supporter of her when she first became House Minority Whip in 2002. Murtha was Pelosi's choice to be the new House Majority Leader of the Democratic-controlled Congress, but Steny Hoyer (D-MD) overwhelmingly defeated Murtha for the post. I can't prove this, but I believe the Democrats used Murtha starting back in November 2005 because they knew they could use the Iraq War as an election issue against President Bush and the Republicans. Since Murtha was a former Marine veteran the Democrats probably felt Murtha would be a "qualified" spokesman against the Iraq War. However, once the Democrats regained control of both the House and Senate, you didn't hear Murtha protesting very much about the war in Iraq. He received his share of the pork barrel spending. After President Obama won the White House, we didn't hear another word out of Murtha about the Iraq War. It was all for political gain. It was a power grab.
John Murtha enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1952 and he became a drill instructor at Parris Island. He served in Korea and received a bronze star. He also served in Vietnam and received two purple hearts. Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
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