Melanie Morgan

Yesterday, Gen. Mattis dropped all charges against Capt. Randy Stone and LCpl. Justin Sharratt of the so-called Haditha Marines. In light of this fact, does Rep. Murtha wish to make a statement about this development?

When I posed this question to Rep. Murtha’s DC office, the woman answering the phone said that Rep. Murtha didn’t have a comment. Before I could ask another question, this woman hung up. That’s when I called Murtha’s DC office back and asked this question:

Considering the fact that Rep. Murtha accused these men during the initial NCIS investigation, why doesn’t Rep. Murtha have a statement?

Her steely-voiced response was “There won’t be any statements until all of the investigations have been completed.”

Undeterred, I asked why they were taking this approach. The woman essentially gave a ‘no comment’ answer. I said that I’d keep checking back until Rep. Murtha did make a statement, to which she replied “That’s just fine, Sir.” before hanging up on me a second time.

Murtha’s staffer is essentially taking an indefensible position because Rep. Murtha has repeatedly made irresponsible and indefensible statements about these Marines. This highlights an obvious double standard on Murtha’s behalf. He didn’t think twice about making these unfounded accusations while the initial NCIS investigation was being conducted but he won’t say a word now when two of the men he accused of cold-blooded murder have been totally exonerated.

Rep. Murtha’s actions throughout this make believe scandal have been reprehensible. As I’ve stated before, his accusations were made before charges had been filed against any of these Marines is a clear violation of their due process rights. Similarly, he violated their right to a fair trial. To top that off, he attempted to have them presumed guilty instead of giving them the benefit of being presumed innocent.

It’s time that this corrupt politician to resign his seat in the House of Representatives and to apologize to the Haditha Marines and their families. Finally, it’s time he apologized to the Marine Corps itself for assuming the worst behavior of these Marines.