Murtha blasts military over Haditha

The day after Memorial Day, former Marine Congressman Jack Murtha talked to NPR about Marine killings in Haditha. After an IED killed an American, U.S. Marines shot 24 unarmed Iraqis last November. Murtha says that this is a crime and that there has been a cover-up:

“They knew that the original explanation that an IED caused the casualties was not true the day afterwards. The Marine corps knew it. And you gotta remember that the chain of command in Iraq is not to the commandant of the Marine corps. The chain of command is through General Casey to General Abizay. Two months ago I told General Abizay, “General, you gotta get this out in the public. You gotta get this investigation over with.” They just told me a week ago it’d take two more months. This happened six months ago! It’s unconcionable that it would take this long to… to, uh, have an investigation. I heard a lance corporal on one of the stations this morning say he was there the next day carrying out the body of a young child that was shot through the head. So the next day they knew that it wasn’t an IED that killed him. They knew that it wasn’t an explosive device. There was no shrapnel, there was no firefight. This is what worries me. Who in the chain of command stopped the investigation? Who tried to cover this up? Because not only the Marines knew it, the Iraqis knew about it. Because they paid the victims of this thing. If it had been an explosive device by the Iraqis they wouldn’t have paid ‘em. It breaks my heart that Marines would be involved in something like this, but you can’t let it go.”

Murtha is a Vietnam vet and a big supporter of the military who crawled way out on a limb awhile back and said the troops need to be out by the end of this year. This incident will no doubt renew efforts to end the conflict there and bring troops home.

Email Murtha using this online form to thanks him for his public stand and efforts to protect our troops. Email your Congressman and demand that he or she support Murtha’s plan to Redeploy, Reallocate, and Re-engage.”