Why Did John Murtha Receive a Navy Award? He Has Yet to Apologize to the Haditha Marines for Falsely Accusing Them of "Cold-Blooded Murder"

Before he left his office a week ago, Secretary of the Navy Don Winter quietly awarded Congressman John Murtha the highest Navy civilian award (the Navy Distinguished Service Award) for his loyalty to members of the Department of the Navy.

As word as gotten out, the veterans have started to react very negatively to the award.

Murtha has yet to apologize for falsely accusing Marines from the 3rd Battallion, 1st Marine unit of murdering Iraqi civilians in Haditha, Iraq. During the 2006 midterm elections, he accused the marines of "cold-blooded murder", even as they were being arraigned on the charges. He found them guilty in the media before the courts-martial commenced.

Two years later, with six of the eight Marines exonerated, the seventh found "not guilty" and the eighth still on trial, he hasn't recanted any of his statements, which were widely seen as a political speech to ensure a Democratic take-over of Congress as the mid-term elections were approaching.

I agree with the veterans. Murtha's actions and refusal to apologize to the innocent Marines for his ill-considered and hurtful statements should disqualify him from being awarded this award.

Video Purporting to Show U.S. Marines Throwing a Puppy Off a Cliff Is a Fake: Even Yiping Heard As Dog Was Going Over Cliff Was Someone Faking It

The incredibly disturbing video currently making it's way around the world of U.S. Marines throwing a puppy over a cliff is a fake.

If you choose to watch this video, listen to the dog as he gets thrown over the cliff. The last two yipes sound like someone coughing. I can make sounds like that too. If this was a real dog, he was obviously already dead. He wasn't moving around from being handled by the scruff of his neck; the dog looked very stiff. And he didn't struggle at all.

This joke is an example of incredibly bad humor that brings disgrace to the U.S. uniform--if the two men in the video are even U.S. military soldiers. They should have buried this dead dog, as any decent human being would have.

I warn you now, that this link is disturbing, whether it was fake or not.

Shame on these people!

Murtha Needs to Apologize to Exonerated Marines in Haditha Case: Former Marine or Not, He's Made a Mockery of Our System of Justice

For those that don't remember, United States Marines were accused by Time magazine and local Iraqis of slaughtering a family in the vicinity of Haditha, Iraq, back in 2005. The Marine Corps launched an investigation after the story broke, and Representative Jack Murtha took to the floor of the House and said the following:

"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."

Note: the Marines had just launched their investigation, and no report was going to be made for months. The Marines decided that there was enough evidence to bring charges against eight of their fellows who were in the vicinity at the time. Almost immediately, the case began to fall apart.

It was alleged that the Marines invaded a house and began murdering people inside of it following an IED attack on their Marine unit, which resulted in the death of one of their squad members.

As the investigation progressed, investigators did blood tests to see if everyone was related. As it turned out, they were not. They also discovered that several people in the house were killed elsewhere, and at different times. Iraqi citizens contradicted their original statements and began changing their stories. Charges have been subsequently dropped or modified to lesser ones.

One of the accused Marines, the leader of the squad, accused and now exonerated, has sued Rep. Murtha for invasion of privacy, and for libel. No one's sure where that will end up.

At the very least, Murtha needs to apologize for trying the Marines in the court of public opinion just to score political points on President Bush. Murtha clearly jumped the gun in accusing the Marines, and he should be held accountable for that. And the sooner he does apologize for his blatant political rhetoric in this instance, the better. He's made a mockery of our criminal justice system, where the accused is innocent until PROVEN guilty, and that definitely hasn't happened.

Shame on Murtha!

Predictions on Pakistan Appear to Be Coming True Sooner Than Expected: This is Not Good News

Uh oh.

I had written last week about Senator Obama's rash words promising to send U.S. troops into Pakistan without permission to hunt al-Qaeda down. I had written that it could easily expand into a mission to secure Pakistan's nuclear weapons ("Some Candidates Want to Substitute One War for Others: What's the Point?" once U.S. forces crossed the border to start hunting al-Qaeda.

Look at what was on CNN's web site today.

The Pakistani issue that I raised may become moot if President Bush decides to secure Pakistan's nuclear arms before he leaves office. What are we getting into now??!

Iranian President Should Have Apologized to British Navy Members For Waylaying Them, Not The Other Way Around: SICKENING

News hit this morning that Iran was releasing it's hostages that it had taken nearly two weeks ago in the Persian Gulf, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was shown receiving the gratitude of the captive British sailors and marines, one at a time. It was a SICKENING display of manipulation on international television.

Ahmadinejad should have been the one apologizing for invading Iraqi waters and waylaying a British boarding party that was doing it's job under a United Nations mandate.

Sick and wrong.

British/Iranian Crisis is Latest Excuse for Oil Prices to Increase: Oil Speculators At It Again

Let's see where increased oil prices fit into this latest Persian Gulf controversy:

1. British Navy intercepts cargo ship to inspect it in disputed Iraqi/Iranian waters...
2. Iran seizes 15 British sailors and marines who were the boarding party and take them to Tehran for questioning....
3. Britain and Iran exchange angry words....
4. Reports of U.S. and Iranian troops exchanging fire inside Iraqi territory. U.S. troops retreat out of fear of being taken hostage....
5. Iran is isolated from the international community...again.
6. Bush, Blair and Iran's terrorist president start the blame game anew.
   

How much has the oil supply fallen as the result of the British/Iranian row? NOT A DROP.

Has the Strait of Hormuz been closed to international shipping? NOPE.

Has the Strait been mined? NOPE.

Has Iran threatened to sink any tankers? NOPE.

Any refineries set ablaze? NOPE.

Any oil production facilities damaged or destroyed, leading to a drop in oil production? NOPE.

Any net effect whatsoever on the available oil supply? NONE.

Any tidal waves, hurricanes, tornadoes, or other natural disasters that could explain the price increases? NOPE.

Hmmm....

Are the oil speculators worried? Yep.

So, in spite of the fact that there is no decrease in oil output from the ongoing feud between Britain and Iran, and the oil supply is unaffected, the price for a barrel of oil has gone way up again.

The oil speculators and oil companies should pay for the artificial increases that they've created WITHOUT charging more at the pump. The British/Iranian issues are irrelevant to the cost of a barrel of oil, unless the missiles start to fly. Enough of the excuses, already!

Iranian Capture of 15 British Troops is a Repeated Violation of the Iraqi Border: Iranian Troops Captured in Recent Months Were in Iraqi Territory Too

A lot of people are waiting for the British Navy to sink the entire Iranian Navy in reprisal for the seizure of 15 British sailors and marines in Iraqi waters by the Iranian Navy.

They apparently roared in on their gunboats and took an entire British boarding party prisoner while still on the Iraqi side of the maritime border.

The British were carrying out a U.N.-mandated inspection of a seagoing vessel when they were captured.

Iran apparently has a great deal of trouble determining where the Iran/Iraq border actually is. Members of their Revolutionary Guard have been caught aiding insurgents on the Iraqi side of the border--some of them as far into Iraq as Baghdad itself.

So it should come as no surprise that Iran is continuing to violate the sovereignty of Iraq's borders. But this hostage-taking maneuver is highly unusual. They were probably hoping that the men (and woman) that they seized were Americans to put pressure on Washington to release Iranian terror operatives who were captured in Iraq or "disappeared" while in third countries.

Should be interesting to see what comes of this.