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DEFEND
OUR MARINES MURTHA STICKS TO HADITHA
SLANDER, |
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Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) sat down with the editors of the Uniontown Herald-Standard yesterday and was asked about the defamation lawsuit filed against by former Marine lance corporal, Justin Sharratt. In Haditha, Sharratt and SSgt Frank Wuterich faced armed insurgents in a dwelling labeled house 4 by investigators. The dead Iraqis in house 4 were all military-aged males. AK-47s along with Jordanian passports were recovered from the room. Forensic evidence disputed allegations that the four dead men had be executed. Sharratt had been falsely accused, and was exonerated on August 9, 2007. A statement by General James Mattis, after charges were dismissed, underscores the former lance corporal's innocence... "The events of November 19, 2005 have been exhaustively reviewed by Marine, Army, and Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigators.... "With the dismissal of these charges LCpl Sharratt may fairly conclude that he did his best to live up to the standards, followed by U.S. fighting men throughout our many wars, in the face of life or death decisions made in a matter of seconds in combat. And as he has always remained cloaked in the presumption of innocence, with this dismissal of charges, he remains in the eyes of the law – and in my eyes – innocent."
Regardless, Murtha
continues to ignore the facts of Haditha. The editors of the
Uniontown Herald-Standard
report...
Murtha declined to comment on the recent lawsuit filed by U.S. Marine
Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt of Canonsburg that alleges the congressman had
denied him of his constitutional rights of the presumption of innocence
and of due process. The complaint's allegations stem from Murtha's public
statements, prior to the trial in the 2006 incident that members of
Sharratt's unit had killed "innocent civilians in cold blood."
A military court has since exonerated Sharratt and six others. An eighth
Marine is awaiting trial
"Since I spoke out, the procedures have been changed substantially," he
said. "I had a number of criticisms about what was going on in Iraq at the
time.
"We were breaking down doors and we shouldn't be. If we are going to win
this battle in Iraq, we're going to have to win the hearts and minds of
the people."
Meanwhile,
Justin Sharratt awaits a day in court to clear his name--even after his
exoneration in a court of law. ________________________________________________________
David Allender Defend Our Marines main page |
