by Darryl Sharratt | July 28, 2008 | Join the discussion here
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Hello, I’m Darryl Sharratt. I am the father of former Marine lance corporal, Justin Sharratt, and a constituent of the PA-12 Congressional District.
On May 17th 2006, US Congressman John Murtha, my congressman, appeared on national television and called my son and his Haditha Marine squad mates cold-blooded murderers for their actions in a firefight in Haditha, Iraq.
In this television appearance, and subsequent appearances on national television, Mr Murtha denied my son and his Marine squad the presumption of innocence and due process ‘rights which are inherent in our US Constitution’ before the official investigation on Haditha was ever completed.
For over two years, my families and the families of these other brave Marines have had to endure this pronouncement of cold-blooded murder by Congressman John Murtha.
After an extensive investigation, and Article 32 hearings, six of these Marines (including my son) have been found innocent of all charges.
One Marines officer had the charges dismissed and his case is in the appeals stage. And one enlisted Marine is awaiting his day in court.
Cold-blooded murderers? No, Mr Murtha.
Last week in the US House of Representatives, an amendment to an intelligence funding bill was brought up for a vote. This amendment, called the Hoekstra amendment or House Resolution 5959, would prohibit all US intelligence agencies from white-washing the behavior of the Islamic terrorists in their memos, reports, in all their official correspondence.
Without the Hoekstra amendment, terms such as ‘terrorist’, ‘insurgent’, ‘jihadist’, and ‘Islamic fundamentalist’ would have been banned in dealing with known enemies of our country.
Thankfully, righteous members of our House of Representatives prevailed and the amendment passed 249-180.
In the roll call vote, Congressman John Murtha voted against the amendment. In effect, banning the use of accurate language to describe our enemies, those persons who would participate in the destruction of the United States of America.
Mr Murtha, when will your hypocrisy end? You have shown no remorse, you have shown no embarrassment for falsely pronouncing United States Marines cold-blooded murderers.
On May 17th 2006, you denied these Marines their protections under the United States Constitution. With your for-the-ban vote last week, you tried to give our enemies rights which you denied our Haditha Marines. Marines like my son.
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For more about the real story of Haditha, see the evidence room, and read the testimony in the LCpl Justin Sharratt Article 32 hearing here