Jack "In Cold Blood" Murtha sued for Defamation

And it couldn't happen to a more deserving slime ball. Marine Corps sergeant Frank D. Wuterich has filed a defamation case against Congressman John P. Murtha over his public comments in the incident in Haditha;

Lawyers for Frank D. Wuterich, 26, who grew up in Meriden, Conn., argue in a suit to be filed Wednesday in federal court that Murtha falsely accused Wuterich "of cold-blooded murder and war crimes."

The suit maintains that Pentagon officials "who have briefed or leaked information to Mr. Murtha deliberately provided him with inaccurate and false information" and that the congressman subsequently "has made repeated statements .... that are defamatory" to Wuterich and his fellow Marines.

The suit accuses Murtha of spreading "false and malicious lies" about Wuterich and his squad that were "intended to serve his own private purpose and interests" and that Murtha's comments "have been reproduced by countless third parties throughout the world."

It says many of Murtha's remarks were made outside his "scope of employment as a congressman." Murtha, a former Marine, has been a leading proponent of withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq.

Let's hope that Murtha can't weasel out of this by somehow successfully invoking the Speech & Debate Clause which should have no bearing on this case against Murtha;

The Speech or Debate Clause (found in Article I, Section 6, Clause 1) is a clause in the United States Constitution which states that members of both Houses of Congress

...shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony, and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their attendance at the Session of their Respective Houses, and in going to and from the same, and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

Its intended purpose is to prevent a President or other officials of the Executive branch from having members arrested on a pretext to prevent them from voting a certain way or otherwise taking actions with which he or she might disagree.

Many of Murtha's comments were made to the media, often on TV. They clearly appeared they were designed for public consumption with the intent of damaging the Bush Admin. The Speech & Debate Clause was not designed to protect members of Congress from willful libel, slander & defamation. And this appears to be a case where Murtha's comments were willful distortions.

Sergeant Wuterich has already gone public proclaiming innocence;

A sergeant who led a squad of Marines during the incident in Haditha, Iraq, that left as many as 24 civilians dead said his unit did not intentionally target any civilians, followed military rules of engagement and never tried to cover up the shootings, his attorney said.

Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, told his attorney that several civilians were killed Nov. 19 when his squad went after insurgents who were firing at them from inside a house. The Marine said there was no vengeful massacre, but he described a house-to-house hunt that went tragically awry in the middle of a chaotic battlefield.

Here's an easy prediction. The MSM will use this case as an excuse to bash the military & the Bush Admin about their many "war crimes" & human rights "abuses". Don't expect them to hignlight Murtha's checkered past. And don't expect them to question the partisan motives of his which are legion.

Murtha was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Abscam investigation. There are public allegations that he was steering defense appropriations to companies represented by his brother's lobbying firm. Including Haditha, there is the litany of other thoroughly discredited assertions Murtha has made. That clearly indicates that the MSM already has considerable evidence already available to properly inform the public of the merits of this defamation case. Just don't hold your breath waiting for it.