Murtha's blood runs cold

The libel suit that was recently filed against John Murtha is starting to look pretty strong. Two weeks ago, the Marines left Murtha looking elsewhere for support;

The head of the U.S. Marine Corps briefed Rep. John Murtha on the Haditha case after the vocal war critic publicly said Marines had killed innocent civilians in that Iraqi city, the Corps said on Thursday.....

... a spokesman for the Marine Corps said Hagee briefed Murtha on May 24 about Haditha. Murtha had made comments on the case as early as May 17.

On May 17, for example, he said at a news conference, "Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

Another lawmaker also threatened with libel quickly apologized;

A Republican congressman apologized yesterday to the Marines under investigation in the killings of two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, last November, saying that statements he made about the case were taken out of context and that he did not mean to imply the Marines were guilty of wrongdoing.

Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) issued the apology as part of an agreement with lawyers for Marine Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, who alleged that Kline had damaged Wuterich's reputation.....

Zaid said yesterday that Kline responded to a settlement request within an hour of its arrival Aug. 4. Kline wrote that news outlets used incomplete statements that gave the false impression that he had concluded the Marines broke the law.

"I am, of course, very concerned regarding any allegations surrounding misconduct by U.S. troops in Iraq," Kline wrote in his statement. "Such allegations must be taken seriously, but we should never rush to judgment before all the facts are known and the military criminal justice process is completed."

However, revelations from Kline's apology appear to make the slander case against Murtha stronger. Kline dropped what appears to be another bomb on Murtha's "in cold blood" allegation, ET AL.;

Kline, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he was briefed on Haditha by Marine Brig. Gen. John F. Kelly, the legislative assistant to the Marine commandant. At the time of the briefings, the official investigations were not complete, and Kline emphasized that "conclusions have not been reached."

Kline is a member of the House Armed Services Committee. He most likely was given a more detailed briefing by General Kelly than any briefing Murtha received. And he probably got it before Murtha got his. Since no official charges have been filed yet, Murtha's "in cold blood" & other Haditha allegations certainly seem to be lacking any substantiation from a credible source.
It's starting to look pretty bad for Murtha. Excuse me while I shed a few crocadile tears.

Sadly, the damage done by Murtha's smears can't ever be undone. The MSM gleefully ran his allegations as though they were fact & used them as license to pile on. If Murtha is found guilty or he avoids a trial by apologizing, you can bet the MSM won't be making any retractions or covering that side of the story very closely at all.