Murtha “Honored” by Department of the Navy (Gag)

In my usual perusal of favorite blogsites, I was surprised and outraged to stumble across the post on Sweetness & Light titled, “Murtha Gets Distinguished Service Award.”

I find it an outrage that a man such as Pennsylvania’s John Murtha should receive any such “honor,” especially from the Department of the Navy who oversees the United States Marine Corps.

The announcement, posted on Murtha’s taxpayer funded website claims,

“The award, granted by the Secretary of the Navy, is the highest form of public service recognition bestowed by the Department of the Navy for a non-employee.”

The citation, also posted at Murtha’s site, includes the words,

“As Chairman of Subcommittee on Defense of the House Appropriations Committee, Congressman Murtha’s tireless advocacy helped maintain the Navy and Marine Corps team at the highest levels of combat readiness to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”

It was in May 2006 that Murtha stood on the House floor and proclaimed to the world about our Troops in Iraq,

“There was no firefight. There was no IED (improvised explosive device) that killed those innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them. And they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.”

After Murtha’s proclamation, our media spared little effort in jumping on the bandwagon and trumping up murder charges against our Troops in yet another effort to sway public opinion to undermine President Bush’s leadership in fighting terrorists in Iraq.

Murtha himself continued efforts at undermining President Bush and those same Troops as he continued his tirades against their mission and efforts, even claiming our Military couldn’t win and opposing President Bush and General Petraeus’s “surge” that subsequently brought Iraq to a more peaceful state, even though not total.

In June 2006 Murtha proclaimed to an audience in Miami, Florida,

“American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran.”

Murtha tried to claim he was “misquoted,” but the actual quote appeared in the Washington Times,

“Every one of our allies think that the United States being in Iraq is more dangerous to world stability and world peace, every one of our allies; Great Britain, every single country... They think it’s more, uh, we’re more dangerous to world peace than North Korea or Iran. That says something.”

One by one, the Marines wrongfully accused by Murtha of “killing in cold blood” have been acquitted, not that he or the lamestream media in America bothers to give those acquittals as much notice as they did the accusations.

Murtha NOW says,

“I’m proud of the service and sacrifices our troops are making, and I’m honored to receive this distinguished award from the Navy. We have an obligation to ensure that our men and women in uniform have the most modern equipment, effective training, first-class medical care, and family advocacy resources.”

Less that 2 years ago, he labeled the Defense Department as ‘despicable’, saying,

“the Pentagon was using scare tactics to try to goad Congress into passing another war spending bill.”

Murtha had no problem denigrating General Petraeus’s leadership in a May 2007 interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews. I don’t believe Chris felt that “thrill run up his leg” on this interview.

That it is a Bush appointed Secretary of the Navy that signed this “award” leaves some wondering if he doesn’t have “his eye on a nice consulting job with one of those defense firms run by Mr. Murtha’s relatives, former staff and other pals.”

Regardless, I cannot think of any person less deserving of such honor than Pennsylvania’s John P. Murtha, whose conduct in the House of Representatives disgraces any honorable service he may have once performed while himself wearing the uniform of a United States Marine.

An online petition has been started which concludes,

“We the undersigned are appalled that the Secretary of the Navy would bestow the Department's highest award for a non-employee to John Murtha after his vile and despicable attacks against U.S. servicemen. This petition is a vehicle to express our bitter disappointment at this betrayal of our combat veterans. Congressman John Murtha should apologize for slandering the Marines of 3/1, and for undermining the efforts of those servicemen and women who fought in Iraq. If he does not, the Secretary of the Navy should rescind this award as a sign of his unwavering support for those who served in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

If you are so inclined, please add your name to the petition here and join the thousands of others, Veterans and Patriotic Americans who are appalled that the Navy’s highest award for non-employees was given to such a despicable person as Representative John P. Murtha, (D. Pa.)