Word: murtha
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...accusations openly. "This is just another thing the public will judge me by," he says of the latest reports. "I have no idea what these reports are talking about." He says he believes he acted appropriately that day, and has filed a lawsuit for defamation against Congressman John Murtha, who claimed last May that Marines had "killed in cold blood" in Haditha. No Marines who were in Haditha have yet been charged with a crime, and no Marine has been detained...
...slow course of the investigation has muted some of the fury that reached a peak last May when Congressman John Murtha, a Democrat from Pennsylvania with longtime ties to the military who has turned against the Iraq War, claimed that the Marines in Haditha had "killed in cold blood." Murtha too is facing a civil lawsuit for defamation from SSgt Wuterich, but he has not backed off his remarks...
...troops and Iraqis die and Congressional elections loom. Nowhere was that more clear than in a Washington, D.C., courthouse this week. That's where lawyers for Marine Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, the 26-year-old who was the unit leader that day in Haditha, called U.S. Congressman John Murtha a liar. Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat who served as a Marine in Vietnam and who in recent months has become increasingly outspoken in his opposition to the Iraq war, said in May 2006 that based on briefings from the military that Marines in Haditha "overreacted because of the pressure on them...
...Wuterich, in a 23-page complaint, says Murtha "spread false and malicious lies about SSgt Wuterich and his squad..." and "sought to destroy the reputations of young Marines." The complaint, which asks for a public apology and at least $75,000, also says, "any accusation that the Marines 'executed' civilians or deliberately targeted noncombatants is either a horrendous misunderstanding or intentional lie." The lawyers point out that several members of Congress, from both parties, received briefings on Haditha and in stark contrast to Murtha, all of them refused to speak about the investigation or any of their own conclusions...
...complaint also provides some detail into Wuterich's explanation of the events in Haditha. It says, contrary to Murtha, that the Marines on the ground did follow the rules of engagement, that there was a firefight that day, that the Marines were shot at, and that at least two of the Iraqis had weapons. In response, Congressman Murtha did not back off of his earlier comments and instead said Wuterich was "lashing...