Murtha and His Kin

Dr. Michael L. Ford

17 November 2006

            When news came that John Murtha had failed in his bid to become Majority Leader in spite of the endorsement of henchwoman Nancy Pelosi my spirits soared. Pelosi had called him a strong voice for national security, but to me he is a strong voice for national cowardice and political malfeasance in office. Perhaps his brag of being able to deliver caught on videotape in a sting operation had been a lot of just that, brag.

            When Murtha, a former Marine, did an about face from hawk to dove on the war in Iraq, he was facing a number of ethics charges. One had to do with his brother’s firm KSA consulting. While Dick Cheney was being attacked by liberal democrats because a company he once was connected to was getting contracts in Iraq, Murtha as leader of the House Defense Appropriations Committee seems to have been helping out on getting his bro’s people 20 million dollars worth of defense contracts. Of course the press was not playing this up because Murtha is a Democrat. And strangely enough when Murtha changed positions charges seemed to languish and die in true Sandy Berger fashion.

            Much has been made of the fact Murtha served in both Korea and Vietnam, apparently with more grace than another John named Kerry. I have an observation to make concerning that. During the years reconstructing the American military, after the guts were ripped out of them by liberals during Vietnam, the best and brightest of retired generals were asked to come back and observe war gaming and give input. That began to show payoff in the way they went after Manuel Noriega. The thing is, I don’t know of any instance where Murtha was included in that group. My point is that he does not seem to have that high a standing among military peers from the get go.

            Perhaps John Murtha is more adept at maneuver shown in the Abscam tapes than maneuver on the battlefield. It was on those tapes that Murtha was caught boasting about his ability to get things done in Congress. That ability was shown this week to be not quite as good as he thought it was. No doubt his quest for Majority Leader was hard fought considering the time behind closed doors, but the general still lost his little war. Thank God.