Be Advised: I have NOT gone to the links sited nor re-checked Snopes, so take this for what it's worth. Just a counterpoint to Jack's Purple hearts and distinguished service. Not being a vet, I have the utmost respect for our military, but I have no illusions that some easily manipulate the system for their own goals. Blame it on the fact that I'm currently reading Stephen Hunter's
Time to Hunt.An e-mail I received last evening:
> > The following was written by Robert "Bud" MacFarlane...U.S. Marine
> > Artilleryman extraordinare and National Security Advisor to President
> > Reagan. To dispel any confusion on the part of the "Not So Old Breed" of
> > Marines, Bud's otherwise totally accurate piece contains one inaccuracy.
> > Murtha was a regimental, not battalion S-2. My source on that one is my
> > brother who commanded G/2/1 when Murtha was the S-2, 1st Marines. One can
> > understand how an infantry battalion S-2 might have picked up a wound or
> > two but it's more than a little difficult to understand how a Regimental S-2
> > could have gotten two while hanging around the regimental command post
> > most days.
> >
> > JDL
> >
> >
> >
> > Subject: THOUGHTS ON JACK MURTHA
> >
> >
> >
> > In his Meditation XVII, known to most of us as No Man Is An Island, John
> > Donne opined that any man's death diminishes us all. As Mr. Donne preceded
> > Jack Murtha by nearly four centuries he can be forgiven the broadness of
> > this statement.
> >
> > Congressman Jack Murtha was a profoundly destructive force in American
> > politics. His legislative efforts were limited to lining the pockets of
> > himself, his family, and assorted cronies. For all of his woofing about
> > being sympathetic to the men and women of the Armed Forces he did not
> > author a single piece of legislation in his career which did anything other than
> > milk the Department of Defense for money.
> >
> > Murtha did lead a charmed life. In Vietnam, as seems de rigeur among
> > Democrat politicians who served there, he managed to acquire two Purple
> > Hearts without spending a single day in the hospital.
> >
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/murthas-purple-hearts-questioned > >
> > Likewise, he picked up a Bronze Star with V device as a battalion
> > intelligence officer.
> > As a member of Congress he was up to his eyeballs selling his influence to
> > all comers and was captured on video by the FBI.
> >
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abscam> > For reasons that have never been real clear, Murtha was allowed to skate
> > while he testified against two colleagues.
> >
> > One would say that the real shame of Murtha's congressional tenure took
> > place in the past 6 years when he attempted to burnish his anti-war
> > credentials for a run at a congressional leadership position at the
> > expense of the men and women engaged in combat. He publicly declared the Marines
> > charged with murder in connection with alleged killings at Haditha were
> > guilty (they have since been acquitted or the charges have been dropped)
> > and he described General David Petraeus as a political hack.
> >
http://archive.redstate.com/stories/the_parties/democrats/jack_murtha_is_a_d > > elusional_windbag
> >
> > All respect to Mr. Donne, none of us are diminished by the death of Jack
> > Murtha. He was a man of few if any redeeming public attributes, he
> > pillaged the treasury to enrich himself, he tarnished the reputation of good men,
> > and he was a blight on the body politic. The nation is better off, not for his
> > death but for his absence from its political life.
> >
> >
With All Due Respect.
Bob
