Republican Web Site Attacks
Murtha
Washington Post
By Howard Kurtz and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 14, 2006; Page A05
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), the former Marine who is an outspoken critic of
the war in Iraq, has become the latest Democrat to have his Vietnam War
decorations questioned.
In a tactic reminiscent of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth assault on Sen.
John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) during the 2004 presidential campaign, a conservative
Web site yesterday quoted Murtha opponents as questioning the circumstances
surrounding the awarding of his two Purple Hearts.
David Thibault, editor in chief of the Cybercast News Service, said the
issue of Murtha's medals from 1967 is relevant now "because the congressman has
really put himself in the forefront of the antiwar movement." Thibault said:
"He has been placed by the Democratic Party and antiwar activists as a
spokesman against the war above reproach."
Cindy Abram, a spokeswoman for Murtha, said, "We certainly believe that the
questions being raised are an attempt to distract attention from what's
happening in Iraq." As for how Murtha won the Purple Hearts, she said: "We
think the congressman's record is clear. We have the documentation, the
paperwork that proves that he earned them, and that he is entitled to wear them
proudly."
Cybercast is part of the conservative Media Research Center, run by L. Brent
Bozell III, who accused some in the media of ignoring the Swift Boat charges,
but Thibault said it operates independently. He said the unit, formerly called
the Conservative News Service, averages 110,000 readers, mainly conservative,
and provides material for other Web sites such as GOPUSA. "We won't run
anything against anybody if we don't have the goods," he said.
Former representative Don Bailey (D-Pa.), who was quoted in the article,
confirmed his account to The Washington Post yesterday.
In a conversation on the House floor in the early 1980s, said Bailey, who
won a Silver Star and three Bronze Stars in Vietnam, Murtha told him he did not
deserve his Purple Hearts. He recalled Murtha saying: "Hey, I didn't do
anything like you did. I got a little scratch on the cheek." Murtha's
spokeswoman would not address that account.
Bailey, who lost a House race to Murtha after a 1982 redistricting, said
"Jack's a coward, and he's a liar" for subsequently denying the conversation.
"That just really burned me," he said.
While saying he has only responded to reporters' questions and is not bitter
toward Murtha, Bailey said the congressman's approach to Iraq is "not
responsible" and that "it just turned my stomach" to see Murtha acting as a
spokesman for veterans.
He said he shared the information with Republican William Choby, who ran
against Murtha four times beginning in 1990 and made the Vietnam decorations an
issue. Choby raised the issue again during Murtha's 2002 reelection
campaign.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, citing Marine records, reported that year that
Murtha was wounded during "hostile" actions near Da Nang, Vietnam: "In the
first incident, his right cheek was lacerated, and in the second, he was
lacerated above his left eye. Neither injury required evacuation." The
Cybercast article cites a 1994 interview in which Murtha described injuries to
his arm and knee.
The article included a 1996 quote from Harry Fox, who worked for former
representative John Saylor (R-Pa.), telling a local newspaper that Murtha was
"pretending to be a big war hero." Fox, who lost a 1974 election to Murtha,
said the 38-year Marine veteran had asked Saylor for assistance in obtaining
the Purple Hearts but was turned down because the office believed he lacked
adequate evidence of his wounds.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, "The Swift Boat-like
attacks on an American hero, Congressman Jack Murtha, are despicable and have
no place in politics."
In November, when Murtha called for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, White House
spokesman Scott McClellan said the congressman was endorsing "Michael Moore and
the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party" and called his stance a
"surrender to the terrorists." Days later, President Bush called Murtha "a fine
man" and said they simply disagreed about Iraq.
The Cybercast article appeared shortly before a segment scheduled for CBS's
"60 Minutes" tomorrow in which Murtha predicts that the "vast majority" of U.S.
troops will be out of Iraq by year's end.
|