May He Rest In Peace, I think...
RIP Representative Murtha.
As I contemplate your passing, I think on who you were. You were a Marine in a time when being a Marine was doubly fraught – you faced the dangers of Vietnam only to return to a country that did not honor your service. I honor your service.
But I also think of other things...
I think of the rush to judgment you made in the wake of some bad press accounts from Haditha, in Iraq. I think of what you said about your Brother Marines who were implicated in those articles. On the strength of these accounts you made some horrible statements about these young Marines. Why? It looked to this girl like you were trying to bash your favorite political target, President Bush, while at the same time currying favor with a growing anti-war left (why is it that Democrats always look leftward for their “base”).
Your words and your position and your status as a former Marine must have convinced a lot of America that these young men were murderers and criminals and a dishonor to their Corps. But they weren’t were they? A very thorough military trial found that these young men were not murderers.
Where was your apology? When you found out you were wrong, did you have to fight down an urge to stand on the House floor like the man you used to be and humbly ask the forgiveness of these young men and of their fathers and mothers, wives and girlfriends, and fellow Marines? You never made such a speech of course, but I would like to think you thought about it. Because you were a Marine. And I respect Marines.
So I bid a final Goodnight to you Representative Murtha. You are soon to be laid to your eternal rest, followed (in what will seem to you to be an instant of time) by rapture and then judgment by the fairest Judge you will ever meet. I honor you for wearing the Eagle, Globe and Anchor of the United States Marine Corps; I honor your service in Vietnam, and for continuing to wear the uniform as a reservist in post-Vietnam America – a time when it was not fashionable to be associated in any way with the armed forces.
For those things I hoist my glass and drink. But -- for the shameful way you treated the lives of those young Marines, I spill the rest on the ground.
As I contemplate your passing, I think on who you were. You were a Marine in a time when being a Marine was doubly fraught – you faced the dangers of Vietnam only to return to a country that did not honor your service. I honor your service.
But I also think of other things...
I think of the rush to judgment you made in the wake of some bad press accounts from Haditha, in Iraq. I think of what you said about your Brother Marines who were implicated in those articles. On the strength of these accounts you made some horrible statements about these young Marines. Why? It looked to this girl like you were trying to bash your favorite political target, President Bush, while at the same time currying favor with a growing anti-war left (why is it that Democrats always look leftward for their “base”).
Your words and your position and your status as a former Marine must have convinced a lot of America that these young men were murderers and criminals and a dishonor to their Corps. But they weren’t were they? A very thorough military trial found that these young men were not murderers.
Where was your apology? When you found out you were wrong, did you have to fight down an urge to stand on the House floor like the man you used to be and humbly ask the forgiveness of these young men and of their fathers and mothers, wives and girlfriends, and fellow Marines? You never made such a speech of course, but I would like to think you thought about it. Because you were a Marine. And I respect Marines.
So I bid a final Goodnight to you Representative Murtha. You are soon to be laid to your eternal rest, followed (in what will seem to you to be an instant of time) by rapture and then judgment by the fairest Judge you will ever meet. I honor you for wearing the Eagle, Globe and Anchor of the United States Marine Corps; I honor your service in Vietnam, and for continuing to wear the uniform as a reservist in post-Vietnam America – a time when it was not fashionable to be associated in any way with the armed forces.
For those things I hoist my glass and drink. But -- for the shameful way you treated the lives of those young Marines, I spill the rest on the ground.
posted by Pamela Furr at
4:59 PM
1 Comments:
Very well said. Those Marine's were ambushed and instead of gunning the throttle on their HMMWV's and getting out of there, they chose to take the fight to the enemy. The SSG did what he thought was best and attacked the area he perceived was the threat. He had milliseconds to respond. Most people would run from gunfire, these Marine's ran TOWARDS it. Murtha, should have been ashamed for his rush to judgment. I support everything they did to protect themselves and all their fellow Marine's that day. We were not there. They were!
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