U.S. Rep. Johnny "ABSCAM" Murtha is about to get his comeuppance, served to him courtesy of one of the fine citizens he purports to represent. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, former Marine Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, 24, of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania is filing a civil lawsuit against Murtha (D-Johnstown). Murtha is the congressman most famous for smearing the United States Marines involved in an incident in Haditha, Iraq some three years ago, where some civilians were caught in the crossfire of a firefight between a squad form the Third Battalion, First Marines, and a number of al-Qaeda insurgents. Before the facts were in, Murtha repeatedly denounced and defamed the 8 men involved, calling them (among other things) cold-blooded killers. Murtha's comments served to stoke anti-American sentiment abroad.
As the Article 32 investigation carried out by N.C.I.S. bore out, allegations of a "massacre" were wildly inaccurate, and charges against seven of the eight accused men were dropped. Only one of the Marines, squad leader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, remains charged with involuntary manslaughter. To date, Murtha has neither retracted nor apologized for his comments. Lance Corporal Sharratt and his family tried on numerous occasions to get an audience with Murtha, and when they finally did, Murtha did not acknowledge Lance Corporal Sharratt's exhonoration, and "kept skirting the issue."
Noah Geary, a Washington County lawyer representing Sharratt, said his client will file suit today in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh accusing Murtha of violating his constitutional rights as well as slander for statements about the Haditha incident. It looks like one of the great weasels of American politics is about to get what is coming to him.
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