Rep. Murtha has used his status as a Viet Nam war hero to lend weight to his accusations of President Bush as, among other things, condicting an "illegal war". Rep. Murtha has two purple hearts for wounds sustained in combat, leading one to believe that he does have "gravitas" as the LSM would call it.
But DOES he really deserve that gravitas? Marc Morano and Randy Hall seem to think they have found evidence that Murtha is more like another Democratic "war hero", and doesn't deserve the medals that he received.
Mr. Murtha, unlike the other poseur, DID volunteer for service in Viet Nam, and he deserves recognition for that, but if it can be proven that he doesn't deserve the extra recognition for service that those medals represent, he shows that he too, was thinking of a future political career when he gamed the system to get them...but at least he didn't use them to avoid furthur military service.
Are the charges legitimate? I can't say, there isn't enough information as yet to be certain, but one thing that does lend credence to the charges is Mr. Murtha's refusal to release his military records that could answer the question one way or another to both sides satisfaction. What do you have to hide Mr. Murtha?
Release your records and prove the other side wrong, and you increase your standing as a critic of the war.
I do respect Mr. Murtha's service, but his current statments belie everything that that service stood for, and the fact he won't settle this question as easily as he could only further lessens the respect for that service that he should be accrued. Prior service only extends so far, present actions can eiter enhance that respect, or destroy it. For myself, I don't care whether the charges are true or not; Mr. Murtha's statements destroyed any respect that I felt due him.
He has let partisian politics taint what was a good record.
"Once a Marine;ALWAYS a Marine" is the Corps' (unofficial) proud credo, but I think they would like to make an exception in Rep. Murtha's case.