Still Waiting For John Murtha's Apology To The Troops

In a press conference on May 17, 2006, liberal loon and anti-war icon John Murtha said that U.S. Marines had deliberately killed unarmed Iraqi civilians during an encounter in Haditha in 2005 “Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood,” Murtha said before anyone was investigated, charged, much less convicted of a crime. Well, it turns out that Murtha was wrong, way wrong:

A military judge on Tuesday dismissed the case against the highest-ranking U.S. Marine charged in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha, whittling down the list of those who must still face justice for the 2005 incident to just the accused ringleader.

Military Judge Col. Steven Folsom dropped all charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who was accused of violating a lawful order and dereliction of duty, at a hearing at the Camp Pendleton Marine base in Southern California.

Folsom's decision means that, out of eight Marines originally charged in December 2006, six have won dismissals of their charges and one has been cleared at court martial.

Murtha was running for office when he smeared the troops, so not only was he motivated by his ignorance, but also the support of his liberal base in Pennsylvania. That said, word has it that one of the troops Murtha berated plans on suing him for defamation. Good. Perhaps that will give Murtha a chance to write an apology while he eats a nice, big bowl of crow.