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Sunday, May 21, 2006

Does Cut & Run Equal Courage?

As if there has not been enough about Rep. John Murtha and his anti-military stance, now this... Rep. John Murtha is one of the 2006 recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. I kid you not... Murtha is being given an award for "courage".

According to the JFK Library website, the Profile in Courage Award "is presented annually to a public official or officials at the federal, state of local level whose actions best demonstrate the qualities of political courage". It is given "to encourage elected officials to choose principles over partisanship - to do what is right, rather than what is expedient." Past recipients include John McCain and Russ Feingold for the McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform debacle and Kofi Annan (I guess the corruption in the UN qualifies as "courage). This year's other recipient is Alberto Mora the champion against mistreatment of Gitmo detainees.

Murtha's mini-biography on the Profiles in Courage website is a mix of fabrications and pure fantasy. First the bio refers to his "unexpected and dramatic reversal of support for the war". Anyone with an ounce of common sense and reading comprehension knows that Murtha was far from a "war supporter" prior to November 2005. Murtha called for pulling the troops out in 2004. Far from being a "hawk", Murtha has a record of non-support of military action including Clinton's Kosovo excursion.

The bio promotes his withdrawal of support as "carrying particular weight". With who? The anti-American, anti-military masses that used the Iraq war as a soapbox to bash President Bush? The Cindy Sheehan worshippers? The bio claims that Murtha's "decision to speak out against a protracted conflict shifted public sentiment about the war". The only thing his speaking out did was shift the terrorists' sentiment about the status of their battle against the coalition forces in Iraq. Murtha's constant bleating about our downtrodden military only served to incite the terrorists to fight harder cause they were beating the Americans down - if not physically at least mentally.

How much courage does it take to plop yourself in front of a bank of microphones and announce that our military is a "catalyst for violence in Iraq"? How much courage does it take to leak confidential briefing information from a Marine investigation? How much courage does it take to claim our soldiers are killing innocent civilians "in cold blood"? How much courage does it take to equate the incident in Haditha to the My Lai Massacre? How much courage does it take to "cut and run"?

So John Murtha will receive his Profile in Courage Award tomorrow. A military back-stabber will get an award for standing in front of a microphone and kissing Code Pink's ass. Meanwhile our soldiers - who live and die by the military code every day - will continue to fight so this useful idiot can continue to spout off his mouth and undercut their mission.

Read more here...
In the Company of Soldiers - Courage
Hub Politics - JFK Profile In (Liberal) Courage Award
Andi's World - Profiles in Courage - What a Joke
Bear Creek Ledger - Murtha to Get John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award

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