Marine sues Murtha for Hadithah comments - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Marine sues Murtha for Hadithah comments

PITTSBURGH — A former Marine lance corporal sued Rep. John Murtha for slander Thursday, saying the Pennsylvania Democrat damaged his reputation by saying Marines killed women and children “in cold blood” in Hadithah, Iraq, in November 2005.

The federal lawsuit claims Murtha violated Justin Sharratt’s rights to due process and presumption of innocence with comments on various news shows in May 2006. Sharratt, who was honorably discharged last year, said he received hate e-mails and has been called “baby killer” when he has gone out in Canonsburg, about 15 miles south of Pittsburgh.

“Sharratt, in being labeled repeatedly by Murtha as a ‘cold-blooded murderer,’ and by Murtha outrageously claiming that the Hadithah incident was comparable to the infamous (My Lai) massacre of Vietnam, has suffered permanent, irreversible damage to his reputation,” the lawsuit states. American service members killed as many as 504 Vietnamese villagers in the My Lai massacre.

Military prosecutors have said 24 Iraqis, including women and children, were killed in Hadithah on Nov. 19, 2005, after one Marine was killed and two others wounded by a roadside bomb. Murtha, a former Marine and decorated Vietnam War veteran, blamed the killings on troops under too much pressure in Iraq.

Sharratt, 24, was initially charged with three counts of premeditated murder but was exonerated after a full investigation and the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing. Sharratt said it was proved he killed insurgents, not civilians.

At a news conference Thursday, Sharratt and his attorney, Noah Geary, denied any civilians were killed on purpose, and Sharratt said he didn’t witness any civilian deaths. Sharratt and his father, Darryl, said Sharratt killed three insurgents, two armed with assault rifles and a third about to retrieve a rifle from a closet.

“Insurgents were killed and, if any civilians were killed, those civilians were being used literally as body shields by the insurgents,” Geary said.

The lawsuit claims Murtha repeatedly said on CNN, NBC and other news outlets that the Marines “overreacted because of the pressure on them and killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” Murtha didn’t name Sharratt, but the media were able to identify him from Murtha’s comments and other information, Geary said.

Murtha claimed his Hadithah information came from Pentagon higher-ups, who denied that, Geary said.

“Murtha claimed to also have this reliable inside information because of his position on the Armed Services Committee,” Geary said. “If he did, in fact, hear anything, it was speculation at best.”

Sharratt is the second Marine to sue Murtha over his comments about Hadithah. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich sued Murtha for defamation in 2006. Wuterich’s suit is still pending.

Geary said he added the constitutional rights charges to Sharratt’s slander suit so it will be harder for Murtha to claim he’s immune from being sued because he’s a congressman. Murtha is using that defense in Wuterich’s suit.

Four enlisted Marines, including Sharratt, were originally charged in the killings and four officers were charged in connection to the investigation. One officer was acquitted and charges have since been dropped against everyone else except Wuterich, whose case is pending.

Wuterich, of Meriden, Conn., has pleaded not guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter. He is accused of ordering his men to clear several houses with grenades and gunfire, leading to the deaths of women and children.

Wuterich’s lawsuit said several civilians were killed when his squad pursued insurgents, who were firing at them from inside a house. Wuterich describes a house-to-house hunt that went wrong in the midst of a confusing battlefield. He had denied through his lawyers any vengeful massacre.

Murtha’s office said the congressman has no comment on the lawsuit.

An 18-term congressman, Murtha had been hawkish on war issues for decades but has come to believe the U.S. should leave Iraq as soon as possible.

Murtha has served in the House since 1974 and is known for bringing money and jobs, especially in the defense industries, to his district in rural Pennsylvania.

He faces Republican William T. Russell, a career soldier who left the Army two years short of retirement, in the November election. Russell has run campaign ads criticizing Murtha for his comments about Hadithah.

Geary said the statute of limitations, not Murtha’s re-election campaign, dictated when the lawsuit was filed.

Geary called Murtha’s comments “outrageous” in light of a current campaign flier that reads, “Honoring Our Troops and Veterans is a Top Priority for John Murtha.”