The
usual cabal of neo-conservatives and "swift-boating"-attack hyenas are
canting their usual claptrap in chiding the Navy for naming its 10th
San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship the USS John P. Murtha.
Murtha
is the late Pennsylvania Democratic congressman and Marine Corps combat
veteran, who used his chairmanship of the House appropriations defense
subcommittee to deluge happy Johnstown area constituents in waves of
taxpayer-provided pork.
Although the Navy has traditionally named
San Antonio-class ships after American cities, naming ships for
politicians who have lavished the military with billions of dollars of
appropriations is not new. Mississippi's Sen. John Stennis and Rep.
Carl Vinson have had aircraft carriers named for them. In addition, the
names of Washington Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson and Virginia Sen. John
Warner are among those that adorn submarines.
The
neo-cons have a problem with Murtha for three reasons: He was a
Democrat; he correctly accused the Marines of killing innocent Iraqi
civilians in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005; and he was targeted in a dubious
1978-79 Justice Department fishing expedition known as Abscam.
Abscam
was an attempt by Israeli supporters to show that congressmen,
including Murtha, were susceptible to bribes from Arab interests. The
FBI used a convicted con-man named Melvin Weinberg, who previously
attempted to swindle money from singer Wayne Newton and the attorney
general of Bolivia, to arrange for meetings between U.S. politicians
and a phony Arab sheik offering bribes. Murtha never fell for the
entrapment gambit.
In February, Murtha died of complications
after gall bladder surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital outside
Washington. The Navy finally investigated Murtha's untimely death after
calls for a probe from Congress. Murtha's military record stands out
from many in Congress who either served as "weekend warriors" in the
National Guard and reserves or received draft deferments to avoid
Vietnam service.
Murtha, indeed, was a military hero
extraordinaire, as Navy Secretary Ray Mabus noted in April, when he
announced the naming of the so-called "gator freighter" for him. A bear
of a man, Murtha served 37 years in the Marines and received the Bronze
Star with Combat "V," two Purple Hearts, and the Vietnamese Cross of
Gallantry for his service in the Vietnam War, retiring as a colonel in
1990. There are few in the history of Congress who could match or
exceed such a military record of service.