Published: October 29, 2008 10:19 pm      

Vets group targets Murtha

A national veterans organization is going on the offensive against U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown.

Even as some veterans groups have endorsed the congressman’s bid for an 18th term, Vets for Freedom is launching an anti-Murtha campaign.

The group takes issue with statements Murtha made about a Marine unit in Iraq, as well as the lawmaker’s overall stance on the war in Iraq.

“He has been the top opponent of the surge in the House and the top proponent of timelines for (troop) withdrawal,” said Pete Hegseth, Vets for Freedom chairman and an Iraq veteran.

The group’s television ad, which was scheduled to begin airing Wednesday evening, is titled “Stop the Smears” and focuses on soldiers who served in Haditha, Iraq.

“Congressman John Murtha visited my unit in Iraq and reassured us how proud he was of us, only to come home and call us cold-blooded murderers” the ad script says.

In May 2006, Murtha publicly claimed Marines killed innocent Haditha civilians “in cold blood” during an encounter six months prior. But since then, seven of eight servicemen who had been charged in the incident have been cleared.

Murtha has not apologized.

But in an interview earlier this month, he told The Tribune-Democrat that he felt the military was trying to cover up the incident.

“I told the Marine Corps they had to do something about it. They still weren’t doing anything,” Murtha said. “So I felt like I had to speak out.”

The “Stop the Smears” ad is to run more than 300 times throughout Murtha’s 12th Congressional District.

Hegseth said Vets for Freedom, which was founded nearly three years ago by those who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, would pull the ad if the congressman would apologize.

The organization’s political action committee has endorsed Murtha’s Republican opponent, William Russell. The organization also plans to make phone calls and knock on local doors in support of Russell this weekend, Hegseth said.

However, Murtha has argued that supporting U.S. troops is one of his top priorities. And the chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee still has strong backing within the military community.

He has received endorsements from the political action committees of VoteVets.org and Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. He also has received an “A” legislative score from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.