How Congressman John Murtha was 'Framed'

Infozone Commentary by James Murray

How Congressman John Murtha was 'Framed'
On June 25th, 2006, US Rep. John Murtha D-PA was the guest of fellow Democrat Rep. Kendrick Meek D-FL at a Townhall meeting hosted by Florida International University in Miami, Florida.

Elizabeth Baier, a reporter for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel covered the event.

Ms. Baier's report read:
"American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, Rep. John Murtha, said to an audience of more than 200 in North Miami on Saturday afternoon, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

"Murtha, a leading Democrat, was the guest speaker at a town hall meeting organized by Rep Kendrick B Meek, at Florida International University's Biscayne Bay Campus.

"A former Marine and a prominent critic of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq, Murtha reiterated his views that the war cannot be won militarily and needs political solutions.

"He said the more than 100,000 troops in Iraq should be pulled out immediately, and deployed to peripheral countries like Kuwait. "We do not want permanent bases in Iraq," Murtha told the audience. "We want as many Americans out of there as possible."

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel report was picked up around the world and lead to confusion.

However Rep. John Murtha said in a press statement issued on June 27th, 2006 he was quoted out of context.
"I was recently misquoted following a speech I gave at a Veterans forum at the Florida International University Biscayne Campus on June 24, 2006. During the speech, I made a point that our international credibility was suffering, particularly due to our continued military presence in Iraq and that we were perceived as an occupying force. For illustrative purposes, I provided the example of a recent Pew Poll which indicates a greater percentage of people in 14 foreign countries consider the U.S. in Iraq a danger to world peace than consider Iran or North Korea a danger to world peace."
Editorial writers, radio talk show hosts, bloggers, and news outlets around the world cited the original report published by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

This led to a great deal more confusion. >>>cont

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