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Murtha, powerful troop advocate, dead at 77

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the powerful and controversial chairman of the House subcommittee responsible for defense funding, died Monday, leaving a huge hole in the Democratic Party’s national security team.

Murtha died at 1:18 p.m. at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., where he had been hospitalized since Jan. 31 for an infection following gallbladder surgery several days earlier at Bethesda Naval Hospital, Md.

A friend of rank-and-file troops and a confidante of current and former military leaders, the 77-year-old old former Marine Corps officer and Vietnam veteran helped find money for bigger military pay raises when Democratic and Republican administrations tried to cap increases. He also pushed for getting better equipment into the hands of ground troops.

The 19-term lawmaker was the first Vietnam veteran elected to Congress, and he remained a member of the Marine Corps Reserves until 1990.

In recent years, it was Murtha’s influence that led Congress to provide a $500 allowance for every month a service member was held on active-duty under stop-loss orders. And it was Murtha who forced the Defense Department come up with a way to provide more time between deployments for Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans.

A close friend and ally of House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the usually gruff Murtha was the Democrats’ answer anytime Republicans claimed that Democrats were being soft on defense.

He made missteps, however.

From his influential position as chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee’s defense panel, Murtha was a master of funneling millions of dollars in defense-related spending to his economically struggling district in central Pennsylvania.

But in recent years, his largesse prompted several federal investigations into whether earmark recipients then made illegal contributions to his re-election campaigns, although he was never found to have violated ethics laws or rules.

The high regard in which he was held in military circles was tarnished in 2005 when he outspokenly claimed that Marines had intentionally shot at innocent civilians in Hadithah, Iraq, in remarks made just as the Marine Corps was starting an investigation.

One Marine involved in the shootings filed a character defamation lawsuit against Murtha, which became an issue in the congressman’s last election. The lawsuit was dismissed by a federal appeals court.

Murtha was remembered fondly Monday by government leaders.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted Murtha’s service. “[T]o those of us in uniform, he will be remembered most as a veteran — as one of us.”

Defense Secretary Robert Gates noted that he was often on the opposing side of arguments with the congressman, “but I always respected his candor, and knew that he cared deeply about the men and women of America's military and intelligence community.”

President Obama said that Murtha’s service created a “tough-as-nails reputation [that] carried over to Congress.”

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Staff writer William Matthews contributed to this report.

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