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Sunday, June 11, 2006The Highly Dangerous Congressman Murthaand what he has in common with Pat Robertson and John McCainHugh Hewitt is pointing out that Congressman Murtha has now been linked to reports about another Marine charged with murder in Iraq - in addition to those involved in the Haditha incident. It is uncertain whether any of the Marines in question are guilty - our courts will settle the matter on earth, but God alone has all the details. Sadly, the Congressman from Pennsylvania is not so circumspect about matters relating to the fog of war and the nature of men in dangerous times. As a former Marine, he seems to distrust those who came after and is quick to put both our soldiers and our nation's cause in the dock on the authority of one John Murtha. Watching the Murtha stories unfold, I was suddenly struck by his similarity to another man for whom I do not much care, Pat Robertson. The two do not, of course, have much in common. But this they do: A disturbingly clear conviction that they have a superior line on truth that entitles them to go way out of bounds in their public discourse. Pat Robertson cheered 9/11 as a wake-up call that we had lost God's protection. Murtha cheers every setback in the war or ugly allegation about its conduct as a wake-up call that he has been right all along. Whether Robertson hands out messages from God or Murtha hands out ostensibly private information that he has gotten as a Congressman, we see the same basic phenomenon: A conviction that you can say anything and use the authority you have with people however you see fit because you know The Truth and you are the Messiah to show people the error of their ways and guide them to the Promised Land whose truth you alone know. The other person with whom Murtha may be readily associated is pretty boy John McCain, a better man, but one too quick to wear his moral authority on his sleeve in matters unrelated and even where that moral authority is exaggerated beyond all bounds. John McCain said he'd rather have clean government than free speech, confident that as long as he had power he could decide better than the people what they ought to know in casting their votes. John Murtha is more dangerous, prejudicing the trials of those not yet tried and destroying a nation's cause in a fit of blind ambition wrapped up in a Messiah complex. Who knew we'd be longing for a Kucinic resurgence for the anti-war crowd? In the Haditha mess and Murtha - as with McCain and Robertson - we see what happens when powerful and persuasive people mistake the effect they have on others for proof that the truth is out there and they have it. In the case of Murtha, however, it is getting dangerous. In an information war - which is what the fight against terrorism is - leaking prejudicial information without proper substantiation is tantamount to releasing battle plans. Should the Haditha Marines have had their cases tried in relative calm and been duly convicted, John Murtha would have cause for speaking, as an opponent of the war, about the war's dangers and excesses. He would have had the right, not merely as a Congressman but more importantly as a Citizen, to press against our actions and for a change in course. But Murtha's actions of late do not indicate a desire for open debate in a democracy. They indicate a desire to close down debate and to usurp power over a democratically elected regime that has stood for election multiple times and been certified as the voice of the people. When John Murtha argues against the war and points to the crimes of people whom his nation and her practices have deemed murderers, he is within his rights. When he prejudices the world against his nation's cause and argues for the presumption of guilt on the part of people who have not yet stood trial, however, he makes himself king. It is time that Congressman Murtha be cut from the information loop, granted information only about that which our Constitutional processes consider to be settled matters. Failing that, those who risk their lives for our country and those who cast ballots for our country's leadership can count themselves as left out in the cold. As for the media's role in this, I hesitate to hold them to the same standard as Murtha. The reporters and opinion makers are, as a rule, small-minded, under-educated about their subject matter, tightly bound to the orthodoxies of their circle and easily led. They are to the left what Pat Robertson's groupies are to the right. And in an era when even I can be a small part of one wing of the media, the standards for media aren't that high. And shouldn't be, lest government take charge over what free citizens can and cannot discuss. Murtha, however, is an elected leader, has taken an oath and has presumably been apprised of rules governing the disclosure of secret information as well as gaining some acquaintance with the mechanisms that make our democracy function. Because of the fuzzy nature of our democracy, he should not and will not stand trial for treason. But if Dante's vision of the Inferno was accurate, astute readers should have no trouble guessing which circle he'll spend eternity in. 
posted by gbarto at 12:59 PM |
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