Murtha Denies Libel
In the case of his statements on the Haditha incident, Congressman John Murtha has denied the charges of libeling Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich. I have to say, as much as I would love to say Murtha is full of it, libel is a pretty tough charge to win. A quick perusal of the subject on Wikipedia will give you an idea of how the U.S. gives a wide berth to protect freedom of speech.
Does that justify Murtha’s charge? Absolutely not. Murtha claims to be using the entire matter at hand to criticize the handling of the war in Iraq. However, even though he may feel that is his duty as a public servant or exercising his right to expression, he is at the same time stepping over the line with regards to presumption of innocence.
On wikipedia.org, Presumption of Innocence is cited as a “fundamental right.”
Although the Constitution of the United States does not cite it explicitly, presumption of innocence is widely held to follow from the 5th, 6th and 14th amendments.
Guaranteeing the presumption of innocence extends beyond the judicial system. For instance, in many countries journalistic codes of ethics state that journalists should refrain from referring to suspects as though their guilt was certain. For example, they use “suspect” or “defendant” when referring to the suspect, and use “allegedly” when referring to the criminal activity that the suspect is accused of.
More subtly, publishing of the prosecution’s case without proper defense argumentation may in practice constitute presumption of guilt. Publishing a roster of arrested suspects may constitute undeserved punishment as well, since in practice it damages the reputation of innocent suspects.
Additionally, there is legal precedent in the United States to support Presumption of Innocence in Coffin v. U.S.
With all legal positioning aside, I believe that Murtha owes these Marines an apology. At present, the Marines have not been proven guilty. Neither have they been charged with a crime. It was out of line for Murtha to outright accuse these men of murdering Iraqi civilians “in cold blood” prior to the Pentagon even releasing their preliminary findings. His statement was:
there was no firefight, there was no IED (improvised explosive device) that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.
At the same time, the Marine Corps actually would not comment:
There is an ongoing investigation; therefore, any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process. As soon as the facts are known and decisions on future actions are made, we will make that information available to the public to the fullest extent allowable.
So if the Marine Corps was waiting to finish their investigation before they commented, why was Murtha quick to publicly state as absolute fact that “they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.”
[ Lawmaker: Marines killed Iraqis 'in cold blood' ]
Let’s compare that with the excuse Murtha released on his own web site:
An Associated Press story filed earlier this morning said that evidence collected in Haditha ¢â‚¬Å“supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot¢â‚¬ 24 civilians, including unarmed women and children.
Notice the journalistic difference? The AP stated that evidence supports accusations.It does not call the Marines guilty. It does not imply absolute fact. It states that the evidence supports the case. That is a huge difference from Murtha’s statement as absolute. It is pretty weak for Murtha then to try to hide behind the AP’s responsible reporting. You would think that a U.S. Congressman would understand how to use nuance in his speech.
While these men may in fact be guilty, we do not know that. And to prejudge them is to deny them presumption of innocence. The burden of proof is on the prosecution (if in fact they charge them). For Murtha to publicly defame them is irresponsible and a U.S. Congressman should now better than that.
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