Reps. John Kline (R-MN) and John Murtha (D-PA), Former Marines

I used to think there was no such thing as a former Marine, until the last week or so. With the allegations about the events in Haditha, Iraq, still yet unproven and an investigation still ongoing, these two representatives have gone on the record as saying that atrocities have been committed, with Murtha going even farther, saying the Marines executed these people in cold blood.

This offends me both as a patriotic citizen and as an attorney. These soldiers have rights under both the U.S. Constitution and the Uniform Code of Military Justice to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, among other things. More than that though, those very rights are the ones the Marines and other branches have been fighting to protect at home and guarantee to others around the world for over 200 years now. I don't know what is in the D.C. water supply these days, but all I can say is "How DARE they?!" O.J. Simpson was and remains one of the most guilty "innocent" men of all time, and yet he was still afforded all of his constitutional rights...that means the soldiers who guarantee those protections be at least as entitled to those same rights and protections without craven, agenda-driven, Beltway gasbags smearing their good names and the names of all other soliders serving honorably before any conclusions whatsoever are reached in this case.

This kind of betrayal renders these two men former Marines plain and simple...maybe they were honorable soldiers once, but now they are something much different, and far less honorable.