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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (6657)	10/8/2006 12:16:46 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224729

Kerry, the old military basher, is up to his devious tricks from 2004: >>Murphy targeted by Iraq war vets By BRIAN SCHEID The Courier Times Two Iraq war veterans have accused Democratic congressional candidate Patrick Murphy of mischaracterizing what he did in that war-torn country. The charge provoked an angry response from Murphy. Even Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., whose military record was attacked in his 2004 presidential bid, entered the fray Friday by releasing a statement blasting Fitzpatrick for holding a press conference where Murphy's military record was criticized. At the press conference in Newtown Township with Fitzpatrick, U.S. Air Force Major Kevin Kelly said Murphy, a former Army captain and paratrooper, has misled voters by claiming on the campaign trail he spent his time in Iraq dodging bullets and disarming improvised explosive devices. Murphy was “not a frontline fighter,” said Kelly, a Philadelphia resident who served in Iraq as an F-16 pilot from January 2006 to May 2006. U.S. Army Capt. Richard Barbato, who served in the 82nd Airborne, the same division as Murphy, joked that Murphy was always back at the unit's headquarters while the rest of the unit's soldiers were fighting. “While we were up on the front lines ...Murphy didn't see the same things we did,” Barbato said. Barbato also refuted Murphy's frequent claims that soldiers didn't feel they had a clear mission in Iraq. “We had a clear mission,” said Barbato, who served throughout Iraq from February 2003 to October 2003. “Myself and my fellow paratroopers, we understood it.” After the press conference, Fitzpatrick said he disagreed with the veterans criticism of Murphy's military record. “In no way, shape or form would I ever question Pat Murphy's service to our country,” said Fitzpatrick, who is not a military veteran. “I recognize and appreciate Pat's service to our country as much as anyone in our community. “As far as his military service in Iraq, I take him fully at his word,” Fitzpatrick added. Murphy, contacted later in the day, said that Fitzpatrick should be held accountable for the statements by those veterans since Fitzpatrick did not immediately renounce them at the press conference organized by his campaign. “Mike Fitzpatrick has a campaign event attacking my service,” Murphy said. “That's what he did, no matter how he wants to paint it now.” “I have news for Mike Fitzpatrick. In war, bullets don't differentiate between lawyers and medics, enlisted men and officers,” Kerry said. In a phone interview Friday after the press conference, Fitzpatrick stressed that he has “never questioned” Murphy's service in Iraq and said the purpose of the press conference was to criticize Murphy's withdrawal plan from Iraq, not the Democrat's military record. According to Murphy's military records, he served seven months as a paratrooper and a regimental judge advocate, advising on the legalities of combat operations, overseeing Iraqi courts and police stations.