WASHINGTON (AP) - A spokesman says Democratic Rep. John Murtha
of Pennsylvania, a retired Marine Corps officer who became an
outspoken critic of the Iraq war, has died. He was 77.
He had been suffering complications from gallbladder surgery.
In 1974, Murtha became the first combat veteran of the Vietnam
War elected to Congress. He wielded considerable clout for two
decades as a leader of the House subcommittee that oversees
Pentagon spending. But frustration over the Iraq war led him to
call for an immediate pullout of U.S. troops in 2005.
Murtha's congressional career was clouded by questions about his
ethics - from the Abscam corruption probe in 1980 to more recent
investigations into the special-interest spending known as earmarks
and the raising of cash for election campaigns.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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