After famously slandering a group of Marines, Rep. John Murtha (D., Penn.) is widely loathed by members of the U.S. military. Yet, for some reason, the Navy just gave him its highest civilian award.

“They killed innocent civilians in cold blood. They actually went into the houses and killed women and children,” Murtha said at a Capitol Hill press conference in 2006. “But I will not excuse murder. And this is what happened. There’s no question in my mind about it.”

Believe it or not, Murtha was talking about U.S. Marines. He later repeated these charges on a number of news programs — and even from the floor of Congress. Murtha made remarkably bold accusations of war crimes against a group of soldiers regarding an incident that had yet to be properly investigated.

On November 19, 2005, a Marine convoy in Haditha, Iraq, was hit with an improvised explosive device, killing one Marine and seriously wounding two more. Following the ambush, the surviving Marines of 3/1 Kilo company launched a counterattack, killing 24 Iraqis in the process. Fifteen of those Iraqis killed were civilian noncombatants.

Tragic though it was, the Haditha incident normally would not have raised suspicions — after all, the United States was at war with an insurgent force in Iraq that was comprised largely of civilians. Further, according to Marine Corps press releases, Haditha was known as an insurgent hotbed.

Eight Marines were arrested a month later; however, the entire basis for the charges against them appeared to be fog-of-war discrepancies in the initial reporting of the incident, as well as a Time magazine report which suggested a massacre may have taken place on the basis of interviews with local Iraqis.

Three-and-a-half years later, the most relevant fact about the Haditha investigation is this: Seven of the eight Marines charged with murder have been completely exonerated, and the prosecution of the eighth has been suspended indefinitely. There’s almost no doubt that there was an initial rush to judgment, and that Murtha’s comments were slanderous.

As a result of the incident, Murtha is despised by large swaths of the military community. Search Google for “Murtha,” and the websites Bootmurtha.com and Murtha Must Go! turn up on the first page of results. Murtha is particularly despised by Marines, since he is a retired Marine colonel himself. The close-knit leatherneck community feels Murtha was bound by honor to stick up for the rights of his fellow Marines, not to play judge and jury from the floor of the Capitol building.

For many, it was like a punch to the gut when the Navy announced in early March that it was bestowing on Murtha its highest civilian honor: the Distinguished Public Service Award. The award even cites Murtha’s “loyalty to the men and women of the Department of the Navy,” which oversees the Marine Corps.

Asked about how he reacted to the recent announcement, Justin Sharrat, one of the eight Haditha Marines to be arrested, deadpans, “Well, it wasn’t the greatest feeling after everything I’ve seen him do.” (Sharrat had all charges against him dropped before going to trial.) Adding insult to injury, Sharrat is from Pennsylvania and Murtha is his congressman. Last November, Sharrat took the unusual step of suing Murtha for slander and defamation of character. He’s the second of the Haditha Marines to have done so.

Sharrat insists his lawsuit was not politically motivated. He didn’t do any campaigning last year when Murtha was locked in a close election race. “I try and stay out of politics,” Sharrat told National Review Online. “I didn’t want to do anything while there’s still one more Marine possibly going to trial, and I just don’t like politics. [Bill Russell, Murtha’s congressional opponent] had my support, but I didn’t want it to be about that.”

For other Marines, however, the award was a bridge too far. Gabe Ledeen, an Iraq war veteran and a senior fellow with Vets for Freedom, was actually serving in Haditha when Murtha’s comments sent shockwaves around the world. “I remember the response that I had,” Ledeen told NRO. “It was the same response the Marines and our entire Battalion had to it. We expected to be attacked over there; we didn’t expect to be attacked by members of Congress.”

Ledeen has started an online petition that reads: “We the undersigned are appalled that the Secretary of the Navy would bestow the Department’s highest award for a non-employee to John Murtha after his vile and despicable attacks against U.S. servicemen. This petition is a vehicle to express our bitter disappointment at this betrayal of our combat veterans.” It currently has 48,000 signatories — and counting.

Even if Murtha had never slandered the Marines, he is hardly an obvious candidate for a “Distinguished Public Service Award.” He has repeatedly been listed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) as one of the most corrupt members of Congress. In 1980, Murtha was implicated in the ABSCAM bribery scandal, and he’s long been dogged by accusations that he uses his earmarking powers for political gain. Shortly before the Navy gave him its prestigious award, the FBI raided a lobbying firm with close ties to Murtha.

The outgoing secretary of the Navy, Donald C. Winter, is a former top executive at defense contractor Northrop Grumman. This raises uncomfortable questions about a possible quid pro quo arrangement, given Murtha’s status as a powerful defense appropriator. However, an executive at a major defense contractor familiar with Winter and the appropriations process told NRO that he doubted anything was going on beyond the usual Washington back-scratching. “I’m sure it’s just lagniappe,” he said. “Murtha’s a guy who you have to treat.”

Indeed, Murtha demands special treatment even as he refuses to respect the basic rights of American servicemen, presuming them guilty until proven innocent. “The big thing we’re hoping to achieve [with the lawsuit] is to show the American people that Congressmen aren’t untouchable in a sense,” Sharrat told NRO. “They are supposed to be model citizens and they can’t call people cold-blooded killers without knowing any of the evidence or facts — and it’s the evidence that’s gotten everyone’s charges dropped so far. I just want to prove that these congressmen can’t say what they want.”

Despite what he’s gone through, Sharratt seems to have a healthy perspective. “I didn’t leave the Marine Corps with a bad taste in my mouth. I’m really glad I spent those four years serving my country,” he says.

The biggest injustice of all may not be what happened to Sharratt and the Haditha Marines as a result of their service, but that – after 35 years — John Murtha continues to serve in Congress.