WASHINGTON, (KUNA): US House Representative John Murtha dead: Murtha special election looms. US House Representative John Murtha died on Monday following complications from gallbladder surgery.
Murtha 77, the chairman of the House appropriations defense subcommittee and a Vietnam War veteran, recently underwent laparoscopic surgery to remove his gallbladder, he died at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington.
Murtha was a member of the Pennsylvania House from 1969 to 1974 and has been representing Pennsylvanias 12 congressional district in the House of Representatives since 1974.
His bid to be House Majority leader failed in 2006 and was involved in 1980 in the Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI)s Abscam investigation in 1980 when undercover agents offered bribes to several members of Congress. Murtha was videotaped turning down a bribe saying he was not interested "at this point." A retired Marine Corps Office and the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress, Murtha voted in 2002 to authorized former President George W. Bush to use military force in Iraq but became later an influential critic if the Bush administrations handling of the war, which prompted him in November 2005 to call for an immediate withdrawal of US troops.
Capitol Hill flags were lowered in downtown Washington in his memory.
