On tonight's Hardball, Rep. John Murtha claimed that Marines in Iraq stormed a house and intentionally killed innocent women and children in response to the murder of a fellow Marine. According to Chris Matthews, the Marine Corps is currently investigating this incident. It goes without saying that this is an outrageous allegation to make--especially without any proof--and one would think that Murtha, a former Marine himself, would give the benefit of the doubt to our Marines before making wild accusations. Then again, it's been awhile since Murtha has basked in the glory of the MSM spotlight.

The video can be viewed here.

Rush transcript:

MATTHEWS: Draw us a picture of what happened in Haditha.

MURTHA: Well I'll tell you exactly what happened. One Marine was killed and the Marines just said we're gonna take care...we don't know who the enemy is, the pressure was too much on them, so they went into houses and actually killed civilians and...I...

MATTHEWS: Was this My Lai? When you say cold blood Congressman, a lot of people think you're basically saying you've got some civilians sitting in a room or out in a field and they're executed on purpose...

MURTHA: That's exactly what happened.

MATTHEWS: ...not because any of the Marines are scared or anybody is scared...

MURTHA: ...this was not an action...this was not...first they tried to say it was an IED, there was no IED involved in this. This was troops, they were so stressed out, they went into houses and killed children, women and children. 24 people they killed. Now this is the kind of stress they are under. Listen, I don't excuse it, but I understand what's happening and the responsibility goes right to the top. This is something that should not have happened, that should have been investigated, they've already relieved three commanding officers...but this is the kind of stuff...stress is going to cause these kind of things. That's why I'm so upset about it.

MATTHEWS: Congressman, I just want to read something from the Marine Corps and then you can continue. The Marine Corps told us today that they're not going to comment today because the investigation is still ongoing. So they're investigating...