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Anti-war Iraq vet seeks meeting with Murphy
Staff writer
MT. LEBANON - An Iraq war veteran from South Fayette Township who claimed U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy has spurned his requests to discuss his voting record on the war took to the sidewalk Tuesday for a public protest.
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"I knew that it wasn't the mission that I signed up to do," said Abernathy, a 1997 graduate of South Fayette High School. "I was not protecting or defending the Constitution of the United States, nor was I protecting or defending the American people but rather American corporate interests. My life wasn't worth that. Neither was killing Iraqis."
Abernathy, who was honorably discharged in September 2004 when his enlistment period was up, said his unit, attached to the 3rd Infantry Division in Bellaire, Ohio, returned to Iraq last month.
The driver of a red pickup invited him and about a dozen other protesters to love America or leave it. An animated Abernathy retorted, "Hey, I served this country!"
Murphy is one of 40 U.S. representatives and senators who are being targeted nationally on the war issue as part of the "Iraq Summer Campaign."
He has consistently voted with the Bush administration on the war, last fall calling a defined timeline for withdrawal a "preposterous situation" that will allow terrorists to wait out the U.S. He also pledged that he would not cut funding for the war effort while U.S. troops remain in Iraq.
The Iraq Summer Web page said the campaign is sponsored by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, MoveOn.org and Americans United for Change.
A Web site posting gave a Washington, D.C., phone number to contact about the "peace vigil" across from Murphy's office, and the flyer distributed at the event listed that number, organizer Rory Casey's and a third contact, all with Washington, D.C., area codes.
Paid organizer Casey, 26, of Springfield, Mass., called the gathering Tuesday a kickoff event to announce the Iraq Summer campaign in Pittsburgh.
Abernathy and several protesters crossed the street to Murphy's district office, where Abernathy asked a receptionist for a meeting with the three-term Republican congressman from Upper St. Clair, whose 18th District includes about half of Washington County.
Murphy's press secretary, Mark Carpenter, said Murphy was in Unity Township, Westmoreland County, for a water line groundbreaking that had been scheduled well in advance of the protest.
He said he would not comment on the record about Abernathy's claim that he was rebuffed in requesting to meet with Murphy.
Carpenter, in an e-mailed statement, wrote, "Sharing the same frustration that many others have with the direction of the war, Congressman Murphy too would like a responsible end to the war, one that guarantees our nation's security now and in the future.
"As he has always done, he listens to his constituents' perspectives and opinions. However, he will not be persuaded by the Washington-based political firm that staged today's event in Pittsburgh whose issues also include higher taxes and abortion."
Hear Paul Abernathy comment about the Fourth of July: www.observer-reporter.com
