Amid the statements of somber recognition and condolences issued about Rep. John P. "Jack" Murtha (D-PA.) after his death today at age 77, there were also catcalls from anti-war Progressives who felt compelled to point out Murtha's complicity in the Iraq War.

"he [Murtha] was for the war before he was against it," commented one TPM reader in a mean-spirited reprise of the line used against John Kerry--a taunt that helped re-elect George W. Bush and prolong the war.

It's outrageous that such a devoted servant of this country--the longest-serving Congressman from Pennsylvania in history--would be cast as nothing more than a war-monger. It's just sad that anyone would use the very first post marking his passing to push their private agenda.

Of course Murtha did vote with the House majority in approving the Bush administration's authority to use force in Iraq. As nearly everyone but Dick Cheney now knows, Bush, Murtha, Congress and the vast majority of Americans at the time all were wrong about invading Iraq.

However, there were some people who called Iraq right, right from the start. Obama was one. Most peace activists called it right. A few in the press called it right. I was one who timidly suggested in an editorial that it could end up costing us far more than it was worth--that was as far as I could bend the publisher to accept in print.

The fact is, unless you were a peace activist opposed to all wars or Obama opposed to "dumb wars" (and correctly pegging Iraq as one), you were likely to get it wrong in 2003. I remember the lead-up to Iraq very well. I remember how the press didn't ask enough questions or provide enough answers, how people were scared, how politicians didn't know much more than average citizens. How the Bush administration, in retrospect, lied so well and often, even to Congress.

So I sort of understand how John Murtha--an ex-Marine with enough medals on his chest and shrapnel in his ass to qualify as a semi-conductor--could get Iraq so horribly wrong. It's no excuse that he saw his job first and foremost as protecting his country. War is too big and important not to call it right.

I think Murtha experienced his own "shock and awe" as the Bush administration so thoroughly screwed up the war. Less than two years after he voted to authorize it, Murtha reversed his support for the war and publicly led his party against it. Pundits and politicians alike were stunned that the old hawk would abandon his characteristic support for wars in progress. As every network's anchor remarked, it was not what one would expect from Murtha, who was as tough on defense as any Republican and usually tougher.

Murtha's about-face was as unexpected as Nixon's opening of diplomatic and trade relations with Communist Red China. And in the same vein that "only Nixon could go to China," it took Murtha's national security credentials to solidify political opposition to the Iraq War and set the stage for getting our troops out.

Murtha found his highest calling in service to his country. He discovered his deepest regret in too easily sending young men and women to a war of choice. But he found his true self in the Marine's code of honor, a stern integrity that made it possible for Murtha to change his mind because lives were needlessly at risk over a profound mistake: His own.

So that's why I'm saddened by the death of John Murtha today and choose to honor his memory.