Rick Maze is reporting that Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the powerful and controversial chairman of the House subcommittee responsible for defense funding, died Monday.
Murtha died at 1:18 p.m. at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., where he had been hospitalized for an infection following gallbladder surgery.
Murtha was on the GearScout radar for his efforts to change the camouflage pattern worn by troops in Afghanistan from UCP to anything that works better. He was responsible, directly or indirectly, for bringing all kinds of defense-related money and programs into his district.
