Iraq War opponent Rep. John Murtha dies

John Murtha, the Democratic representative from Pennsylvania and decorated former Marine whose fierce opposition to the Iraq war helped catalyze public sentiment against the conflict, died Monday. He was 77. Rep. Murtha died at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., surrounded by his family, his office announced. He had been hospitalized for a little more than a week with complications from gallbladder surgery. Although his turn against the war in 2005 made him a national figure, Rep. Murtha was known inside Washington for decades as the consummate behind-the-scenes dealmaker, an old-line power broker who unrepentantly delivered billions of federal dollars to his home state. A right-hand man of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, he was considered one of the most influential lawmakers on Capitol Hill and credited for her ascension. In his later years, Rep. Murtha became a favorite target of critics demanding an end to Congress' earmarking largess, a personification of the power of pork.