Allen West and Patrick Murphy duel over bad decisions

New Allen West ad features Murphy’s 2003 mug shot;
Murphy camp raises West’s 2003 Iraq incident
Palm Beach Post
by George Bennett
September 28th, 2012

Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West released a hard-hitting attack ad today that contrasts his military service with Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy‘s 2003 arrest as a 19-year-old for disorderly intoxication and possessing a fake driver license outside a Miami Beach club.

The 30-second ad, which features Murphy’s disheveled mug shot, doesn’t mention that Murphy was a teenager at the time or that the intoxication charge was dropped and the fake ID charge dismissed.

While Murphy was having his run-in with police, the ad says West was in Fort Hood, Texas, preparing to deploy to Iraq.

“Two men. A country in crisis. You decide,” a male narrator’s voice says at the end of the ad.

Murphy’s campaign responded by bringing up the 2003 incident in Iraq in which then-Lt. Col. West fired a gun near the head of an Iraqi detainee during an interrogation.

Military prosecutors charged West with assault and he potentially faced 11 years in prison and dishonorable discharge. After a military hearing, he was fined $5,000 and allowed to retire as a lieutenant colonel with a full pension.
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