Honor the Troops by Screwing Them

The hypocrisy is totally reprehensible – yet Bush and his fascists don't care. You see, for them, the youth of this country is nothing than more than another resource to be exploited. All of our national resources exist for one sole purpose – to make money for those who have the wherewithal and required connections to do it. America's youth is just cannon fodder in the increasing incestuous relationships between multi-national corporations and governments worldwide as evidenced by the “secret” Dubai Port scandal currently embroiling Washington. Once the resource is utilized, it is discarded.

At least tens of thousands of veterans with non-critical medical issues could suffer delayed or even denied care in coming years to enable President Bush to meet his promise of cutting the deficit in half....In fact, the proposed cuts are so draconian that it seems to some that the White House is simply making them up to make its long-term deficit figures look better.

The veterans' medical care cuts would come even though more and more people are trying to enter the system and as the number of people wounded in Iraq keeps rising. Those cuts would prove traumatic to the already troubled VA medical system, and would force staff cuts, delay investment in new medical equipment and deny care to hundreds of thousands of veterans.

So what would the definition of 'non-critical' medical issues include? Maybe one would be mental health care:

The U.S. government has underfunded the Department of Veterans Affairs and placed too low a priority on mental health services for active and discharged soldiers, said Paul Rieckhoff, a former Army battalion commander in Iraq.

“We need some leadership in Washington to recognize the pending threat of PTSD to veterans and our country as a whole,” Rieckhoff said in an interview yesterday. He is executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a New York-based advocacy group. “George Bush doesn't talk about mental health and he doesn't talk about veterans. Veterans' issues are not a big priority for him.”

“We've known this was coming for four years,” said Charles Figley, director of the Traumatology Institute at Florida State University, in an interview yesterday. He said the study signaled a “coming tsunami of mental health needs” among soldiers returning from Iraq.

Extol the virtues of service to the country, offer huge monetary incentives to retain personnel and encourage enlistments. Use the troops to further political aims and hide behind them when you need to. America's soldiers serve honorably and they love America. Bush thanks them, prays for them and then craps on their outstretched hands needing help.
Posted on The Human Stain