Progressive Democrat Issue 115: REPUBLICAN TREATMENT OF OUR TROOPS

I have been writing about Republican hypocricy for some time. Their calls to "support the troops" when they willingly send our troops ill-equipped into a war based on lies while cutting Veteran's benefits and failing to provide adequate funding for the wounded is nothing short of disgusting. By comparison, as I have highlighted many times, Democrats are listening to our troops, pushing for restoration of Veterans' benefits and better treatment of the wounded...and, of course, pushing for an end to this quagmire with no purpose and no exit strategy.

The California Democratic Party has a particularly good round up of Republican nastiness towards our troops. If THIS is what Republicans call "supporting our troops," I suspect our troops would like a little less Republican "support."

In the wake of the Washington Post's horrifying report about the awful treatment Iraq War veterans are receiving thanks to Bush administration incompetence, Republicans in Washington have resorted to the worst kind of behavior. If they aren't denying culpability they are actually blaming veterans themselves for the terrible medical treatment. The entire scandal shows once again how little the GOP really cares about America's troops.

Bush Appointee "Shelved" Plan To Fix VA. The Associated Press reports that "a program to fix bureaucratic breakdowns between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments was shelved soon after Bush VA Secretary Jim Nicholson took office, according to a former VA official." Nicholson is the former chairman of the Republican National Committee that Bush appointed to the key position. Paul Sullivan, a former VA project manager, also told a House panel looking into problems with veterans care that in August 2005 he warned officials there would be a surge in claims as veterans returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. "I made those warnings on several occasions," he said, but never received a response. "That's unacceptable and embarrassing, and the American people deserve answers," said Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Arizona, who chairs the subcommittee. "I'm not convinced the Veterans Affairs Department is doing its part." During the hearing, Cynthia Bascetta, director of health care at GAO, testified that while some improvements have been made by the VA, GAO investigators could not offer assurances that problems of veterans falling through the cracks wouldn't happen again.

Top House Republican Blames Veterans For Bad Hospital Conditions. At a House Armed Services Committee hearing on veterans care last week, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) attempted to stand out from the rest of Congress and argue that the conditions in Building 18 weren't that bad. Instead of criticizing the cockroach infestation, he said, "I was glad to know that those cockroaches were belly up. It suggested to me that at least someone was spraying for them." He also tried to blame the soldiers for the conditions, stating, "And, of course, if you leave food around in a motel room or a dorm room at a college, you're going to get some mice show up at some point in time."

Bush Administration Cited For Awful Treatment Of Vets. The New York Times reports that "veterans face serious inequities in compensation for disabilities depending on where they live and whether they were on active duty or were members of the National Guard or the Reserve." Those factors determine whether some soldiers wait nearly twice as long to get benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs as others, and collect less money, according to agency figures. "The V.A. is supposed to provide uniform and fair treatment to all," said Steve Robinson, the director of veteran affairs for Veterans for America. "Instead, the places and services giving the most are getting the least." Bush officials said they were "trying to ease the backlog and address disparities by hiring more claims workers, authorizing more overtime and adding claims development centers." Numerous government reports have highlighted the agency's backlog of disability claims and called for improvements in shifting resources.

Columnist - Walter Reed Scandal Another Display Of Iraq Incompetence By Bush. Dallas Morning News' syndicated columnist Carl Leubsdorf writes that "disclosures of substandard conditions for wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center represent more than another case of Bush administration incompetence. They show how its mishandling of the management and financing of the Iraq war has created a series of devastating side effects that go far beyond questions about its military and diplomatic policies in the Middle East." Since President Bush sent U.S. troops to Iraq, his administration has constantly sought to minimize war costs, protect its tax cuts and avoid the government's looming long-term fiscal problems. Says Leubsdorf: "The result has been to shortchange the nation's veterans, provide insufficient equipment and training for active troops, weaken the ability to deal with threats outside Iraq and create a ticking fiscal time bomb that threatens to explode on its successor's watch."

Disgusting. What a bunch of hypocrites these Republicans are. Halliburton grows fat and bloated while our wounded soldiers are ill-treated. Disgusting.

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