Support The Troops?
Few people bother with truth about the Hedgemony’s support for veterans.
Senator Edward Kennedy and former Senator Max Cleland guest posting at Danger Room ask that companies Stop Messing with Vets’ Jobs
It’s a disgrace that tens of thousands of National Guard troops and Reservists return home and find they’ve been laid off, demoted, or denied salary and benefit increases they should have received. It’s wrong for employers to turn their backs on those who risk their lives for our country.
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The Government Accountability Office also found serious problems in collecting and reporting data on claims under the law. Four different agencies collect this data. But they collect it in inconsistent formats, making it impossible to understand the problems that veterans face — particularly disabled veterans.
Until the hearing, the public had little knowledge of the problem, because the Pentagon had been classifying the most accurate statistics. Now that we know the extent of the problem, Congress must act to protect the reemployment rights of our forces.
I have to disagree with Senators Kennedy and Cleland [both Army vets, BTW], but the laws are on the books, the Hedgemony isn’t enforcing them. Passing laws that won’t be enforced is a waste of time and paper. Impeaching people who refuse to do their job is the best way of dealing with this.
Dr. Cole at Informed Comment covers some other numbers that the Hedgemony doesn’t want widely known: A Sad Veterans Day
“US military occupation forces in Iraq suffered at least 178 combat casualties in the six days ending Nov. 6, as total casualties reached at least 61,596. The total includes 31,596 killed or wounded by what the Pentagon classifies as ‘hostile’ causes and 30,294 (as of Oct. 1) dead and injured from “non-hostile” causes.”
And there’s the growing problem of homelessness:
“… 200,000 veterans have been homeless at some point in the past year, and that veterans make up 26% of the homeless, even though they are only 11% of the population.”
The Hedgemony has made almost no provisions for the return of veterans wounded in body and/or mind. They haven’t budgeted the money, created the programs, or implemented the current laws to deal with these problems. They classify the numbers and depend on the media to be too lazy or cowed to report the truth.
17 comments
In truth, I don’t think the criminal 1600 crew are expecting troops to be coming home at any time in a manner that would entail “follow up care” other than a plot somewhere.
It was supposed to be “flowers and candy,” a big parade for the liberators, and then the oil companies could loot the country. The neocons and Chalabi promised Rummy a walk in the park – no need to plan.
and Chalabi is still working with “us”.
To stop the “war” and the senseless loss to human life and the complete environmental destruction of the entire Middle East, I say we start a draft but only for those students in the well to-do Universities. Start the meme we need the smartest of the smart and start drafting those at the Ivy Leagues, etc.
That will shut down this Iraq operation faster than one can say “but my parents gave the GOP donations!”
This just really sickens me. I cannot for the life of me understand how this can go unnoticed and further how few people seem to care. I would think that this would be a subject the Dems could really hammer the GOP with unless they too are complicit in the atrocity.
A draft with no deferments is all that’s needed, Jill. Just the thought that there is no way to game the system, no way to avoid the service would be enough.
The Dems are still playing defense, FM, they have forgotten how to attack any but their own and the Hedgemony is doing everything it can to keep these numbers hidden.
I can’t support a draft, frankly. I would have automatic 4F anyhow. It is wrong to force people to die for your politics.
I’ve always thought the solution was to regulate the militia, that is to require those bearing arms to serve in the defense of the state and country.
Could we arrange for the Shrubbery to come “home” from one of his Iraq escapades to Washington only to find that he had lost his job in the interim?
I cannot support a draft either, but I have to admit it is possible that it would have the effect you intend. If it didn’t, though… if Jenna and not-Jenna and the rest of the presumably draft-aged children of the elite in fact found ways to game the system, and I believe that is more likely than not… the poor and lower-middle-class would serve as disproportionately as they do now, under conditions arguably worse than they endure now, and the armed forces would suffer a decline in quality as surely as they always do in times of a draft. While I tend to agree with whig’s assertion that people should not be compelled to become soldiers, there are many other good reasons for not having a draft.
Considering what they have done with recruitment standards, I don’t see any way of reducing the quality of military. They are accepting people who would have been rejected when there was a draft in full swing for our last quagmire. Exactly because it is involuntary servitude it should be a requirement before going to war to ensure the sacrifice is shared. If Congress and the President are willing to send their children and grandchildren, they shouldn’t be allowed to send other people’s. Nothing else, including common sense seems to work with these idiots. the draft also makes going to war very expensive.
Whig, every adult male was part of the militia when the Constitution was created. It was the police force as well as the army, and you were expected to respond to the “hue and cry” of the sheriff for assistance. My ancestors were tavern keepers and small farmers. they either didn’t own weapons [they were expensive], or owned them but were no good with them, but they responded when called.
Universal service is the key, Steve, no exemptions. It would seem to be the only way of convincing these people that wars are bad.
When the Army starts heavy ad rotation on the Spanish speaking stations and promising citizenship for those who sign up for military duty, I think we have a serious problem.
I don’t like the thought of it, but a draft is going to have to be necessary. When the army is taking non citizens, felons, folks with mental illnesses, folks with mental challenges, it means we have to start doing something different.
A caller on Randi Rhodes show had a great point. Most of the folks in Blackwater are former US Military personnel. There is a certain period of time in which, if ordered to, they MUST report back to the armed forces. No if’s, and’s or but’s. I’m not quite sure of the time frame, but start recalling those making $50,000 tax free a month doing mercinary work and put them back serving the country.
I want this war/occupation ended. Quick.
There’s an 8 year Reserve commitment. If the guys working for Blackwater have finished the 8 years, they can’t be called up.
If there had been a call to recruit after 9/11 we wouldn’t have these problems, but the Hedgemony didn’t want to take all of those potential shoppers out of the population. Rummy told him we didn’t need any more people, it was going to be a cakewalk.
Actually, my preferred solution is to get the hell out of Iraq, and go win Afghanistan.
Bryan, the right to keep and bear arms is contingent on the militia being well regulated. Anyone who does not wish to bear arms cannot be drafted into a militia.
Sorry, Whig, but it is a personal, not a collective right, and the history of responding to the call is clear – every able bodied man was expected to respond. At the time, “well regulated” meant efficient, and had nothing to do with rules of conduct, and still doesn’t in the military. The meaning of “regulated” has evolved to mean other things, but all it meant at the time was efficient.
No point in talking about it because the Supreme Court will probably take on a Second Amendment case this term, and issue a binding ruling, something that has never been done, despite what some may claim.
How about I won’t argue, but that doesn’t mean I agree with your interpretation.
I’m not saying you have to agree with me, all I’m saying is that the only nine opinions that matter are finally being forced to make a decision. The interpretation is whatever five of them agree on, no matter what history and the 1753 Johnson dictionary says.
The pending case is on a DC law, so it affects them where they live. No one knows what they’ll do because there is no prior Supreme Court decision to work from.
No, I agree with you Bryan. We need to get the hell outta there first, however, I doubt that the folks in DC want to do that. They just finished that grand spanking new Embassy complete with swimming pool and working electricity.
I’d be more worried about the mortars and rockets than the swimming pool. Al Sadr isn’t going to let them stay in Baghdad and he has the supporters in the city to make that stick.