As if Dubya didn’t have enough (self-inflicted) problems…OpTruth.org, a coalition of U.S. veterans of the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars whose slogan is “Really Support the Troops – Listen to Them!”, is taking out an ad in tomorrow’s Washington Post critical of the Bush Administration and calling on Bush to “provide leadership” by meeting the needs of healthcare for returning vets.
In their ad, the group generously attributes the $1 Billion shortfall in Bush’s 2005 budget for “Veterans of the War on Terror” to a “miscalculation”.
In 2006, the ad claims, the budget shortfall will be a full $3 billion short of what our returning veterans need to cover health care costs at Veterans Administration hospitals. OpTruth covers this issue in more detail on their website.
OpTruth.org founder Paul Reickhoff — who we’ve previously covered here and more recently here, quit his Wall Street job after 9/11 to fight in Afghanistan and has been critical of Bush’s level of support for troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Reickhoff tells The BRAD BLOG that this ad represents the “first time an Iraq vets group has taken out a major print ad.”
The text from the OpTruth ad is as follows…
WITHOUT IMMEDIATE CHANGES, four out of five returning Veterans could be turned away from care at VA hospitals. That’s a raw deal the American people will not tolerate.
A UNANIMOUS, BIPARTISAN SENATE has moved quickly to cover this year’s outrageous budget gap with a $1.5 billion emergency supplemental. Congress should adopt the Senate’s plan, and should make up the 2006 budget gap as well.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, President Bush needs to act immediately and provide the leadership that will prevent Veterans from being shortchanged now and in the future.
A graphic version is below (click to see full PDF version):
Beautiful.
Go Vets! You’ve earned my respect! Our President doesn’t care about us – ordinary soldiers and citizens. He really doesn’t care.
Donna
Good for these vets.
They know more about America than the neocon criminals who sent them "to fight for freedom".
General Judy’s in the brig – and justice is served:
In addition, I would compel her to turn over the proceeds from her bestselling books and the rest of her assets to the families of those killed and injured in a war her propagandistic "reporting" did so much to bring about.
My thoughts,prayers and patriotic love is a constant for our great brother and sister warriors.Their word is gospel.I pray everyday that ALL the people of this country see the abomination this administation has cast upon us especially our brave soldiers.God bless our fighting men and women.
Good for them!
Obviously, these Vets are not "true" Americans in casting any doubt on the commitment of this country’s "leadership" in this or any other area. How dare they! Seems like more and more people are losing their "patriotism". Sure must be "hard work" being a "War President" with so many people starting to bother you with all these inconvenient questions.
Hey Steve, go suck an egg!!!
The Son of a Bush in the White House didn’t support our troops earlier when he skipped out on his Texas Air National Guard commitment, headed to Alabama, and worked half-ass on a political campaign for one of his fat-cat daddy’s friends.
So, what makes me think he, and his neo-con-punk pals, would support our troops now?
They’ve been spending (wasting) a hell of a lot of our taxpayer money on their fat-cat corporate friends who have seen record profits because of the Son of a Bush starting a war in Iraq. And for some reason, after spending 100’s of Billions of dollars on the Iraqi war, these neo-con-nuts can’t seem to find the time, or the money, to take care of our troops, especially upon their return from hell.
Oh, Steve, BTW, Operation Yellow Elephant is calling you. Now run down to the recruiting office and join your master’s great crusade. And make sure it’s the Army, Marines or National Guard because I’m certain you don’t want to miss out on the action in the new Vietnam, Iraq.
Oh, and Steve, I served in the Air Force during Vietnam, so it’s interesting to hear you call U.S. citizens who have served and fought for your freedom "unpatriotic."
Gawd, just another Chickenhawk. Christ save us from idiots.
#8
My late husband served in the Air Force during Vietnam too, so I don’t want to bite your head off, but Steve was being sarcastic, ok? He’s on our side. The rest of your comments are right on though, buddy.
Hey The Oracle, I recommend you re-read Steve’s post with your "irony" detector switched on!
Peace 😉
Oracle #8 —
Steves post is satire. Hes kidding, see the quotes? He’s one of us.
Didn’t mean to pile on…
Conflict ‘kills 25,000 Iraqis’.
Hey y’all, did anyone catch the musical performance on the Today show this morning? I was passing through the kitchen and the tv was on so I only caught the last few minutes, but there was a group of people on a stage singing "Give Peace a Chance".
At the end of the performance, they raised their fists, and shouted "STOP THE WAR!" – and were CHEERED!
Two years ago, that wouldn’t have happened.
Two years ago, there is no way that would have been shown on a national morning show.
Two years ago, entertainers were booed off stage and boycotted for not supporting the President in his decision to launch a war based on questionable evidence.
Two years ago many of us were accused of aiding the enemy, hating the troops, and hating our country, and told to leave, because we dared to question the reasons for the invasion of Iraq.
This morning, looking at that crowd of ordinary Americans cheering, I could feel it – we have turned a corner.
We are winning!
To the brave heros that have worn the uniform – you have our deepest eternal thanks – and our vow that we will do everything we can to insure that our government keeps its promises to you.
We will fight for you.
WE WILL NOT FORGET!!
Kestral- That’s encouraging news.
My son’s going to Iraq this year. The thing that really pisses me off the most about most Americans-Dem Congress included-going along with Vet Benefit cuts.
Many people are too busy , some are too stubborn, some are too stupid to research what is going on with Bushco.
But cutting Vets Benefits is a very simple concept that has been ignored. WTF!
When I mentioned the cuts to my favorite sister, she said in effect, "So? It’s just my partitian politics".
She is a wonderful aunt and sister and I just feel so dissappointed in her.
Steve #7
Sarcastic? Irony? Satire?
It’s hard work using those and not being misinterpreted. I read you that way but I can understand why Oracle #8 could have no patience with nuance. When your house is afire you just want water and more water, no time for ‘cute’.
I’m just jaded I guess. I really saw steve’s post for satire even after reading just the first few words.
What I like about optruth is they’ve really really really tried to be constructively critical of the administration and have NOT jumped into bed with any liberal group who might use them to make a point. —– And yet with each passing decision by the current congress/administration to screw the troops, Optruth finds itself with the half-the-country that supports it to be out of governing power.
The vets need better benefits. The troops need higher pay, and the country needs to stay out of wars except as a last resort. The last time we were in a such a situation of military last resort was during WWII.
So, who does America believe? Bush or the VETS??? Red-State ASSHOLES!
The Bush administration has refused to support the nation’s troops from the day it sent them into harm’s way in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In the fall of 2003, TvNewsLIES. org compiled a list of the egregious betrayal of the troops by Bush and his GOP lemmings. It was a guide for military families – so that they could understand what they were up against.
It still is a stark and dramatic reminder of how Bush NEVER supported the troops he sent to die for his greed. Check it out….and just add the latest shameful actions to the list:
Support the Troops!
These vets are real heroes for serving their country and for speaking out against its destructive policies. We are NOT paying for this war on any level–YET. We are borrowing billions from China and other Asian bankers to finance the war AND tax cuts for dead billionaires ("death tax"). The annual interest on the massive debt–already accumulated–is a "birth tax" on generations of Americans to come.
Let`s not forget all the Senators, and Congressmen who support the President, those lapdogs have a election coming up next November, either they support the vets, or they are history in November.
Bush alone is not the problem, its the Senators,and Congressman, if they would support the vets, the schrub would not get away with his Bushshit.
I think Colleen, #15, needs to re-think the use of "wonderful" in describing her sister.
Well….as much as I hate to say this….59 million raving Bushies can’t be found…..and we can’t get our collective shit together enough to challenge an obviously gerrymandered election. Now that he doesn’t have to contend with the maze of Red/Blue states anymore…he can just make us all one thing: sore. But I digress in my personal hatred for the man. The fiasco in Iraq was supposed to have served an economic as well as a political end. The political end was to start the Richard Perle/Paul Wolfowitz/PNAC ball rolling and get us the oil we’d need to be a major played well into the 2100’s. The economic end of it was a bit crueler, I fear. By sending our citizen soldiers, our admittedly "poorly equipped, and, in some instances, poorly led" National Guard and Reserve forces into a meatgrinder, the Bushies thought they’d get heavy casualties on our side and the national outrage that has always thundered us into a war would carry us away. And the dead and maimed vets you ask? Well they would be able to get their needs taken care of as, we all know, the nation would be grateful to it’s returning heros. And if they had about 50,000 casualties then the economy would be gonig great too. Which is what the objective was all along.
So just remember the oath you took as an officer in the USAF ( if you weren’t too drunk ) Mr. Bush. I’m pretty sure most of the vet’s remember it all too well but to the uninitiated……" ….solemnly swear to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic…." And I think we need to watch our freedoms very closely indeed over the coming years as I get the impression that Mr.Bush isn’t done yet.
To the unfortunate members of our armed forces. You are in a difficult position. You have a right and duty to obey only "lawful orders". Well it’s not too much of a stretch to determine that your orders to invade unilateraly a country that information available to anyone who can read says didn’t have anything to do with 9/11 was not a lawfull order. Just because a deserting chickenhawk has enough scumbags carrying his water to steal two elections DOES NOT make him your "commander in chief". You are under no obligation to kill the citizens of another country based on any "orders" from this shitbag. It’s your duty not to fight. It’s a tough decision to take, but the only honest and moral one. You (collectively) have the power to save our country. Refuse to fight, except as needed to get to the airport. God bless all of you, and give you the strength to do whats right. It won’t be easy, but history will reward you, and your fellow citizens will respect you.
just remember that bush has no constituents, only subjects.
Why do you guys care about Iraq Vet’s health insurance? Remember, they are the ones who have killed 100,000 innocent Irawi civilians and they are acting as terrorists themselves at gitmo.
Hi Paulie! Nice to hear from ya! They were just following the orders of their commanding officers. Yeah, we should eventually get around to prosecuting the few perverse grunts who demonstrably overstepped the boundaries of humanity by obeying patently illegal orders, but only after their commanding officers have been dealt with. What about the depleted uranium munitions, the root of a scourge of unimaginable dimensions, all over the world, especially including our own servicepersons?
> we should eventually get around to prosecuting the few perverse grunts who demonstrably overstepped the boundaries of humanity
They already are.
> by obeying patently illegal orders, but only after their commanding officers have been dealt with.
No proof there.
Nice try!
From Day One the NeoConArtists sent the youth of our nation to war in Iraq for Oil. Bush is no Commander in Chief and does not deserve to be in the company of the soldiers he loves to take pictures with for the newspapers.
Bring the troops home before they end up standing in long lines at the Veterans hospitals or worse. This was never our war. It was always his war.
Vets- only vets can get rid of these slime bags.
No Mas, No More, Send bush back to the funny farm.
Hastert And Delay "fired" two Republican members of the Veterans affairs committee because they said there wasn’t enough money appropriated. Then replaced the chairman with Buyer from Indiana who claimed they could make up the arrears by cuts. Nicholson, Sec Of Veterans Affairs and former Republican National Committee Chairman, agreed until it became so obvious and got out to the public, they were shamed into restoring 1.5 bil. The only way this will stop is to get the VA off budget. Patty Murray of Washington was one that tried in vain to have the right amount provided in the beginning. Buyer is using the welfare mother driving to pick up her check in a Cadillac analogy against Vets.
Jesus, people, get a grip. SOME of us are spiraling down into crazytown.
GWB, wtf?
Fuck the murdering bastards. They are too stupid to know right from wrong and should not be allowed to live or breed. They are getting what they deserve for the misery they have inflicted on innocent people all over the world. They are getting the cockroach treatment because that is all they deserve.
Fuck the murdering bastards. They are getting what they deserve for the misery they have inflicted on innocent people all over the world. Most are too stupid to know right from wrong and willingly murder innocent people for their criminal leaders and I’m sure they get pleasure from torturing people who are helpless and defenseless against them. They are a scurge on humanity. Who would be a murder for hire. And why should anyone care about them or help them?
Bush is a war criminal and should stand trial as such.
Cursing does not add strength to your argument. Calm down.
🙂 🙂 😀 :rolleyes: :satisfied: :plain: :doze: :hehe: 😎 :crazy: 😥 :angry: :blush: :confused: 😀 😀 😛 😉 🙂 :O 🙁 :satisfied: :plain: :hehe: :doze: :laugh: 😥 :crazy: 😎 :confused: :blush: :angry: 😉 😛 😀 :O 🙂 :rolleyes: :satisfied: :hehe: :plain: 😥 :crazy: :doze: 😎 :confused: :blush: :angry: 😉
it’s always funny to here people talk that have never served anything but their own self interest while rolling in daddys’ favor critisize others that have given time, lives, blood, effort. People that have lost limbs and families should never be attacked by those that would roll-over with the enemy at the gate. Do you think for a second that the Muslims would not kill you and your entire family??? There was another war just 60 years ago when we faced a similar threat. How did Europe fair with all the appeasing Hitler stuff anyway? forget comparing this to Vietnam, It is a war for survival of our world, with people that would nuke us even if it meant their own children died in the fallout.
to quote Patten, in a manner,
" one day when you have your granddaughter on your knee, and she is not wearing a burqa, she asks you what did you did during the War Against The Free? I won’t have to say ‘I cowered behind the backs of those that fought for my life for while at the same time I stabbed them in the back’"
http://spaces.msn.com/TomsFlashBack
—Patton, that is—-
I especially liked that last one "…stabbed them in the back"…real tear-jerker, that one. Let’s get REAL here, for a minute: Let’s talk about the american consumer, the neverending demand for this and that and somesuch-other that has helped to shape the country into the world’s largest debtor nation…If you’re going to run around calling this group or that group patriotic or unpatriotic or just late for breakfast, doesnt’ really matter much if you don’t sit down, take a pen and paper, or computer, and break out ’cause and effect’.
Face facts: There is no free lunch. Work your way from there. Iraq has oil assets. Just so happens we need oil. Nobody batted an eye or lifted a finger when half of africa was stabbing down their citizens, people are dying in droves in Sudan,
and you guys are knifing each other down over who supported what for what war? C’mon.
Pick up a newspaper from time to time. Bush
and company are the author of the single biggest bull sh story of this century, and by and large the public went along with it. For my nickel, the REAL patriots are the ones with the intestinal fortitude to stand up and ask some questions before committing to a course of action that could have ALL kinds of repercussions, for decades, and one thing people need to sit down and figure out for themselves is whether we still want a United States in the 21st century, or would just being consolidated into a WTO happy family etc. be better, because that’s one of the decisions on the table. Questioning authority isn’t unpatriotic, it’s making sure the people that run this country have the right answers. If they don’t, then they need to change what they’re doing, or step down and let someone more competent take the job. Period.
Once upon a time, there used to be talk of ‘a loyal opposition’. What happened to them? They quit? LOL
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