God bless these folks

It's true. Our national security does begin at home.

VoteVets.org is putting these ads out with local vets speaking to citizens of their own state.

h/t to mcjoan

--the BB

Best wishes for General Shinseki

President-elect Obama has appointed retired General Eric Shinseki to head up Veterans Affairs. As I said of the Grand Tufti's "the process has not yet begun," "Oh, snap!"

This is a great slap in the face to the Donald Rumsfelds and Paul Wolfowitzes of this world.

It is also a good choice.

If General Shinseki had been heeded back when, hundreds of thousands of lives may have been saved.

Juan Cole has a great post up today about what went down between Shinseki, who spoke the obvious truth, and Rumsfeld and Company who tried to ignore and/or mask reality.

A portion:

Note that Shinseki was aware of how big Iraq is (168,753 square miles or about the size of California); he was aware that there would be "ethnic tensions" after the fall of the Baath; and he cared about preventing looting ("safe and secure environment") and about people having food and potable water. Some of the military duties he mentioned are required of occupying militaries by international law. Rumsfeld either did not know or did not care about any of these considerations.

Tim Russert later suggested that Shinseki was talking about 200,000 troops, the number in theater in February when he spoke. But I do know English, and "several hundred thousand" does not mean "two hundred thousand."

Shinseki was retired in summer of 2003. Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz pointedly did not attend his retirement ceremony.

He wrote an 8 page letter to Rumsfeld that has never been published, explaining to him that the military is made up of people, not high concept buzz words.

You can catch it all here.

My very best wishes to this honorable man who was willing to speak inconvenient truths back during the rush to war. And my hopes and prayers that all our vets will be better taken care of than they have been of late.
--the BB

Memorial Day 2008

Don Mikulecky has a post up that begins thus:

Shame on you all!
by don mikulecky

Thu May 29, 2008 at 09:36:00 PM PDT

That's what the BBC is saying to Americans today. Memorial Day smells still linger on in our homes and we are greeted with these headlines:
US army suicides at record level
US veterans sue over 'poor care'
Veterans 'quarter of US homeless'
It is a bit overwhelming to see these listed on the BBC site. We talk about these things here, but we do little else. Our mercenary military seems to be a conversation piece but it does not really get us very excited. I'm one of those people over 70 (Sorry Hillary, not this veteran) who is looking forward to electing a president who will care about this. I am looking forward to electing a congress who will care about this. Yet I look at these headlines and feel a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. ...

Indeed. Shame on the United States for treating its military so poorly, for giving our veterans such shoddy care, for acting as though nothing were wrong when the suicide rate among veterans and soldiers is soaring.

Perhaps we would best honor those who lost their lives for this country by taking care of those offering their lives now and in the recent past.

Update:
For Memorial Day (today IS the day, you know), visit our friend johnieb.
--the BB

I love the men and women of Vote Vets

h/t to The News Blog (and other spots where I have seen this).

Here's their home site.
--the BB

Keeping them honest....

... is full-time work for an army of citizens.

Brandon Friedman has a post up about how a memo at the VA calls for a halt to diagnoses of PTSD because of 'an increased number of "compensation seeking veterans".'

Did anyone consider the consequences of war?

[another rhetorical questions]

--the BB

How do we treat those who serve us?

Aaron Glantz writes for Foreign Policy in Focus:

Eighteen American war veterans kill themselves every day. One thousand former soldiers receiving care from the Department of Veterans Affairs attempt suicide every month. More veterans are committing suicide than are dying in combat overseas.

These are statistics that most Americans dont know, because the Bush administration has refused to tell them. Since the start of the Iraq War, the government has tried to present it as a war without casualties.

In fact, they never would have come to light were it not for a class action lawsuit brought by Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth on behalf of the 1.7 million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The two groups allege the Department of Veterans Affairs has systematically denied mental health care and disability benefits to veterans returning from the conflict zones.

Those are only the opening three paragraphs. You can read it all at Truthout, where I found it.

Why is this nation treating its veterans so poorly? [Rhetorical question intended as a call to do better.]

--the BB

Pass the Hubbard Act

This is about a homeboy from Clovis, California. My sister lives in Clovis, a city adjacent to Fresno. Jason Hubbard's brothers are buried in the same cemetery as my parents, my brother-in-law, and an aunt and uncle of mine.

From the Los Angeles Times yesterday:

WASHINGTON — Nearly eight months ago, Iraq veteran and Fresno County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Hubbard lost the second of his two brothers in Iraq, leaving him as a "sole survivor" under military guidelines and requiring that he leave combat operations.

But after he returned home to Clovis, Calif., Hubbard, 33, was dealt another loss when the Army stripped him of his healthcare, took away GI Bill education benefits worth as much as $40,000 and demanded he repay his $6,000 enlistment bonus.

That is how the United States government under George W. Bush supports its troops.

Jason Hubbard saw his brother's body removed after a helicopter crash in Iraq. He had already lost a brother there. He had to come home. His wife is pregnant. And this is how his nation shows its gratitude.

The Hubbard Act would sort out the shit so this man and other men and women in similar situations are taken care of as they should be, not shafted in the midst of their families' grief. It has bipartisan support and should pass.

This sort of thing, I submit, has much more to do with patriotism than damned lapel pins (which are supposed to be considered as living things according to the current protocol, thereby elevating them to the level of the bodies we shatter and minds we traumatize sending them into needless war).

Don't. Get. Me. Started.
--the BB

Five a day

I don't think I either noticed this when it came out on February 3, or it failed to register with me.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Every day, five U.S. soldiers try to kill themselves. Before the Iraq war began, that figure was less than one suicide attempt a day.
[CNN]

--the BB

Who's supporting the troops?

From Kagro X:

I probably should be giving you the background and the facts about what's being called "the new GI Bill," introduced by Sen. Jim Webb before getting right to the heart of the matter. I should tell you about how it updates the antiquated system of educational rewards for veterans so that they really can get a decent education paid for in exchange for their service, unlike the paltry crumbs they're offered today. And then I should reveal in a way calculated to lightly shame Senator McCain, but still leave the door open for him to save face and join in, that he has not yet joined 50 of his colleagues from both sides of the aisle who have already cosponsored this bill.

But instead, I'm going to let these Iraq veterans -- brought to you by VoteVets and Brave New Films -- do that, while I myself get right to the "straight talk," to borrow a phrase: John McCain is a lousy prick for not getting on this bill on day one.

You know it. I know it. These vets know it.

--the BB

The bastards are desperate

Now they are enlisting the veterans of America to get telco immunity - which really means immunity for Bush's illegal actions. It's despicable.

From mcjoan:

Did the veterans of America's wars really fight so that AT&T could break the law without being punished? So that their government could illegally spy on anyone they want to, and get away with it? Somehow I don't think so. It's a real shamethat the American Legion, the organization that is supposed to be representing them and helping to get legislation that really benefits them (like more body armor, like fully funded veterans care, like adequate treatment for brain injuries and PTSD) is instead lying to them.

If you're a veteran and are opposed to giving AT&T a free pass for breaking the law, please let the American Legion know that they don't speak for you. Call them at (202) 861-2700 or use this contact page.

And if you aren't a veteran, but want to combat all of the calls and e-mails that will be going to Congress as a result of the American Legion's effort, why not just go ahead and use the toll free numbers they have to call your Congress person and Senators and tell them you don't want AT&T to get off the hook.

Call toll free to the Capitol Switchboard: 1-877-851-6437, 1-800-828-0498, or 1-800-614-2803. Ask for the office you would like to speak to. You can also request that one office transfer you to the next office. Most staff members are happy to do so.

You can read the whole article here.

--the BB

More of the wreckage of war

National Geographic photo

Jane R tells of a friend who told her of someone who returned from Iraq. On receipt of redeployment orders he took his life.

Jane prays:

God of mercy,
welcome into your loving arms
your wounded child.
May he know at last
the peace that we could not give him.
In peace may he rest,
in glory may he rise.
Give your consolation to his family:
may the love of friends
and the knowledge of your boundless love
embrace and fill them.
Fill us with deep compassion
and righteous anger,
that with your help,
in the power of the Holy Spirit,
we may, with Christ whose disciples we are,
work for your kin-dom in our warring world.
Amen.

--JCR

Amen for all whose anguish takes them along this path (some 120 each week).
--the BB

It's we DFH who support the troops!

Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars reports on how we are treating our troops. From NPR's Morning Edition:

A document from the Department of Veterans Affairs contradicts an assertion made by the Army surgeon general that his office did not tell VA officials to stop helping injured soldiers with their military disability paperwork at a New York Army post.

The paperwork can help determine health care and disability benefits for wounded soldiers.

Nicole also notes that, while in his SOTU speech Bush called for allowing troops to transfer unused education benefits to family members, the budget he submitted makes no provision for this. As usual. Big words + No action = Big Lies.
--theBB

What can we do to really say we support our troops?

“Veteran” by Tom Chelston. Available at Tomsongs.org

Photo via Tomsongs.org
h/t to Nicolle Belle at Crooks and Liars
--the BB