 |
 |
||
|
|
|
 Failing the TroopsPosted on Apr 9, 2008By Marie Cocco WASHINGTON—No lights at the end of the tunnel. No corners turned. Give Gen. David Petraeus points for using well-understood clichés to express the obvious: We are bogged down in Iraq, the general in charge there has now testified on Capitol Hill. Most of us had long assumed this was so, and have become ever more certain of it as the Democrats elected to Congress in 2006 to force a change of course have been stymied in trying to budge President Bush. There are consequences of stumbling along until sometime after Jan. 20, 2009. More lives will be lost, more billions spent. More thousands of injured airlifted to the safety of a military hospital and then dropped into the stultifying bureaucracy that is supposed to ensure that they get care and compensation for their disabilities, but doesn’t. It has been more than a year since The Washington Post reported on nightmarish conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and recounted the scandalous treatment of severely wounded veterans who spent months trying to get their disabilities properly recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs, then often months more battling claim rejections that leave the vets and their families struggling financially, emotionally and, of course, physically. This wasn’t one of those revelations that made headlines for a day or two and then faded. Oh, no. There were hearings in Congress—too many to count. And commissions. And the usual vows to do better. This week, the Post won a well-deserved Pulitzer Prize for its Walter Reed exposé. The government’s response earns no such accolades. Advertisement The act, says Linda Bilmes of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, is supposed to bring improvement, but all it did was take measures to smooth the bureaucratic glitches the wounded must navigate when they leave the military’s medical system and try to enter the veterans’ health system. ” ... Fundamentally, the problem is that veterans—soldiers when they get back—should be automatically enrolled in the VA and automatically enrolled for benefits.” Another part of the Wounded Warriors Act is now entangled in a lawsuit in which the group Veterans for Common Sense argues that a judge must force the VA to provide timely care and do so for the full five years required under the legislation—a time frame that Paul Sullivan, the veterans group’s director, charges the Bush administration opposes. “The system is broken,” he says. It is broken as the Iraq war itself is broken, an epic of false assumptions, incompetence, corruption and the hubris of a president who refuses to admit his blunders. The public is justified in throwing up its collective hands, resigned to wait until what now seems uncontrollable and unfixable is delivered to a new president’s desk. Not so the care of veterans. There are no inscrutable, ancient sects that we must placate; no warring political factions whose motives we do not understand. There are no disputed borders, or outside agitators or regional suspicions to be soothed. “There are some aspects of the Iraq conflict that are intractable, but this is fixable,” Bilmes says. “We can control how we pay for the war.” Her book “The Three Trillion Dollar War,” co-written by Joseph Stiglitz, illuminates the many hidden costs—one of which is the long-term care of disabled veterans—that get little public notice. “We can control how we take care of our veterans,” Bilmes says. Still, after all the heartbreaking stories that have aired on television or played out in our own neighborhoods, our response has been mostly to shake our heads at the system, not change it. This test is now before us, and will be for as long as the wars continue, the wounded return home and the veterans age with what we are obligated to give them: dignity. Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig. Add Your Comment
|
HOME|Digs|Reports|Arts & Culture|Uncovered|Ear to the Ground|A/V Booth|Cartoons
Tags|Bazaar|Podcast|About Us|Contact Us|User Agreement|Privacy Policy|FAQ: Comments and Moderation 
A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
Copyright © 2009 Truthdig, L.L.C. All rights reserved. |
Battlefield in the War of Ideas
Email
Print
Share
BlinkList
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Fark
Furl
Google
LinkedIn
Mixx
MySpace
NewsVine
NewsTrust
Propeller
Reddit
SphereIt
StumbleUpon
Technorati
TwitThis
YahooMyWeb
YahooBuzz
By shanenol, April 30, 2008 at 8:54 pm #
The current war in Iraq has often been compared to the Vietnam war. not due to the casualties which are far fewer in this current war but because of the lack of reasoning behind the war. In addition, the treatment of our current veterans mirrors the treatment of our Vietnam veterans who suffered greatly from not receiving the proper care. It’s unbelievable that Iraq veterans are having to wait months before receiving care. Instead of pumping money into this hopeless war we should be devoting more funding for veteran care so they can make a smoother transition into everyday life when they return home.
Report thisBy Expat, April 13, 2008 at 11:10 pm #
^ Dr., Dr, noted in another post that this is after all an all volunteer army. The soldiers chose to join. I am in no way defending the duplicitous, criminal enterprise also known as our government; but I do have a question: Why, after all of these years with all of the facts known do people still join to fight this very dirty war? Maybe it is time to bring back the draft and in so doing, bridge the huge disconnect present in this country. Good post by the way, JPS.
Report thisBy magouche, April 13, 2008 at 7:40 pm #
Yes Jackpine, you are right: the disrespect for the Vietnam soldiers was a national disgrace, and many of them still suffer the after effects.
What is so different now is that it is bush et al which disrespects our soldiers.
I know it is useless to try and stop this administration from “staying the
course”.
We are not allowed to see the flag covered coffins. The wounded soldiers are treated dismally (believe it from someone who worked in the Veterans Hospitals). And since our medical science has advanced so much since Vietnam, many more who would have died in Vietnam, now survive. Mostly in part. The administration did not count on the resulting collateral large medical bills. Instead it lowered the taxes, mostly for the rich.
The difference in rehab time between a Vietnam Vet and an Iraq Vet, can be studied by watching the “Body of War” movie. Google it, and read.
Where you are wrong, Jack, is that this time the ANTIWAR MOVEMENT DOES SUPPORT the troops. They are entirely PRO TROOPS, you might say. They know and disapprove of : the endless tours of duty, the too short leaves, the lack of equipment and protection in the battle fields. And the just around the poverty level of living of their families state side.
They give regularly to the USO as well as the DVA and other Veterans Organizations. They do not support politicians who are for war. They will vote for Obama in November.
Report thisBy hippy pam, April 11, 2008 at 11:49 am #
BULLSH*T FAILED AMERICA AND OUR TROOPS WHEN HE STARTED-YES… HE STARTED-THIS FIASCO….Our troops are HIS PAWNS-they need to REFUSE TO GO….I Remember Viet Nam.I remember when It became unpopular
Report thisso the PTBs started rumors TO INFLAME THE PEOPLE..SO
CITIZENS would call the troops names…THEN THE GOVERNMENT COULD BE HEROS….AND BRING THE TROOPS HOME….In my eyes there are NO BRAVER BUNCH OF PEOPLE THAN THE VIET NAM VETERANS…YOU put up with so much and were SO MISUNDERSTOOD…..I HAVE LISTENED TO YOUR STORIES.I UNDERSTAND.YOU ARE ALL
A1+100% PERFECT IN MY EYES….To those of you who have shared your stories…THANK YOU.I am so honored by your trust and frienship…
By jackpine savage, April 11, 2008 at 7:42 am #
It would behoove those who are against the war, and those that consider themselves to be part of the “anti-war movement” to step up and stand with the soldiers who fight the war.
That may sound illogical, but the great failure of the anti-war movement of the Vietnam era was its disrespect for the regular guys who fought.
The politicians, particularly the ones who cheerlead so hard for the Iraq occupation, aren’t going to do it. Remember that these are the people who bring the coffins home in the dead of night; they want you and i to not think about the soldiers and marines.
Were the anti-war movement to raise funds to give to vets, rather than to give to politicians who won’t do anything serious about the occupation anyhow, it might have a much easier time bringing middle-America into its fold.
It wasn’t the hippies who ended Vietnam, it was the middle-class, suburban people who got sick and tired of sending their sons, nephews, and neighbors off to die.
Report thisBy cyrena, April 10, 2008 at 6:59 pm #
Jeeze..this is soooo messed up. I’m gonna send this along, with hope that somebody can respond. There’s SO much of this going on now, and other than the fear of prison, I’m not in a whole lot better shape myself.
It’s all political lynching, just for the hell of it.
It makes me sick.
OK…I’ll pass this along now.
Report thisBy Outraged, April 10, 2008 at 1:58 pm #
An interesting story about a Wisconsin soldier jailed for supposed VA fraud for having his VA payments wired to him. He could use some help.
an excerpt:
“An innocent and reportedly depressed Navy Airman Keith Roberts (1968-71) suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and serving a four-year sentence for wire fraud since March 2007, has for reasons unclear been moved and caged in solitary confinement in a federal prison in Minnesota for almost a month, according to the veteran’s wife.
Roberts was targeted by the US Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA) in 2003-05, and became the central figure in an Alice-in-Wonderland tale, after U.S. Attorney Stephen Biskupic of Wisconsin and top VA officials schemed to convict Roberts of fraudulently receiving VA benefits (by wire transfer as the VA requires).
Despite hostility from high quarters of the VA, Roberts may be again granted the benefits for which he is federal prison for receiving.
U.S. Atty Biskupic is the same U.S. Atty who infamously prosecuted an innocent Wisconsin woman in a political prosecution, and several innocent Wisconsin citizens for voter fraud in apparent service to the electoral needs of the national GOP.
The honorably discharged Roberts, from Gillett, Wisconsin (Oconto county) veteran, has a criminal appeal pending before the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and simultaneously has an administrative appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) on his VA disability case, litigating the same set of facts before two judicial forums.”
full article: http://www.uppitywis.org/jailed-wisconsin-veteran-sent-solitary-confinement-seeks-help
Report thisBy Tom Doff, April 10, 2008 at 12:24 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
The best way to solve the veteran’s medical problems would be to either give them the exact same care afforded Congressfolk, or, if we want to clean up the DOD/VA mess with respect to their health care, make Congressfolk get their health care from the VA/DOD.
Report thisBy jleman, April 10, 2008 at 11:08 am #
Hint, there is no difference!
Report thisFrom the top down, our government has been transformed from serving the people to serving as a corporation. Its’ “clients” are the “investors” of political funding. No one else need apply for benefits unless you’re one of the “clients”. As to the rest, “that’s what “our” lawyers are for!”
By hippy pam, April 10, 2008 at 10:07 am #
“BULLSH*T’s BLUNDER” has cost a LOT OF PEOPLE $$$$$
Report thisBUT….IT HAS COST OUR SOLDIERS MORE THAN $$$$$.
“shrub” should be RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CARE OF THE PEOPLE HE ORDERED-YES-ORDERED-IN HARMS WAY…..
HIS OWN $$$$$ SHOULD BE SPENT ON THEIR CARE AND REHABILITATION….After all…he sent them there-It was done so he could leave HIS LEGACY for the world to see.He ain’t no different than HITLER.
By weather, April 10, 2008 at 9:24 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Do you think Goldman Sachs has the accumen and charity to marshall energy and money to set-up a fund to help here?
Do you think Wolfowitz, LIEberman, Chenney and his fraudulent family of lowbrow phonies, friends and criminals could possibly dig down deep into their kevlar wallets and lend a hand w/this indeliable affect of their ‘war’ for oil and Israel?
Report this