Posted on 11/11/2003 9:57:38 AM PST by Maria S
Jesse Jackson, in an op-ed piece in the Chicago Sun Times today, accuses President Bush of trying to hide the dead from the war in Iraq, accuses the Bush administration of not caring about America's casualties, and says that the White House is "willing to turn soldiers into props to be highlighted or discarded at will."
Jackson said that senior administration officials do not attend the funerals of those killed in Iraq so they can hide the risks in order to sell the war. He mentions that Jessica Lynch disputes the pentagon version of what happened to her – even though she was unconscious most of the time and doesn't remember, so who really knows what happened? – in order to point out that the Pentagon is trying to give the Iraq war an "image."
He then paints an awful picture of the situation endured by our troops in Iraq, writing: "Morale on the ground is miserable," "Soldiers are at risk in assignments for which they are not trained," and "Those on the line are tired and overworked."
Jackson uses nebulous terms to make other unsubstantiated accusations as well. He claims that the "CEO White House has little empathy for workers or soldiers." He says that "the treatment of the National Guard and Reserves has been shameful" and that "enlisted men and women in Iraq have been treated badly."
What specific examples does he give?
The "bad" and "shameful" treatment he describes stem from the fact that it costs the troops money to call home, and the antiquated, and since repealed, practice of charging soldiers for their meals while recuperating from being injured in combat.
This is "shameful"? Ridiculous, maybe, but not shameful. Shameful are the mass graves in Iraq. Shameful are the billions Saddam spent on his palaces while Iraqis starved. Shameful is the fact that only now, through the forum of Veterans Day, does Jesse Jackson say one word about support for U.S. soldiers. Jackson misleads when he says that "veterans are getting the shaft ... the administration continues to seek cuts in the medical and housing benefits available to veterans." This is an oft-repeated Democratic mantra.
Congress, to the contrary, has increased discretionary funding for veterans by 38 percent since the Bush administration took power, and there is a White House plan under way to get rid of the long lines at VA hospitals through a $4.6 billion modernization of VA facilities.
The $400 billion defense bill that passed the House last week contains a 4.15 percent pay raise for our troops and an increase in the death benefit.
In fact, Democrat Ike Skelton, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told Fox News, "There is so much in this bill that takes care of the troops, their families, their needs, their capability of waging war – and we are at war."
Jesse Jackson said not a word about Bill Clinton and his evisceration of the military when Clinton cut cut cut, everything from the number of troops – what about the jobs, Jesse? – to the number of bullets, of which we did not even have enough for training.
But now, Jackson has the following message for the Bush administration regarding what he sees as Bush’s lack of respect for the military: "The soldiers on the ground in Iraq and the veterans at home would prefer that the respect be paid not in words but in deeds."
Perhaps the reverend Jackson should practice what he preaches?
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