- (ICH) -- It is interesting that President GW Bush fled
and went AWOL when called upon to serve his country in the military. But
this has not stopped him from dozens of photo ops with military jackets
and paraphernalia on-as if he is a true warrior. This all pales when we
hear of the appalling conditions of military men and their families at
Camp Pendleton in California, now this latest scandal of sick, wounded
U.S. troops being held in squalor in Ft. Stewart, Georgia while GW Bush
runs around the world bragging about his military and how they are doing
in Afghanistan and Iraq-yet it's Bush who has cut the funding and wants
to cut more funding to military hospitals, his friend, Republican Representative
Duncan Hunter of Escondido, wants to give Camp Pendleton a pass on its
poor housing and high levels of pollution. Yes, there is something wrong
with this picture.
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- The men who are victims of warfare and illness from Iraq
War I to Iraq War II have been held back from treatment, either by lack
of doctors, beds or bureaucratic red tape, have finally been heard through
complaints to the media. They have had to go home to wait, or have been
kept in substandard housing, in heat without air conditioning and without
medicine for months and years at a time; all the time, the President and
the Republican Congress has been crowing for more money for warfare, sending
records of troops into harms-way, while not caring for those who come home
sick and wounded. As Lou Dobbs said today, on CNN, "This is unconscionable."
I'd say it's a dereliction of duty by the officers in charge of Camp Stewart
and the president for not doing something about this instead of running
around the world attacking others both militarily and verbally.
- Ah, but this is nothing new. I have received mail from
children of parents who worked on Agent Orange, all of whom have died or
have had many bouts with cancer. I also had friends who were veterans of
Viet Nam, all of whom were sprayed and bombed with Agent Orange-they are
all dead. The many who are now complaining about the illness they have
from the spent Uranium shells are growing, and I'm sure, upon more returning,
they will find that the spent Uranium shells did as much damage to our
troops as they did to Iraqi troops. Bosnians, Serbs and Croats who served
in the Balkan War of recent moment, are still falling ill, with cancer
rates at an alarming number in areas where the armor-piercing, spent Uranium
shells and bombs were used.
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- As of today, October 20, the officials at Camp Stewart
are asking for more funds, doctors and beds for the oncoming patients and
those who have been impatiently waiting for some time. At the same time,
the officials at Camp Stewart are saying that there is no problem and that
the military sick are exaggerating their claims of waiting time, etc. Of
course, as you know, if the stories of lack of medical care were untrue,
then the officials at Camp Stewart would not be asking for the extra funds,
medical personnel and beds!
- I'd say it's time for our president, our congress people
and other leaders to start taking care of the American veterans, the American
people and the American economy that now has record numbers of unemployed
(remember, under R.Reagan/T.Kennedy/T.O'Neill, they passed a law that said,
if you are out of work for more than 18 months, you are no longer counted
as "unemployed," you are not counted at all). The situation at
the veterans hospitals in America are but the tip of the iceberg on medical
care on that front. As you know, if I went into healthcare for the American
public (45% of the American populace does not have health care-we are the
only major industrialized nation in the world that does not have universal
health care), that would show an even larger problem that has not been
addressed properly, and at this point, it looks as it's not yet going to
be addressed by our president or by our congress.
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- Sam Hamod is the former editor of 3rd World News (D.C.)
and edits
- www.todaysalternativenews.com ; he may be reached at
shamod@cox.net
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- http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5032.htm
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