President Bush to Our Veterans: Iraq is Like Vietnam

Today, President Bush addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention in Kansas City. Instead of taking the opportunity to discuss the urgent issues that are facing veterans today, the president offered a history lesson -- and actually compared Iraq to Vietnam. But the last thing these veterans needed was a lecture from such a poor student of history. They remember America's wars -- because, unlike President Bush, they actually fought in them.

President Bush telling veterans about war is like an atheist preaching to the choir. No surprise that he got his facts wrong. But plenty of others are making great arguments about the historical accuracy of Bush's remarks and their relevance to today's conflicts. I am more frustrated by what Bush did not say.

I have often admonished the president for not addressing veterans' issues. This speech today represents a new low. After taking credit for increasing the veterans' budget, even after years of underfunding the VA, the president was strangely silent on the real issues facing new veterans, including naming a replacement for Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson who steps down in October, and implementing recommendations of the Dole-Shalala Commission to fix the nation's military and veterans' hospitals. What happened to all the outrage and promises after Walter Reed? The words "Dole-Shalala" were not even mentioned. The Dole-Shalala Commission's Report set out six clear recommendations to be implemented (most by the president), and now they are gathering dust on a shelf somewhere while the president and Congress are on vacation for the summer.

So if we're going to talk about the legacy of Vietnam, we need to remember what happens when a nation fails to take care of its veterans. We cannot abandon another generation of combat vets to untreated mental health problems, substance abuse, unemployment, homelessness, and suicide. As President Bush said today, "History does remind us that there are lessons applicable to our time. And we can learn something from history." Let us learn that the men and women who have fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, (and all wars) deserve to be provided for. Not just used as a backdrop for another presidential photo op.

Follow Paul Rieckhoff on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PaulRieckhoff

Comments

[jcorrington]

Paul, you are my hero. You were sooo good on Hardball last nite. Many thanks for all you do.


Dell 8300
IE 7.0

[nkn]

Who invites the president to these events anyways? People need to begin to take a stand and say "you have not done anything to help us. When you do, then we will LET you speak to us." This man needs to see reality in the face, not through a poll.

[JPHogan]

To start, I do not know about the VA budget "underfunding" and whether what is being mentioned is just that the VA isn't being given their "dream" budget request full amount. I would think MSM would be saying more on such if such was reaching to a quality of care issue.

Now, on Bush and speaking to proud American Veterans/soldiers and speaking in almost as modern a way as "metrosexuals", it is most amazing that such a speach takes the blame off such audience and puts Vietnam retreat/loss back on the shoulders of our leaders and those seeking to be our leaders.

As to Iraq and President Bush, I for one think that his indoctrination and service in our National Guard system during such years is at the core of his values, the values of equal rights and civil rights that are inherent in his foreign policy.

Bill Richardson, may be qualified for the office and may not need a year to get his sea-legs if elected.

[Macready]

Paul . . . the chimp and his buddies won't listen .. . they don't care about the troops ... they have shown that over and over again . . . I wish one of the veterans had gotten up and questioned him about funding for the returning soldiers from Iraq . . . this whole administration is a bunch of lying, amoral criminals.

[WretchedEtcher]

So now we won both the Korean and Vietnam war? Preach it Bush, preach it! Jesus was from Texas!

[enoughalready]

The truth - Vietnam is doing just fine now. We left and they survived and now are engaging in international trade agreements.

Bush is no scholar of Vietnam - he may have had some credibility if he had actually shown up for duty.

[realpolitic]

Bush did learn something from history- if you duck a war and have a rich father that some day you too can go on to be president. I hope Mr. Rieckoff can help to hold Bush accountable on the veteran's issues. Bush seems to escape accountability with regularity!

[VOTER]

Did Bush mean our death count in Iraq has not yet

hit the "high" mark of Vietnam and we should "stay

the course" and not worry until it does?

ENOUGH! IMPEACH THIS MAN NOW!

[1differentdrummer]

Great ideas, Paul. Viet Nam. Who were the good guys? Surely not the puppets at the head of government. They were busy stealing $$ and oppressing their own people. It, too, was a civil war with religious overtones.
Now, where is VFW's outrage on vet treatment? The good old boys are AWOL when they should be hammering Bushco. They and the Legion have not said enough to support the vets.

[steeleye]

Veterans to President Bush:

Iraq is like Viet Nam, but not the way you mean.

[whizkid]

My band has played before local VFW.
They hired us.
They smoke and drink.
God bless them.
Now see if George Martin produced better than "Summer In The City". He didn't.
The Lovin Spoonful trumped the Beatles.

[Spookcatcher]

It was unfortunate that the VFW is so ridiculously blindly Nationalistic and falsely politicized, that they have forgotten their own Oaths to the Constitution. Bush should be censured from all Veterans Affairs.

[whizkid]

Manfred Mann always had the best singers.
Republicans always had the worst presidents.

[whizkid]

Oh hey. Bill O'Reilly wants to talk about local cases of sexual perversion­/immigrati­on every night from 8 til 9 on Fox.
Anything to talk about except his perversion or Bush's clusterf*ck in Iraq.

[whizkid]

Lil' Bush has a dick this big for China.
My neighboors should die for what tory?