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.
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You know what were doing.
You know where were from.
Stop the war GDit.
Who's the man?
You are!
This little Bush bitch is fopo.
Nancy...He
While in school at Ohio State and a registered Republican, I got a letter from my local Nazi for making the deans list.
From the late pedophile "Buz" Lukens.
I soon became a Mondale loser.
But at least I defend America rather than perverts and Halliburton.
pro-Republican corporations NEED WAR to get ric
IT'S THE BOTTOM LINE, STUPID.
War pays!
Bush-Cheney's mission accomplished is to shovel taxpayer dollars out of USTreasury into pockets of war-industry, Big Oil, corrupt nob-bid contractors, all of whom are not held accountable for looting the taxpayers.
Bush-Cheney "patriotism" = lying, cheating, stealing and killing. They feel "entitled" to do whatever they want, for as long as possible.
And they keep STALLING to keep the LOOTING going!
Too bad so many thousands of USTroops and others are now dead or maimed. BOTTOM LINE--uber alles!
And let's not forget that Vietnam is now one of our biggest trading partners.
So what we're all the deaths, on both sides for?
Wasn't it just to satisfy the same short-sighted insanity, called the "Domino Theory" then, and the "war on Terror" now.
TO BAD BUSH WAS SO MUCH A COWARD IF HE HAD ENLISTED OR TOOK THE DRAFT NOTICE , MAYBE WE WOULDN'T BE IN THE MESS WE ARE IN :
TODATE BUSH HAS SENT TO THERE DEATH 3,700 PLUS
Clinton caught lots of flack for being a "draft dodger" but his playing of the system was paled when compared to the way Bush avoided the draft since Bush's evasion required privileged connections not available to the then commoner Clinton.
What really stands out though is that Clinton sought to avoid fighting a war he opposed (and still does) while Bush, Cheney, Quayle, etc., avoided a war that they believed in---just not enough to put their precious posteriors on the line. That is hypocrisy which is made worse when they turn around and send others to fight!
EXACTLY!!!!!!
Like DeLay's claim that he would have gone but "So many minority youths had volunteered for the well-paying military positions to escape poverty and the ghetto that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself." Houston Press 1999-01-07. Damn all those knee-grow pilots in Da Nang and Can Ranh!
Now the Chicken Hawk In Thief claims "we" lost the war . . .
Sign me ONE PISSED OF VIET VET
good insights above from the vet blog swamp...
I tore up my letter from President Nixon thanking me for defending freedom and helping to preserve democracy in Viet Nam (we called it Indochina officially).
I must grant Bush the liberty to struggle with personal conflicts about VietNam. To this day, I do not feel man enough to visit the memorial in Washington.
Let us now pass a federal law that says no president can commit US military forces for more than 90 days without a formal declaration of war from Congress. Wait -- we did that. The War Powers Act (1973), vetoed by Nixon, passed by Congress overriding the veto. It's federal law. Bush thinks it is not Constitutional, but it is the law. He has to challenge it in the Supreme Court, or obey it. He just cannot have a four-year war and occupation on a whim.
This is all deja vu for me -- minus the Volkswagens.
Clearly Bush doesn't care a fig for the law, unless (as the church lady said) "it's *convenien
"He has to challenge it in the Supreme Court, or obey it." Now that he's packed the court? No problemo.
Dosch,
Excellent suggestion. Even a 100% service requirement, ala Israel, should suffice. But the Iraq war veterans (E5 and below) get to decide where the privelaged do their service. Heh, heh, heh.
Hang in there Steve. I'm with you brother.
Steve, I'm only now forgiving Lyndon Johnson for sending me to Viet Nam.
Excellent post Mr. Rieckhoff! And thanks for pointing out some articles being written about the historical inaccuracies that Bush has made. I can't believe he said some of what he said. And it's hard to watch because I feel like he's grasping for straws, or anything, to make his case. Somehow, he can't ever admit he screwed up, or that his plans didn't work, or that things are going wrong. And obviously, he's the same way with the Veterans care you rightly mention. I can understand a President can't do everything himself, the reason for all the politcal appointees, but by golly he could at least make sure that the appointees are doing their jobs. Which brings me to an appalling point that he's never fired anyone. Rumsfeld hung around years longer than he should have, and was allowed to resign into the sunset when he should have been fired. Cheney should be replaced by Bush for having sidestepped authority and doing things behind his back. But that might be part of his so-called "Plan". Never can tell. Chertoff should have been fired for his many bunglings, from the TB handling, to the porous borders, to the incompetence of his underlings like "heckuva job" Brown. But anyways, I think people should see my point. Where does the buck stop at these days?
Another thing that really bothers me, is the fact that the V.F.W. would even allow him to come there and say the things he said. Using them. I mean, USING them. Using them to score political points, then walks off and doesn't give a damn about them, their organization or the vets who belong to it.
That's what we get for electing someone that touted himself as the "CEO" president. Did anyone happen to notice that the only businesses he ever ran without daddy's friends bailing him out went under? Where'd this guy get his "C" average again? Sounds like the Ivy league won't be where my kid is headed, I'll send them somewhere they can get a REAL education and learn how to survive and thrive in the real world.
The VFW was soaking up this Bush BS. One of the reasons that I have never joined.
"...Anothe
I'm not so sure about his using them unwittingly. The V.F.W. and even the American Legion are populated with a high number of conservatives in their membership. Most of their members are men who served in W.W.ll. These men fought a popular war and believe in the idea that our country only fights for what right. It doesn't occur to them that it might be possible for our leaders to be corrupt. If that were possible it would devalue all they fought for to depose Hitler and Mussolini and the Japanese. Besides that the military is good at taking average Joes and turning them into conservatives anyway. That's what they are all about, breaking down a civilian "maggot" and refashioning him or her into an obedient, unquestioning fighting machine.
All Clinton needs to do is sound one step to the left of the failed president.
All Edwards needs to do is sound like the biggest threat to the tories and their money.
Kucinich? Most assuredly!
Obama? Yes!
Edwards? Yes!
Clinton? Only if you liked George W. Bush!
I did not serve in Vietnam, a choice I regret for it deprived me of the authority to speak on your behalf. I have seen you, I saw you in my father who served in WWII, saw you in my classmates who fell away to serve and sacrifice in Vietnam, and I saw the ruined young lives of men that, but for the scars of their service, could have been the doctors and lawyers and leaders of our nation. I wish I could have know what it was like to serve with you and soldier on, though misspent, and prevail when there was no hope to prevail.
The carelessness and practical disdain that is accorded you by our current leadership, is an insult to you, your service and to the past and future of our armed services. What man will serve a country that does not value the life he offers in its defense? What Marine would have stormed Suribachi for a country that will not support him when his body is bent and broken for the effort? What man is so callous in his patriotism that he will dessert a wife and children to the mercies of a country with no mercy?
If I could speak on your behalf, had I the authority, I would. I only hope that you can bring your courage and honor to the fight in Washington, and that you will prevail once more.
Harrington,
As always, you are more eloquent than I could hope to be, but you belittle your role too much. You are an American citizen and, although vets had (have) a different experience, we are ALL worse off for Vietnam and for Iraq. It is your right and duty to continue to speak out on this forum and with your friends, relatives, and acquaintances.
I just wonder at our country and our citizens. The Bush Doctrine has been to repeat the same lie over and over, no matter the facts, because people will believe you if you say it often enough. What is the current support - 28%? How can there be so many blind, trusting people in America? This latest takes the cake (and did anyone notice Guiliani got right on the "left Vietnam too soon" bandwagon?). If W were my father, I would force him to see a psychiatrist and seriously consider getting court appointed guardianship (and maybe some anti-psychotic injections as well). THAT is how crazy this guy sounds.
Don't you ever regret not having served in Viet Nam......I got drafted at 19 1/2 and did serve in Viet Nam. It was fucked-up. I came home fucked-up. The populace in America treated us like shit and it helped keep us fucked-up. The govt. treated us like shit, also....On
steamboat,
Exactly.
Bush's speech must have been written by a nitwit!!! First of all Vietnam was as big a mess as Iraq--why on earth would a politician want to compare these two conflicts.
I have a feeling by tomorrow, we will see the White House do an about face!!!!
They'll send someone out to do some good old fashion back peddling. If the White House does not "back peddle" then we know they have totally lost their grasp of reality. No one in their right mind would let this speech hang out there.
Conversely, I listened to Mrs. Clinton's speech, I thought it was written by the AEI. To my ears, she sounded like the Neo-Cons that conned us into this crap. I see Iraq in our future for a very very long time!
Thanks Paul for all you do for all of us.
Of course they won't do an about face! Remember "Stay the Course!" followed by "We've never been 'Stay the Course!'" uttered in an interview that obviously went horribly wrong (must not have had his earpiece like he did at the debates!)
Whenever they screw up---when do they not?---their solution is always to just "brass it out". Too bad that so far they haven't yet met the fate that accompanied that statement in the "Man Who Would Be King". These guys would be right at home running a banana republic (if we can still make that distinction between our current system and a South American dictatorship).
Boletus
I hate to think about the dope factor.
I mean, I hate to think about how our government has been complicit in bringing dope into American cities while forging forward with ever more incarceration of our people for dope charges the past forty years.
Yet you're right. It's documented.
The US Military/I
Dwight got it right in 1961.
He just left out a few of the players.
I wonder what a good bag of smack goes for in Dubai these days? Lord knows the supply here in the states is so glutted that the bottom has fallen out of the market.
War in South America = floods of cocaine hitting the streets here in the US. War in Asia = heroin for every hapless fool willing to try it. Weapons are sold, prisons are built, discontented populations are turned against themselves. And some people somewhere are making billions of dollars. It would be naive to think that that kind of money is not influencing US policy.
And we are helpless to do anything about it, except go die in some strange land to grease the wheels of the money-making machine. Oh, and we can complain, for all the good it will do us.
smarish (See profile | I'm a fan of smarish)
This is exactly what I have been thinking about the Chimp-in-Charge for quite a while now. He feels extreme guilt for his role during the Viet Nam war, and he thinks this war of his will absolve him of his cowardice back then.
-----------------
You're a good person. A good American.
You want to ascribe some human decency on this president.
But to be sure, this president feels no guilt.
His homoerotic fixation and deluded posture of unfailed righteousness suggests we are up against a MF supreme.
MF supreme! I love it and I think I'll use it.
Here is another parallel with Vietnam: it's all about the heroin. The reason we have to stay distracted in Iraq is so that the real crooks that run our government (whose names none of us have ever heard because they were never elected or appointed to any official position) are making boat-loads money from the vastly increased opium production in Afghanistan.
If we leave Iraq, people might actually remember Afghanistan. Not only might that harm the profits from the heroin market, we might actually be able to accomplish something constructive there, which would take the wind out of Osama's sails.
Imagine an Afghanistan where we had used all of the money we have spent in Iraq, shooting ourselves in the foot. We could pull the plug on the Jihad in a matter of months by showing the Muslim world we are benefactors, not invaders and destroyers.
We can't have that, now can we? After all, war is peace, only with better profit margins.
Awesome point! Now that Afghanistan is by far the world's largest producer of opium, you don't think that the CIA has reverted (if they ever stopped) to their old ways of making money to support their activities by trafficking in heroin? Oh and let's not forget the extra side benefit: drug addicted soldiers who begin using through a combination of despair and availability who will be abandoned by the VA and spend the rest of their lives fighting the monkey on their backs.
Afghanistan could be a paradise for the $2 billion A WEEK being spent in Iraq.
There is no excuse for the loss of a single American serviceman since the Japanese surrender in 1945.
Yet the tories go on and on with their blawhadee.
Now we have the twice stolen election deserter president stuttering while he delivers his nonsense.
Are the wingnuts done?
Are Halliburton and Bell Helicopter rich enough?
Can we at some point soon begin to rebuild our nation and our pride?
I disagee. America had the obligation and right to defend SKorea after NKorea invaded. And yes, NKorea started it.
This is exactly what I have been thinking about the Chimp-in-Charge for quite a while now. He feels extreme guilt for his role during the Viet Nam war, and he thinks this war of his will absolve him of his cowardice back then.
"He feels extreme guilt for his role during the Viet Nam war"
Are you kidding??!!??!!
God forgive me if I misjudge the man, but I honestly believe that he feels no guilt for ANYTHING he's done (except perhaps the DUI and the cocaine). It is the privilege (right) of those with wealth, influence, and power to have advantages (such as not going to 'nam) that others had/have no hope of getting. If he really felt remorse for what he has done, he would change his ways, beginning with taking care of the people whose lives have been destroyed by his policies.
Believe me, narcissists don't feel guilt. Bush's game is one that he plays with his own adrenaline by getting into serious scrapes, then fast-talking his way out (with the aid of rich powerful parents and their pals the Arabs, if necessary). Now that he is president, we are all riding on his dangerous merry-go-round.
Rove may have seen in Bush somebody so cute in a flight jacket that he knew he could be merchandised into the presidency, but anybody who is familiar with life-history research (or anybody who has been at all observant about human nature and potential for people to change) ought to have realized from the outset that with a narcissist with Bush's past record as president, we were headed for disaster.
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