2,500.
Horrific. From the Ap wire:
''It's a number,'' White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters at the White House.''Any president who goes through a time of war feels very deeply the responsibility for sending men and women into harm's way, feels very deeply the pain that the families feel. This president is no different,'' he said.
It may just be a number to Tony Snow, but this illegal and immoral war we were lied into which was supposed to have extremely low casualties and low cost to my grandkids (ie American taxpayers) has now hit 2500. Why2K, a poem I wrote when we crossed 2,000, seems now increasingly irrelevant.
I know this number doesn't include the numbers the Pentagon doesn't care about, including how many Iraqis have been killed, or tortured, how many servicewomen and men from other countries have died, and how many tens of thousands of young Americans have been severely damaged for the rest of their lives. They go off to war soldiers, the Right's best public opinion stirrers, best PR props, and come back veterans, where their benefits and health benefits get cut repeatedly after serving this country. "They fight them over there" so we don't have to pay their health benefits over here. It's absolutely disgusting.
It's very similar to the pro-life stance, really. When its a fetus, abortion is murder, but once that baby is born, cut public school funding, affordable housing, welfare, and foodstamps, take the opportunities away. When a young person is a soldier, calling for an end to the war is an insult to their bravery; when the person returns a veteran, we insult them by cutting health funding and combat benefits. Once they've served their pr purpose, they are no longer useful and are ignored.
You want to show how much you care about the troops? Demand veteran benefits, health benefits and death benefits be returned to decent levels. Make sure they get the proper equiptment and meals in the field. Because the soldier you wave a flag for today is the veteran you will ignore when they ask for help tomorrow.
''It's a number,'' White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters at the White House.''Any president who goes through a time of war feels very deeply the responsibility for sending men and women into harm's way, feels very deeply the pain that the families feel. This president is no different,'' he said.
It may just be a number to Tony Snow, but this illegal and immoral war we were lied into which was supposed to have extremely low casualties and low cost to my grandkids (ie American taxpayers) has now hit 2500. Why2K, a poem I wrote when we crossed 2,000, seems now increasingly irrelevant.
I know this number doesn't include the numbers the Pentagon doesn't care about, including how many Iraqis have been killed, or tortured, how many servicewomen and men from other countries have died, and how many tens of thousands of young Americans have been severely damaged for the rest of their lives. They go off to war soldiers, the Right's best public opinion stirrers, best PR props, and come back veterans, where their benefits and health benefits get cut repeatedly after serving this country. "They fight them over there" so we don't have to pay their health benefits over here. It's absolutely disgusting.
It's very similar to the pro-life stance, really. When its a fetus, abortion is murder, but once that baby is born, cut public school funding, affordable housing, welfare, and foodstamps, take the opportunities away. When a young person is a soldier, calling for an end to the war is an insult to their bravery; when the person returns a veteran, we insult them by cutting health funding and combat benefits. Once they've served their pr purpose, they are no longer useful and are ignored.
You want to show how much you care about the troops? Demand veteran benefits, health benefits and death benefits be returned to decent levels. Make sure they get the proper equiptment and meals in the field. Because the soldier you wave a flag for today is the veteran you will ignore when they ask for help tomorrow.
posted by Ruby K at 2:14 PM
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