'Honouring' the troops

President Bush and his administration have spared little effort in talking about how important and how great our military is. Donald Rumsfeld's staff is calling towns and cities to give them ideas on how to honour our troops during the upcoming Fourth of July fireworks celebrations. President Bush wanted to declare "Mission Accomplished" with our soldiers (and, of course, play flyboy in the process). Dittoheads and other rabid conservatives are constantly screaming that liberals and others opposed to the war aren't "supporting the troops" and that we all need to be more "patriotic". The House passed a resolution promising to give "unequivocal support" to the military. None of them, however, seem to be willing to put their money where their mouths are.

Army Times features an editorial documenting the shortfall in benefits for our servicemen and women and their families.

For example, the White House griped that various pay-and-benefits incentives added to the 2004 defense budget by Congress are wasteful and unnecessary — including a modest proposal to double the $6,000 gratuity paid to families of troops who die on active duty. This comes at a time when Americans continue to die in Iraq at a rate of about one a day.

Other examples include the administration's stated desire to undo increces that were made recently in imminent-danger pay and the family-separation allowence, limiting raises for some ranks to no more than 2%, reductions in the amount of money available for repairs and other work needed on military housing among other projects, and failing to make "progress on minor tax provisions that would be a boon to military homeowners, reservists who travel long distances for training and parents deployed to combat zones, among others".

Talk is great. I'm sure our soldiers love hearing the praise and claims of support for their work. I'm sure they'd love it even more if the administration actually stood behind those words. Yet, once again, Bush talks big and then bails when it comes to the follow through. It's a pattern that's wearing thin - and when it gets applied to our troops, who deserve all the support we can give them, well, there's just no excuse.

Link via Eschaton

Posted by thorswitch at June 28, 2003 11:20 PM | TrackBack