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ABC NEWS REPORT: VETERANS FEEL LEFT OUT OF
STATE
OF THE UNION SPEECH -- It's not what President
Bush
said, but what he didn't say.
Story here...
http://blogs.abcnews.com/
theblotter/2007/01/veterans_feel_l.html
Story below:
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Veterans Feel Left Out, Ignored in Bush Speech
Dana Hughes Reports:
It's not what President Bush said but what he left out of his State of
the Union address that has outraged a major veteran's group, the Iraq
and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
In his nearly one-hour State of the Union address, President Bush never
mentioned the 1.6 million veterans the war has already produced, while
repeatedly asking the American public and Congress to support his plan
to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq.
"For the second year in a row, the president chose to mention the troops
only really as a prop for his policies and ignored that these folks are
coming home as new veterans," says Paul Rieckhoff, the executive
director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and an Iraq war
veteran himself.
The lack of a mention shows "veterans aren't a
priority for the Bush administration," says Rieckhoff.
Rieckhoff says, in his view, it's irresponsible for Bush to talk about
increasing troops in the ongoing war without addressing shortcomings in
health care and economic benefits that now plague an overburdened
Veterans Affairs Administration.
"It might not be politically palpable for him, but he's got to talk
about how he's gonna deal with folks with no arms, folks who've been
paralyzed, folks who're at Walter Reed and also the folks who've come
home and are facing their second and third deployment," says Rieckhoff.
Rieckhoff also says addressing the issue of returning veterans is not
only the right thing to do but also critical to recruitment and morale.
"It sends a bad message to young people if they don't hear that
Americans take care of their veterans," he says. "It's going to make
them reluctant to join, and it's going to ultimately endanger our
national security."
A spokesperson for the White House told ABC News, "The president
regularly expresses his strong support for America's veterans and his
commitment to insuring they receive the support they've earned," and to
expect a large increase for the Veteran's Department in the president's
proposed 2008 budget.
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Larry Scott
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