"Bush hails work by both parties on $162b war bill; Funds should last well into 2009" by Ben Feller, Associated Press | July 1, 2008
WASHINGTON - President Bush signed legislation yesterday to pay for the war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the rest of his presidency and beyond, hailing the $162 billion plan as a rare product of bipartisan cooperation.
Pfffft! There are two parties? Where?
And that is IF he leaves.
"This bill shows the American people that even in an election year, Republicans and Democrats can come together to stand behind our troops and their families," Bush said in an Oval Office ceremony.
The legislation will bring to more than $650 billion the amount Congress has provided for the Iraq war since it began more than five years ago. For operations in Afghanistan, the total is nearly $200 billion, according to congressional officials.
Remember when Wolfowitz told Congress this thing would pay for itself?
SUCKERS!!!!
"Our nation has no greater responsibility than supporting our men and women in uniform - especially since we're at war," Bush said. "This is a responsibility all of us in Washington share, not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans."
The guy makes me ill after having neglected these guys coming back (but that is further below, readers).
Oh, and the fact that HE SENT THEM THEIR on LIES!!!!
The package approved by Congress includes a doubling of GI Bill college benefits for troops and veterans. It also provides a 13-week extension of civilian unemployment benefits, $2.7 billion in emergency flood relief for the Midwest, and tens of billions of dollars for food aid, antidrug enforcement, Louisiana levee repairs, and other items.
What, after Bush said he wanted no strings?
Seems more like EXTORTION and BLACKMAIL to me!
The bill will fund the wars well into next year, after Bush has left office.
And we will be there YEARS and YEARS after that, too, America!
THANKS, DemocraPs!!!!
"Though it took more than 500 days for the new Congress to get it done, the combat forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan will now have sufficient funding to carry out their missions through next spring," Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Republican leader, said in a statement.
The Democratic majority in Congress has tried, unsuccessfully, to force troop withdrawals and other limits on Bush's ability to conduct the war.
"I appreciate that Republicans and Democrats in Congress agreed to provide these vital funds without tying the hands of our commanders and without an artificial timetable of withdrawal from Iraq," Bush said.
Many war opponents in Congress have expressed frustration at having to yield to the lame-duck president.
No lawmakers attended the ceremony, White House press secretary Dana Perino said, because "they're all out of town." Congress is in recess.
I wish they would STAY THAT WAY!!!
The new GI Bill essentially would guarantee a full scholarship at any in-state public university, along with a housing stipend, for people who serve in the military for at least three years. The measure was written by Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia.
And look at how the press minimizes the (antiwar) Webb's role in the legislation for the vets.
A theme it seems.
O.K., let's get to the lying.
First, about that bipartisanship being so hard to come by (even though he's gotten everything he has wanted -- and more):
"Bush administration delays scheduled Medicaid cuts" by Jim Abrams, Associated Press | July 1, 2008
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said yesterday it is freezing a scheduled 10 percent fee cut for doctors who treat Medicare patients, giving Congress time to act to prevent the cuts when lawmakers return from a July 4 recess.
Physicians have been running ads hinting that as a result of the cuts, patients may find doctors less willing to treat them. The administration's delay in implementing the cuts, which had been scheduled to go into effect today, spares lawmakers from having to use the recess to explain to seniors why they didn't do the job before leaving town.
Why you HELPING THEM OUT when the cooperation is SO RARE, liar?
Congress, not willing to face millions of angry seniors at the polls in November, is expected to act quickly when it returns to Washington next week to prevent the cuts in payments for some 600,000 doctors who treat Medicare patients.
Almost every year, Congress finds a way to block such cuts. But last week the Senate fell just one vote short of the 60 needed to proceed to legislation that would have stopped the cut. Doctors have complained for years that Medicare payments have failed to cover rising costs.
--MORE--"
Yup, we have TRILLIONS for WARS but we can't pay for the over-priced looting of SENIOR'S HEALTH CARE!
Oh, and about SUPPORTING the TROOPS!
"The federal government has not provided adequate services.... there are some gaps in the federal system."
Oh, please, Molly, SAY IT ISN'T SO!!!!
State lawmakers will convene the first of a series of meetings today to consider how to improve mental health services and programs for thousands of veterans returning to Massachusetts from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The committee will review how the state can supplement federal assistance for the more than 29,000 veterans in the state who have served in the military since Sept. 11, 2001.
The 19-member Hidden Wounds of War Commission will explore whether to establish mandatory mental health treatment programs for National Guard members, a state military family leave policy for caregivers of returning veterans, and a statewide training program to assist police, correction officers, and other officials in recognizing the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
"The federal government has not provided adequate services, and we want to know what we can do as a Commonwealth to be helpful," said state Senator Stephen M. Brewer, the commission's cochairman. "There are heart-wrenching stories that need action. Unfortunately, in our society there remains a stigma to mental health issues. Veterans may be reluctant to come forward. We want to see that they get the help they need."
Lawmakers said they have modeled the committee after a similar commission formed in 1981 to address the needs of Vietnam War veterans. They pointed to a report by the US Department of Veterans Affairs that found that 25 percent of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have mental health problems and that many never get help.
"The intent of this commission is to do an in-depth study of PTSD and traumatic brain injury, to get really in-depth on the impacts, the numbers, and the systems in place or not in place," said Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray, a commission member. "We know there are some gaps in the federal system. We want to know what we can do to augment federal services."
The commission, which will issue its recommendations by Sept. 15, also includes the adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard, the commissioner of probation, and five members appointed by the governor, including representatives of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Massachusetts Veterans' Service Officers Association, the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, and the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association.
Tom Kelley, secretary of the state Department of Veterans Services, said that at least 5,000 members of the National Guard from New England have received mental health screening since returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. He said that about 63 percent of those soldiers have received follow-up services.
"The value of this is to recognize that when people come home from war they are different from when they left," Kelley said. "It's impossible to come home without some sort of stress in your life. . . . We need to recognize that stress early on, so that it doesn't become a mental health disorder.--MORE--"
So they don't end up HOMELESS, right?
Hell, folks, they DON'T EVEN CARE when they are THERE -- as long as KBR got its LOOT!
"Army experts warned as early as 2004 that poor electrical work by contractors was creating dangerous conditions for American soldiers. But those warnings were largely ignored."
"
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has ordered electrical inspections of all buildings in Iraq maintained by KBR, a major military contractor, after the electrocutions of several United States service members.
At least 13 Americans had been electrocuted in Iraq since the war began. In addition to those killed, many more service members have received painful shocks, Army officials say.
Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a Green Beret from Pennsylvania, died Jan. 2 when he stepped into a shower and was electrocuted at his base in Baghdad.
Officials now acknowledge that Army experts warned as early as 2004 that poor electrical work by contractors was creating dangerous conditions for American soldiers. But those warnings were largely ignored.
Since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, tens of thousands of American troops have been housed in older Iraqi buildings. KBR and other companies have been paid millions of dollars to repair and upgrade the buildings, including their electrical systems.
--MORE--"
Also see: Iraq for Sale
Oh, and those liberated Iraqis?
Our puppet government treats their soldiers the same way we treat ours -- or worse!
"Iraqi soldiers and police officers have been wounded in greater numbers, health workers say, and have been treated far worse by their government."
Way to go Bush!
"
BAGHDAD — Dawoud Ameen, a former Iraqi soldier, lay in bed, his shattered legs splayed before him, worrying about the rent for his family of five.
Mr. Ameen’s legs were shredded by shrapnel from a roadside bomb in September 2006 and now, like many wounded members of the Iraqi security forces, he is deeply in debt and struggling to survive. For now, he gets by on $125 a month brought to him by members of his old army unit, charity and whatever his wife, Jinan, can beg from her relatives. But he worries that he could lose even that meager monthly stipend.
In the United States, the issue of war injuries has revolved almost entirely around the care received by the 30,000 wounded American veterans. But Iraqi soldiers and police officers have been wounded in greater numbers, health workers say, and have been treated far worse by their government.
A number of the half-dozen badly wounded Iraqis interviewed for this article said they had been effectively drummed out of the Iraqi security forces without pensions, or were receiving partial pay and in danger of losing even that. Coping with severe injuries, and often amputations, they have been forced to pay for private doctors or turn to Iraq’s failing public hospitals, which as recently as a year ago were controlled by militias that kidnapped and killed patients — particularly security personnel from rival units.
No one knows the exact number of wounded Iraqi veterans, as the government does not keep track. In a 2006 report by the Congressional Research Service, Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson, the American commander in charge of Iraqi police training, said that in just two years, from September 2004 to October 2006, about 4,000 Iraqi police officers were killed and 8,000 were wounded.
That number does not include soldiers in the Iraqi Army, who are far more numerous than the police and, Iraqi commanders say, have suffered injuries at a far greater rate."
Go ahead and read their stories here
Bush shatters and destroys a nation and calls it "liberation!"
