Blogging for Freedom

While the bombs keep flying and the fighting and dying continue in Iraq and Afghanistan, Veterans' Hospitals here at home are experiencing a supply shortage of everything from toothpaste to wheelchairs. The Iraq-Afghanistan Veterans Association (iava.org) is working on behalf of the Buffalo, NY, Veterans Hospital to raise funds for necessary supplies as well as items like books, magazines and newspapers.

GW Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld are quick to send our troops into war, but they abandon them when they come home. The fact that any of our VA hospitals have to go begging for donations is an indication of the woeful conditions our troops face when they need medical care. 19,000 American troops have been injured "fighting for freedom" yet the fight for many of them is just beginning.

The fight for proper medical care, the fight for accessible housing, the fight for employment, the fight for benefits. The US is the wealthiest nation on earth, we can wage war with billions of dollars worth of weaponry, we can invade and occupy other countries, but we can't take care of the soldiers, marines, airmen, sailors who are actually doing the dirty work?

What about the widows and fatherless/motherless children of the fallen?  Do we even know who they are, if they're OK or if they need anything?  We are at war, but here at home one would never know it. It is disheartening to think that we have become so accepting of war that we consider it part of "business as usual". The Pentagon spends billions of dollars on experimental star-wars type of weaponry systems but it doesn't have the money to buy toothpaste for our troops? Or wheelchairs, or even life-saving bandages on the battlefield. 

Just about the only ones benefitting from the wars are companies like Halliburton, its subsidiary KBR, and all the private mercenary security companies like Blackwater and Dyncorp. Since VP Cheney is still heavily involved with his company, Halliburton, he is profiting directly from the wars. War-mongering and war-profiteering go hand in hand with this Republican administration.

Congress has allocated almost $400 BILLION to conduct the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, we continue to hear about shortages of necessary supplies and equipment for our troops.  As taxpayers we should be concerned about how all this money is being spent.  Fortunately, the IAVA is working on behalf of veterans on a variety of issues. These include troop shortages, stop loss orders (also called the back door draft), inadequate vehicle armor, mental health support, and exposure to depleted uranium, among others. 

It is shameful that our Vice President is profiting from the blood of the troops, who then have to go begging for charity when they are injured or wounded. War is an ugly, violent, destructive event but Cheney held a party and celebrated the beginning of the Iraq war.  As bombs were dropping, and obviously killing at least some innocent civilians, Cheney and his pals were joyfully clinking glasses, counting in their minds how much money they were making.

What kind of person celebrates war?