I haven't kept count, but it seems to me that the number of times I've seen President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney give speeches about the Iraq war using smiling soldiers as their backdrops have been, well, countless. You'd think that an administration that has been so quick to exploit soldiers as props -- whether it was to declare "Mission Accomplished" on a naval vessel or to silence critics by saying their words might endanger soldiers in battle -- would have been equally quick to spare no expense in caring for those injured in the fight.
The squalid living conditions and red tape that have been inflicted on some recovering Iraq war veterans at Walter Reed hospital and elsewhere -- which have been spotlighted by the Washington Post -- are shocking in their detail, but not surprising.
They are one more manifestation -- like insufficient troops, postwar planning and armor -- of a war that was really important to get right but really hard, which the Bush team thought was really important and would be really easy....
....In an interview last Jan. 16, Jim Lehrer asked Bush why, if the war on terrorism was so overwhelmingly important, he had never asked more Americans "to sacrifice something." Bush gave the most unbelievable answer: "Well, you know, I think a lot of people are in this fight. I mean, they sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible images of violence on TV every night."...Sacrifice peace of mind watching TV? What kind of crazy thing is that to say? Leadership is about enabling and inspiring people to contribute in time of war so the enemy has to fight all of us -- not insulating the public so the enemy has to fight only a few of us....
Four years after the start of the Iraq war, this administration has still not equipped all our soldiers with the armor they need....
...If you want to help and don't want to wait for the White House bugle, here are some places to start: Coalition to Salute America's Heroes (www.saluteheroes.org), the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (www.fallenheroesfund.org), the Fisher Houses (www.fisherhouse.org) and the Walter ReedSociety (www.walterreedso-ciety.org). And one I know personally from my hometown, Minnesotans' Military Appreciation Fund (www.thankmntroops.org).
We can get just about everything wrong in Iraq, and pretty much have, but we've got to take first-class care of those who've carried the burden of this war. It's that simple.
Thomas Friedman is absolutely right. How can you say you support the troops but don't give them armor? Why do service members still have to buy their own armor? Why are our injured men and women living in hospital rooms with mold and mice? How can Bush and Cheney continue to use our men and women in uniform as scenery, and yet have not attended one military funeral? Why are the troops used as props but if they are dead or injured, they are discarded by this administration?
Call/e-mail your senators and representatives and tell them we are sick and tired of this and we want it fixed now.