bush Blocks Release Of Abu Ghraib Torture Photo's and Video's!!

Bush Administration Files 11th Hour Papers Blocking the Release of Darby CD Photos and Video Of Abu Ghraib Torture

Synopsis

On July 22, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) denounced the latest efforts of the Bush Administration to block the release of the Darby photos and videos depicting torture at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison facility. On June 2, 2004, CCR, along with the ACLU, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense, and Veterans for Peace filed papers with the U.S. District Court, charging the Department of Defense and other government agencies with illegally withholding records concerning the abuse of detainees in American military custody. Since then, the organizations have been repeatedly rebuffed in their efforts to investigate what happened at the prison.

In June, the government requested and received an extension from the judge stating that they needed time in order to redact the faces of the men, women and children believed to be shown in the photographs and videos. They were given until today to produce the images, but at the eleventh hour filed a motion to oppose the release of the photos and videos, based on an entirely new argument: they are now requesting a 7(F) exemption from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act to withhold law enforcement-related information in order to protect the physical safety of individuals. Today’s move is the latest in a series of attempts by the government to keep the images from being made public and to cover up the torture of detainees in U.S. custody around the world.

Joseph Darby was the U.S reservist who turned over the photos and videos to U.S. Army officials and touched off the Abu Ghraib scandal in April 2004.

“This is absolutely unacceptable,” stated Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights. “We can not move forward from this scandal until we have a full public accounting and independent investigation into what happened at Abu Ghraib. The government cannot continue to hide evidence of torture. The time to release these photos and videos was a long time ago.”

Expectations are that the FOIA request will release more than 100 photos and 4 videos, all believed to document deplorable human rights violations by U.S. military personnel against Iraqi civilians.

Barbara Olshansky, Deputy Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, stated, “The public must be informed of what is being done in our name. It is this Administration that has put our troops at risk and caused world-wide anger by fostering policies that promote torture and refusing to hold those responsible publicly accountable.”

The Center for Constitutional Rights once more calls for a complete, transparent independent investigation into the torture and abuse of detainees that goes all the way up the chain of command and demands that the Administration apply the Geneva Conventions to every detainee being held in U.S. custody around the world.

This is part of the request under the Freedom of Information Act filed by the the Center for Constitutional Rights, the ACLU, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans for Peace. The FOIA lawsuit is being handled by Lawrence Lustberg and Megan Lewis of the New Jersey-based law firm Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C.

Bush's Soviet State - Pitt Hits It Again!!

Bush's Soviet State By William Rivers Pitt t r u t h o u t Perspective

Friday 22 July 2005

It's funny in an awful sort of way. The defining events of the last fifty years all centered around the Cold War and the eventual demise of the Soviet system. Toward the end of the Soviet regime, their government was often forced to grossly overstate the size of grain harvests or the preparedness of their military in order to maintain an illusion of strength and order. In other words, intelligence and facts were fixed around the policy. In essence, fixing the facts became the policy.

Self-deception was piled upon self-deception. Rather than address the systemic problems within the nation, the Soviet regime chose instead to massage the illusions until the problems became too huge to overcome. Pretending everything was fine became the chosen course of action, and the state's ability to manufacture a pleasing reality became a perfect circle of inaction and delusion. By the time the tanks rolled and the Wall fell, the deal had already gone down.

Sound familiar?

There has been a lot of noise lately in the news media about the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, and whether Bush advisor Karl Rove was the button-man who brought her down. Press coverage of this issue has been unexpectedly tenacious. White House spokesman Scott McClellan has been leaving his podium after press conferences lately with fresh bite marks all over his ankles and legs. The intensity of the pursuit on this issue has a lot to do with Times reporter Judy Miller. Like her, hate her, respect her or disdain her, but one thing is clear: The White House press corps is bird-dogging this story with alacrity because one of their own has wound up in the bucket because of it.
Yet even with all the coverage - The Time cover, the Newsweek cover, the growling at the press conferences, the intensity of media attention that has not even been deflected by a Supreme Court nomination - the press and far too many people seem to be letting the larger issue slide by. Reporters, columnists and talking heads chew over minute permutations of the story like whether Rove actually said Plame's name, or whether he used her maiden name, or whether he "knowingly" did any of this. The trees are certainly interesting, but the forest deserves a lot more attention.

In short, George W. Bush and his administration are pursuing a course of determined unreality that mirrors the delusional fantasies that ultimately consigned the Soviet Union to the dustbin of history. This Rove-Plame thing is but one small aspect of the main.

Valerie Plame's career as a covert CIA operative was spent keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists. Her career was destroyed by the White House because her husband, Joseph Wilson, had the gall to publicly contradict Bush and his people regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It was so important for the Bush administration to maintain the fiction that Iraq possessed these weapons that they were willing to torpedo a vital intelligence network set up to protect us all. That fiction was more important than the truth.

It seems clear that Rove was central to this action, regardless of all the arguments over the definition of "is." It is likewise becoming clear that Lewis Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, was also in on this action. However, focusing only on which laws these two may have violated in wrecking Plame's ability to do her job does not encompass the totality of the issue. Valerie Plame is not a central character in all this, but only another casualty.
George W. Bush and his people spent months telling the American public that Iraq was a direct threat to our security. They invaded based upon false pretenses. They maintain the fiction that the war was necessary when it has become manifestly clear that it was not. They maintain the fiction that freedom has been brought to Iraq when it has become manifestly clear that it has not. Perhaps worst of all, they maintain the fiction that the United States and the world are safer because of the invasion. Recent events in London rip this fantasy to shreds, and never mind the reports from the French news media that the London explosives may have been made from materials stolen from the unsecured Al-Qaqaa facility in Iraq.

A recent article from the Associated Press titled "Experts Fear Endless Terror War" noted, "An Associated Press survey of longtime students of international terrorism finds them ever more convinced, in the aftermath of London's bloody Thursday, that the world has entered a long siege in a new kind of war. They believe that al-Qaida is mutating into a global insurgency, a possible prototype for other 21st-century movements, technologically astute, almost leaderless. And the way out is far from clear. In fact, says Michael Scheuer, the ex-CIA analyst, rather than move toward solutions, the United States took a big step backward by invading Iraq."

The article continues, "Scheuer, who headed the CIA's bin Laden unit for nine years, sees a different way out - through US foreign policy. He said he resigned last November to expose the US leadership's 'willful blindness' to what needs to be done: withdraw the US military from the Mideast, end 'unqualified support' for Israel, sever close ties to Arab oil-state 'tyrannies.'"

Willful blindness is an appropriate phrase. It captures not only the fact that we are manufacturing threats to our security every day we remain in Iraq, but the fact that virtually everything associated with Bush administration policy depends on self-delusion and the manipulation of data to fulfill political desires. Even the most fundamental underpinnings of conservative political philosophy have been ground up in the gears of this grand fantasy.

Truth no longer matters. Ethics no longer matter. Facts are there for the twisting. Decades-old conservative ideals regarding the budget and the size of the Federal government have been thrown under the bus because they are no longer convenient, and get in the way of the manufacture of reality. Soviet self-delusion led that nation into Afghanistan and disaster. The Bush administration’s self-delusion has led us into Iraq. Res ipsa loquitor.

The parallel between this Bush administration and the old, failed Soviet regime can be taken one step further. One of the main reasons the Soviet government was able to stagger on for years making up facts out of whole cloth was that the leaders of that regime were accountable to no one. The Politburo said it, and so it must be true, and if it wasn't true, there was no authority or check to their power that could blow a whistle, throw a flag or demand an investigation. The old Soviet government lived in a bubble, free from the fear that they might be called to the carpet for lying, getting a lot of people killed and putting the State in mortal danger.

Sound familiar? Bush and his people have managed to walk through the raindrops since 2001, managed to pull off more than a few impeachable crimes, for no other reason than that they are accountable to no one in government ... or, more properly, no one in government who has the power to call them to account has done so. Congress is run by Bush allies, the Justice Department is run by his longest-standing hatchet man, and all of them prefer to maintain the pleasant fictions over any attempt to fix what has gone so drastically and demonstrably wrong.

We watched the Soviets smash themselves to pieces because they refused to deal with what ailed them, because lies made life easier on the powerful, because actually attempting to address a problem might expose the powerful to censure or even removal, because no one had the power to stop them.
It is happening again, right before our eyes.

William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of two books:

War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know and

The Greatest Sedition Is Silence.

Winter Soldier - The Film [Re-Released]

Winter Soldier - The Film

June 27, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dennis Doros and Amy Heller, co-founders of Milestone Films,announce the formation of Milliarium Zero, a new companyspecifically created to acquire and distribute films of strongpolitical and social content. Milliarium Zero's first release isWinter Soldier -- a documentary chronicle of the extraordinaryWinter Soldier Investigation conducted by Vietnam Veterans Againstthe War (VVAW) in Detroit during the winter of 1971.Winter Soldier was made at a time when public opposition to theVietnam War had reached new heights in response to the revelationsof the killing of civilians at My Lai. Leaders at the VVAW andother antiwar activists began to organize an event at which vetscould talk candidly about their experiences in the war. Celebrityactivists including Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Graham Nash andPhil Ochs helped raise money for the Detroit meetings.The Winter Soldier Investigation took place in the second-floorballroom of a Howard Johnson's motel in Detroit, January 31 -February 2, 1971. The organizers chose the name for the meetingfrom a line in Thomas Paine's first Crisis Paper: "These are thetimes that try men's souls. The summer soldier and sunshinepatriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of theircountry. But he who stands by it now deserves the love and thanksof man and woman." The Vietnam veterans saw themselves assoldiers, in the darkest of times, battling the wrongs of the warand speaking out against the brutal training that made themcapable of unthinkable violence.Recognizing the urgency and historical importance of theinvestigation, a remarkable group of independent filmmakers cametogether to document the veterans' testimonies. Calling themselvesWinterfilm, their collective included Fred Aronow, Nancy Baker,Joe Bangert, Rhetta Barron, Robert Fiore, David Gillis, DavidGrubin, Jeff Holstein, Barbara Jarvis, Al Kaupas, Barbara Kopple,Mark Lenix, Michael Lesser, Lee Osborne, Lucy Massie Phenix, RogerPhenix, Benay Rubenstein and Michael Weil. (This group of filmmakers has gone on individually to make some of the most important documentaries of our time, winning several AcademyAwards in the process.)Over the course of four days and nights, using donated equipmentand film stock, the Winterfilm members shot footage of more than125 veterans (including a very young John Kerry). These men, who represented every major combat unit that saw action in Vietnam,gave eyewitness testimony to war crimes and atrocities they either participated in or witnessed. Members of the collective next spent eight months editing the raw footage from the hearings together with film clips and snapshots from Vietnam into the 95-minute feature documentary Winter Soldier. Because the proceedings went virtually unreported by the media, the film became the only complete record of the testimony.The film was shown at the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals and went on to be lauded throughout Europe. In the US, it opened briefly at the Cinema 2 in Manhattan. At the time of WinterSoldier's release, underground film critic Amos Vogel wrote: "This is a film that must be shown in prime time evening on national television, and never will be." After all three broadcast networks and PBS declined to show it, the documentary played only on NewYork's local public television station, WNET. Since then, only rare screenings by the filmmakers have kept the legacy alive.The Winter Soldier meetings revealed the horror and extent of civilian murders and prisoner abuse in Vietnam, as John Kerry described it, "committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command." These young men talked about their participation in rapes, electrocutions,stonings, tossing prisoners from helicopters and destroying villages. Even more disturbing was the revelation that these crimes were ignored, even condoned by official US military policy.The hearings also exposed for the first time that the US had illegally and secretly invaded neutral Laos.For many of the soldiers, this weekend proved a turning point in their lives. Their courage in testifying, their desire to prevent further atrocities and to regain their own humanity, provide a dramatic intensity that makes Winter Soldier an unforgettable experience.Now, almost thirty-five years after the hearings in Detroit, the words of the Winter Soldiers remain powerful, shocking and deeply upsetting -- even more so because they so eerily remind us of recent tortures and murders of prisoners held in detention by the American military. The terrible abuses of prisoners at Abu Ghraib have sometimes been reported as unprecedented. The voices of the veterans in Winter Soldier attest that they were not.Milliarium Zero translates to "zero milepost." In the US, this official landmark is located opposite the White House.Winter Soldier opens for a week's run at the Film Society ofLincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater in NYC starting on Friday,August 12th. A panel of filmmakers and soldiers will be attending.For more information, stills, screeners and contact information for the filmmakers and soldiers, get in touch with Dennis Doros atwinterfilm@... or (201) 767-3110.

At the Film Society of Lincoln Center, contact

Graham Leggat at(212) 875-5416.

Dennis DorosMilliarium ZeroPO Box 128Harrington Park, NJ 07640

Phone: (201) 767-3110Fax: (201) 767-3035Email: winterfilm@...

Website:

http://www.wintersoldierfilm.com

The Shadow Project

The Shadow Project

The Shadow Project is political art,
by the people, for the world.

Since 1982, chalk shadows have been drawn in more than 470 cities,
recalling the human shadows in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, made by atomic bombs.

This August 6 is the 60th anniversary of those first shadows.

To participate in your community
see http://www.shadowprojecthome.org/

All it takes is one person and a piece of chalk.

AfterDowningStreet Update

DSM DAY

LISTEN TO TAPE OF THE JULY 23, 2002, DOWNING STREET MEETING… …or an amazing 9-minute recreation thereof that uses the exact words of the "Downing Street Memo."

This remarkable audio production conveys far more clearly than the written word what went on behind closed doors that day three years ago. The cast and credits for this production, are as follows.

Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee John Scarlett - Anonymous

Sir Richard Dearlove, the Chief of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) - John Rafter Lee

Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, Chief of Defence Staff - Demian Martell

Then Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon - Ed Asner

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw - Anonymous

Attorney General Lord Goldsmith - Larry Pressman

Sir David Manning, a foreign policy advisor - Brian O'Connor

Prime Minister Tony Blair - Demian Martell

Narrator - Mimi Kennedy

Recording

Engineered By Michael Ja

LINK TO AUDIO AVAILABLE FOR USE ON RADIO:

http://tinyurl.com/73eco

Forward this to your friends who don't like to read! Put it on your website! Play it at your event next Saturday! Ask your local radio stations to air it! Ask your congress member and senators to listen to it! Ask yourself how we can know such things and not have initiated an investigation into grounds for impeachment of our president!

OVER 250 EVENTS PLANNED FOR SATURDAY, JULY 23

On July 23, over 250 events around the United States will mark the three-year anniversary of the meeting at #10 Downing Street in London, England, that was recorded in the now infamous minutes known as the "Downing Street Memo." At least nine events will be hosted by or participated in by Members of Congress, including John Conyers in Detroit, Jim McDermott in Seattle, Barbara Lee in Oakland, Maxine Waters in Los Angeles, Maurice Hinchey in New York, and Tom Udall in New Mexico. Congressman Charles Rangel will host an electronic town-hall meeting, answering questions from his New York constituents on the internet, from noon to 1 p.m., July 22. Congressman Xavier Becerra will host an event in Los Angeles on July 30, and Congressman Barney Frank in Boston on July 31. Co-Founder of the After Downing Street Coalition, constitutional attorney John Bonifaz will speak at a town hall meeting on July 23rd in Northampton, Mass. In over 250 towns and cities, prominent speakers and ordinary citizens will hold public forums, perform dramatic recreations of the Downing Street meeting, and host house parties and study circles. Ninety-two events and counting are listed online at AfterDowningStreet.org.

For details on events in any part of the country, see this map: http://heh.pl/&tm .

Another 18 events on surrounding days are also listed on the site.

In addition, Congressman Conyers' office has organized over 150 house parties through their website.

See http://johnconyers.com/.

Conference Call for House Parties: Congressman Conyers and former Ambassador Joseph Wilson will participate in a national conference call with house party attendees from 4 to 4:30 p.m. ET. For details, contact Jonathan Godfrey at 202-744-7441 or

http://tinyurl.com/c7j2k

NEW RESOURCES FOR YOUR EVENTS HAVE BEEN ADDED HERE

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/526

GET ACCESS TO BLOG ON AFTERDOWNINGSTREET.ORG ON JULY 23

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/815

DEADLINES FAST APPROACHING TO ORDER DVDs FOR EVENTS

For $13, Chris Belcher will sell you a DVD produced in cooperation with AfterDowningStreet.org. This 40-minute video is divided into chapters that can each be played separately. It contains highlights of the June 16, 2005, hearings, delivery of letter to the White House, and rally held in Washington. The testimony at the hearings has been selected with an eye to clearly explaining the facts to a newcomer. You might want to show all or part of this DVD at an event. We recommend showing all of it and purchasing a supply of these to sell or give to participants.

YOU MUST ORDER BY NOON ET ON MONDAY JULY 18 TO GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL HAVE IT BEFORE JULY 23RD. AFTER THAT, YOU MIGHT GET IT IN TIME - BUT NO GUARANTEES. http://www.alchymedia.com/downing_street.htm

For $20, TakeBackTheMedia.com will sell you a 5-hour 2-DVD set containing the complete hearings and rally in Washington, D.C., on June 16, 2005. This includes every bit of the hearings and the rally, plus Congressman Conyers' delivery of a letter and 560,000 signatures to the White House, plus interviews of some leaders of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition. Buy some copies to sell at your events!

YOU MUST ORDER BY NOON ET ON TUESDAY JULY 19 TO GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL HAVE IT BEFORE JULY 23RD. AFTER THAT, YOU MIGHT GET IT IN TIME - BUT NO GUARANTEES.

http://tinyurl.com/9exv6

And/or play this audio clip from NPR.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/765

AIR THIS CODE PINK RADIO AD

Join CODEPINK in Exposing the Smoking Gun by Running Ads on Your Local Radio Stations!

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/779

FLYER YOUR COMMUNITY NOW AND AFTER YOUR EVENT

Flyer now to promote your July 23 event, and then take everyone who participates out flyering afterwards!

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/315

HOW DID OUR COUNTRY GET THIS BAD?

Help afterdowningstreet.org raise money with a song!

US-THE BAND (from the S.F. Bay Area) has written a truly great protest song for modern times. It's called "How Did This Country Get So Bad? (I 1 2 NO!)", and it will make you smile, clap your hands, and stomp your feet (unless you are a Bush supporter, of course!). The song is available for a $1.00 download (plus a 33-cent PayPal transaction fee) at http://www.ustheband.com/ And from now through July 31, 50 percent of all proceeds will be donated to afterdowningstreet.org. DONATE:

http://tinyurl.com/758zm

SUBSCRIBE TO GET THESE UPDATES:

http://tinyurl.com/au8qz

WhiteHouse/WILSON-PLAME=DSM

'Demand The Truth'

Complete Set of Downing Street Documents

Downing Street Minutes, July 23, 2002Also known as the Downing Street Memo

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1

All Eight Leaked Downing Street Documents

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/833

Iraq Options Paper, March 8, 2002

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/834
Legal Background Paper, March 8, 2002

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/835

David Manning Memo, March 14, 2002

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/836

Christopher Meyer Letter, March 18, 2002

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/837

Peter Ricketts Letter, March 22, 2002

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/838

Jack Straw Memo, March 25, 2002

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/839

Cabinet Office Briefing Paper, July 21, 2002

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/189

Downing Street Minutes, July 23, 2002Also known as the Downing Street Memo

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1

**********

Follow the Uranium < http://tinyurl.com/8b36w > Veterans should keep our eyes on the facts (or lack thereof) that led to the Iraq War. Frank Rich asserts that, "This case is about Iraq, not Niger."

**********

AfterDowningStreet.org
Once again the Military Troops were Lied too, for the most Devestating/Destructive/Illegal Action known caused by Men on Men/Women/Children, by Civilian/Military Leadership of this Country! This Nation went through this not Long ago and were to Learn the Lessons of that Extreme Mistake, yet Didn't for it Repeats with even more Devestation of Multiple Deployments into Theaters!
Read the Memo's [Minutes], take needed action, call those to Accountibility NOW

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/

Over 150 Events [and counting] Planned on 3rd Anniversary of Downing Street Memo July 23, 2005

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/766


New Flyer: "Downing Street Handouts"
Print Out Flyer's and And Distribute Through Tabling Etc. [Don't Stick Under Windsheild Wipers, Poor Taste] If for Some reason you can't DownLoad and Print Visit AfterDowningStreet, on the Right you'll see a List, Click on 'Activism' the Original Post is Within and Contacts where you can Request the Flyer be sent To You in Numbers you Think you can use!!!!
http://www.macplanet.net/brochure.pdf

Don't cross the GOP on VA funding

{If Societies Civilian/Military Leaderships are to Wage War's than it's Societies Responsibility to take Care of those they send into the battle! And it's even More of the Societies Responsibility to Make Damn Sure the Conflicts are the Absolute Last Resort, and All other Options have been Exhausted! Let There Be War No More}

Larry Scott, July 15, 2005

When VA Secretary Anthony J. Principi resigned last year it took everyone in the veteran community by surprise. Principi had all the qualifications: he is a staunch Republican, has a background in healthcare, and has the incredible ability to always say “yes” to the Bush Administration.
What happened? Principi stopped saying “yes” and wanted more funding for the VA, and the White House didn't. Insiders say he was forced out to make room for someone who would toe the Administration line. Jim Nicholson replaced Principi as VA Secretary. Nicholson's only qualifications: being Chairman of the Republican National Committee and Ambassador to the Vatican.
The insiders appear to be right, because just a few days before his resignation, Principi gave an interview to his hometown newspaper outlining his plans for the VA for the next four years. Later we learned he asked for $1.2 billion for VA healthcare and didn't get it.
Now come new revelations about what happens when you push for more VA funding. Syndicated columnist Robert Novak gives us an interesting look into the demise of Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), former Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Novak, by anyone's definition an arch-conservative, has stinging words for the Bush Administration in his column, “GOP: The Price of Being Right.” His basic thesis is: step out of line and pay the price.
Rep. Smith was always considered a friend of veterans, but was known to lock horns with Republican leadership when he pushed for more VA funding. He was unceremoniously removed from his Chairmanship and replaced with Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN), who has shown himself to be no friend of veterans.
What we now know is that both Principi and Rep. Smith were right. The VA is terribly underfunded, especially the healthcare portion of the budget. And, the Bush Administration has had to do an about-face and deal with that reality.
The Senate is asking for $1.5 billion more for VA healthcare and the House, on orders from the White House, is asking for only $975 million. Now the White House is rethinking that lower number and wants to add $300 million. All of this will be sorted out the week of July 25th when Congress works out a VA budget compromise.
Principi was right, and he's gone. Rep. Smith was right, and he was demoted. The lesson to be learned here, according to Novak, is “an orderly Republican Party does not dwell on mistakes, even to figure out what went wrong.” And the GOP still hasn't figured it out. They keep applying Band-Aids to the gaping wounds in the VA healthcare budget.
Not only does the GOP sacrifice their own who disagree with the Party, they completely ignore legitimate legislative efforts from the opposition. The hard work of Senator Patty Murray(D-WA), Rep. Brian Baird(D-WA) and many other Democrats to fully fund the VA have been consistently voted down on party lines.
The sad part of all of this is that veterans end up paying the price. No matter what compromises are reached on VA healthcare funding, the dollar figure will fall far short of what is needed to treat all qualified veterans.
Every day more veterans come into the VA system. More than one million troops have cycled through Iraq and Afghanistan. Studies show at least 30 percent of those troops will have PTSD issues. Add to that the wounded and injured, and you have a patient load the VA cannot possibly handle without proper funding.
It's time for veterans to realize that partisan politics must be put aside when it comes to VA funding. As the politicians argue about who did what to whom and what amount is the right amount, veterans are waiting for healthcare. Some of those veterans never get the healthcare. Some of those veterans die.
Former VA Secretary Principi, well before he was removed from office, gave all veterans the call to arms. Principi said, "History is littered with governments destabilized by masses of veterans who believed that they had been taken for fools by a society that grew rich and fat at the expense of their hardship and suffering."