Why does this administration hate Veterans?

[MtSmalls]

While the incompetent leaders of our armed forces blew their own horns this week (because they can't find anything else to blow), they are also systematically dismantling the VA.

Bush at Ft Hood: "Iraqis want to be led by their own countrymen. We'll help them achieve that object. And then our troops can come home with the honor they deserve." Great sentiment. bring them home as soon as feasible. Just don't come home wounded, or expect to be taken care of when you do get home.

Rumsfeld in Iraq "We don't really have an exit strategy. We have a victory strategy". Uh, right.

Back at home, the current budget, presented by the pResident and his adminstration, cuts $350 million from the Veterans Home Funding, which provide beds in nursing homes for veterans. VA prescription co-pays were tripled two years ago, and the current budget calls for doubling them again this year. One of the current brainstorms, is to have middle income vets pay $250 per year, JUST TO JOIN THE VA HEALTHCARE PROGRAM! Disabled American Vets and AMVETS estimate more than 500,000 vets will be priced out of the system under this new rule, if enacted.

Lets not forget the "stop loss" orders, the U.S.'s new backdoor draft. An Oregon National Guardsman, whose 8 year enlistment was up last June, was stop lossed four months later, and the Army re-set his military termination date to 2031. That's right 26 more years. Its not a mistake. His court case has been rejected by two appeals courts. The date was selected for “administrative convenience,” according to court papers.

Let's not forget the Administrations attack on vets from the first Gulf war. 17 POW's sued Iraq under the 1996 Anti-Terrorism Act, (many were tortured at Abu Ghraib) and won a judgement of $1 billion, to be taken from frozen Iraqi assets.

The former POWs' claims against Iraq were successfully contested by the Bush Administration, which immediately intervened in the case and argued before the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that any and all such claims against the Saddam regime were voided by the US invasion of Iraq. Iraq was a swell place, now. Democracy was on the march. The judges ruled unanimously in favor of the President and against the American former POWs. The Administration then killed a congressional resolution supporting the POWs.

U.S. courts no longer have jurisdiction to hear cases such as those filed by the Gulf War POWs,” then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage said in a letter to lawmakers. “Moreover, the president has ordered the vesting of blocked Iraqi assets for use by the Iraqi people and for reconstruction.”

So who is it exactly that supports our troops?