I WANT GIs to get a college education as a benefit for serving. But there is a problem with this GI Bill as it is coming forward at this time. I hope I can make clear the concerns.
- It does not seem fair at all that the GI Bill college benefits go strictly to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans only. It is preferable to deal fairly with all vets and make the GI Bill apply to ALL veterans (not just those GIs who've fought in Bush's illegal "wars" in the Middle East).
- Senator Webb indicates that the GI Bill is intended to serve as an INDUCEMENT for recruitment to build the numbers of GIs in the military.
- The number of GIs in the military has dwindled AND RIGHTLY SO because the citizens of the U.S. have issues/concerns with the Bush "Wars", and both how GIs are being treated in the theater of military action...
...(inadequate equipment, failed provisions such as food and water, over-deployment outside service contract stipulations and military good sense, the unsuitability of using military methods for the tasks set by Bush, being exposed to extra risk due to Bush's illegal use of torture, etc.) and how GIs are treated when they return home (inadequate medical care, inadequate mental health care, GIs forced to pay out of their own pockets for injury-related services, etc.).
- The Congress and Bush have both REFUSED to respond to the Citizenry's issues/concerns about the illegal Bush "Wars" WHICH HAVE LED TO THE DROP IN RECRUITMENT. Congress should respond to the Citizenry's issues/concerns a) by defunding the illegal Bush Aggression in the Middle East, b) by forcing the Bush Administration to present audits and testimony as to why Congressional funding has not reached and met the needs of GIs in the Bush "Wars" (but rather been siphoned away in war profiteering scams), c) by getting to the bottom of the Bush Lies and crimes leading to both the 9/11 event and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and d) by removing the untenable risk to GIs by ending the Bush Torture Machine and Gulag.
- To put forward the GI Bill at this time PRIOR TO addressing the U.S. Citizenry's issues/concerns that have led to the drop in recruitment means that the GI Bill is not so much a "benefit" for GIs. INSTEAD, the GI Bill is a tool of trickery/bribery to increase recruitment in a form of 'Russian Roulette'. In this rigged game of chance, the Congress and Bush will continue to put GIs in the theater of an untenable illegal war and occupation of aggression against the resisting citizens of sovereign nations. GIs will continue to be used to fight without adequate support and equipment, and under the growing unnecessary risk of retaliation/retribution because of Bush's continuing use of torture and illegal open-ended detention. In this deadly and fixed gamble where Congress does nothing to better the odds for our GIs, only the GIs who escape death and dismemberment will ever get to further their educations.
It hurts alot to know that Congress cares so little for the GIs that they care more for a Recruitment Inducement tool than they care for actually bettering the chances of our GIs surviving and serving strictly in LEGAL, JUST, NECESSARY and what have been in the past considered 'honorable' conflicts and actions.
To create an INDUCEMENT TOOL to get GIs to fight in Halliburton-style War-Profiteering Aggressive Incursions is an injustice to all of us, our GIs, and the world as a whole.
The Legislators have put the cart before the horse on this one. Instead of using the DROP IN RECRUITMENT as an impetus to do something about this horrible Bush mistake, Congress is working to entice new recruits to be sacrificed in this imperialists' hell where our servicepeople have already suffered for FIVE YEARS. Nothing like doing the Right Thing for the absolutely Wrong Reason.
Will our Capitol Hill representatives EVER get it? Americans want out of the Mideast Money Pit NOW.