I am filled with dread and outrage this morning. The signs are all there, Shinseki's head is on the block. I fear it is way to late to save it.
Am I the only one that remembers that it was Shinseki that advised George Bush that he needed 100,ooo more troops in order to invade Iraq? And that, for his honest opinion, he was fired !
So we entered Iraq and boy, we were just spectacular ! Until it came time to keep everything safe and to run the interim government. Our soldiers, protecting the arms caches in large Quonset hut buildings, were told to abandon their positions to go elsewhere. the soldiers, as I remember it, said they saw the enemy come in and overtake the arms caches. Not much later, our soldiers were being blown to bits by improvised explosive devices most likely made from the munitions in those buildings.
All of which, it seems to me, could have been avoided had Bush simply heeded Shinseki's advice. Things continued to go badly for years until finally, the "surge" was proposed, which basically meant adding the troop that Shinseki had said were needed in the very beginning.
So then, Shinseki gets appointed to the VA. One of his first acts was to allow veterans who had previously been denied the opportunity to sign up for benefits, the opportunity to at least initiate their cases. Already in a huge backlog, this was not the best political move but Shinseki said at the time that it was THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
So now, the Republicans have his head on the block even though they have continue to vote UNANAMOUSLY to deny more funding to the VA to fix the problem.
Apparently, for the flag waving Republicans, we have enough money for any hair brained war that can be drummed up but for the veterans that fight it, that lose limbs and faces and sometimes their minds, there just isn't enough money.
I am sickened by it all and I will be especially sick when Shinseki is served up for the Republican flag waving cannibals.
Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.
- More Maxims of Mark, Johnson, 1927