Republicans screw the troop

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 3:02 PM on February 7, 2006.

The linguistically slippery bumper sticker phrase support the troops has tortured the Enlightenment-lovin' ears of many a liberal by cornering them into conflating support for the troops with support for the war.

Antiwar = anti-troops in that understanding.

Progressives have sought to "recapture" the phrase by pairing it with ...bring them home though admittedly, these are both ways of spinning a phrase that has almost no intrinsic meaning.

The only real meaning for support the troops is by providing them with the essentials they need to protect themselves and with adequate benefits upon their return... and for a lifetime.

It's not only the ethical thing to do but it's also a national security issue as it promotes future enlistment. A sufficient military. Security.

That's why, without spin or equivocation, I can safely say that Bush and the Republicans do not support the troops. Again. To say otherwise is to risk linguistic irrelevance. And you don't want that.

Bob Geiger quotes Democrat Chris Dodd, arguing for a pro-vet amendment, supported by the American Legion: "We know last year that over 100,000 Iraqi veterans returned home. Yet the administration's fiscal year 2006 budget for the VA was only prepared to handle 23,000 veterans... There are shortfalls in every state across the country. There are shortfalls in private facilities as well as public ones. This amendment is for us finally to say let's do something for these people."

Geiger comments: "So what’s the big problem with Dodd’s legislation? It asks for a minor rollback in the capital gains tax cuts the Bush administration has given to the richest one-fifth of one percent of Americans..."

And just like the other amendment that would roll back some tax cuts for the wealthy to buy armor that the troops, it fell 53-44.

Keep screwing the troops to line the pockets of the wealthy and Rumsfeld's You go to war with the army you have will be revised to You go to war with the army you have left. (BobGeiger)

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Evan Derkacz is a New York-based writer and contributor to AlterNet.