Pravda, anyone?
Aug. 5th, 2003 03:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsOne of the more salient comments about the Soviet Union was that nobody in the country knew what the Hell was going on inside. To learn about what it's goverment was really up to, Soviet citizens had to turn to outside press, like that from the UK.
Guess what? Now, so do we. The Bush administration and the U.S. press have been silent about this: the number of soldiers killed in Iraq since "the end of hostilities" is more than twice what we've been told. Even NPR this morning repeated the statistic of 52 combat deaths, but nobody has informed us that in fact 112 soldiers have died, most of them in accidents related to the Iraqi enviroment. Three have been suicides. And, more imporantly, we haven't been kept abreast of nearly a thousand wounded, including those who have been seriously maimed and will suffer for the rest of their lives as a result of this war. The total number of soldiers killed since the beginning of hostilities is nearly 240, twice what we took in Gulf War 1.
I understand the concept of a "just war," but this keeping the truth out of the press for fear of demoralizing the citizens is irresponsible journalism in the extreme.
In a nutshell, why I loathe Bush: The mother of all big spenders: Bush spends like Carter and panders like Clinton.
I know, I promised I wouldn't post news more than once a day. But this is really infuriating me.
Guess what? Now, so do we. The Bush administration and the U.S. press have been silent about this: the number of soldiers killed in Iraq since "the end of hostilities" is more than twice what we've been told. Even NPR this morning repeated the statistic of 52 combat deaths, but nobody has informed us that in fact 112 soldiers have died, most of them in accidents related to the Iraqi enviroment. Three have been suicides. And, more imporantly, we haven't been kept abreast of nearly a thousand wounded, including those who have been seriously maimed and will suffer for the rest of their lives as a result of this war. The total number of soldiers killed since the beginning of hostilities is nearly 240, twice what we took in Gulf War 1.
I understand the concept of a "just war," but this keeping the truth out of the press for fear of demoralizing the citizens is irresponsible journalism in the extreme.
In a nutshell, why I loathe Bush: The mother of all big spenders: Bush spends like Carter and panders like Clinton.
The nation's budgetary situation continues to deteriorate because the administration's fiscal policy has been decidedly more about politics than policy. Even the tax cuts, which happened to be good policy, were still political in nature considering their appeal to the Republican's conservative base. At the same time, the politicos running the Bush reelection machine have consistently tried to placate or silence the liberals and special interests by throwing money at their every whim and desire. In mathematical terms, the administration calculates that satiated conservatives plus silenced liberals equals reelection.
I know, I promised I wouldn't post news more than once a day. But this is really infuriating me.
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What you don't know...
Date: 2003-08-06 02:01 am (UTC)On the home front, most of the support for the families of deployed soldiers has been yanked. What remains is almost all in the form of Family Readiness Groups, spouse-run organizations that vary from excellent sources of support to useless uppity social clubs. Many units in 4th ID didn't even have FRGs until the troops deployed. Some still don't. I take care of several families that have little or no support from their units.
The hazardous duty pay, separation pay, etc. is nice. I'm taking advantage of it by spending the deployment working on my education. I'd rather have my husband home to get to know his new son, though.
Anyhow, I'm going to shut up now before I say more than I ought to. (There is certainly much more to be said.) I keep quieter than I might because I don't want to make the military look bad. The officers, NCOs, and civilian workers I've worked with in FRG, ACS, and other settings here have been great. My husband's 1SG and CO spent a great deal of the last days before they left helping me set up resources for the families to rely on in their absence. Not all units and companies are so lucky, but many are.
I really wish I had a way to get it through the politicians' heads that this is about more than approval ratings.
Re: What you don't know...
Date: 2003-08-06 03:42 am (UTC)You have a chance to affect people's opinions. Maybe if more of their constituents knew about the situation, the politicians would care more - because the voters would care more.
Re: What you don't know...
Date: 2003-08-06 06:52 am (UTC)Warning: incoming rant
Date: 2003-08-06 07:57 am (UTC)When I tell people that things are worse than the government is admitting, that many families were unprepared for deployment, that the families lack adequate support, and that when they are not deployed most enlisted don't make enough to support their families, I don't seem to get across the fact that our government and our society at large have stopped taking care of those who protect them.
What people seem to read into all of my concern is that the military don't really take care of their own, and that soldiers don't make good parents or spouses. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing it.
We expect our constitution to be upheld and our basic rights guaranteed to us. However, people these days don't want to pay the price for that. War isn't pretty, it's not politically correct, and American society refuses to give it any thought except during the five minutes following an attack on our freedom.
What happens outside of those five minutes is that supporting our military has become dispensable in the eyes of our politicians. They really aren't going to lose votes by cutting a few dollars here and a few more there--at least not as many as they would gain by giving America a 79 cent tax decrease. They will only help themselves by downplaying a war to the point of tying our soldiers' hands in deadly situations.
The result is that good soldiers either don't stay soldiers for long, or they become so disillusioned with the military that they stop caring and are no longer good soldiers.
Freedom simply isn't free. It costs soldiers dearly. There are good men and women willing to pay that price, but not at the expense of their families, their freedom, their dreams, and their sanity. Why do we let our politicians tie our soldiers' hands in deadly situations for a couple of points on their approval ratings? Why are the programs that educate our soldiers running out of funds and turning eager minds away? Why do the people sending our men and women in uniform to war have more money than I would know what to do with, but the soldiers who bleed and endure and even die for their country often need food stamps to afford to eat? We are one of few enlisted families with children I know who aren't on welfare, and one of even fewer where either the enlisted member or spouse has any kind of education. That is sad.
When my husband's ETS date come up, he is planning to leave the military. The army isn't losing my husband because of his 1SG or his CO or my barracks rats. The army is losing him because of the politicians who are happy to sacrifice a soldier's family and his/her future in order to look a little more politically correct, and because of the voters who support those decisions. What's worse is that he is one of many good soldiers our military is losing to politics.