Bush Talks Tough About Veterans Care

With the tragic conditions at Walter Reed continuing to be on display in the media, President Bush is finally addressing it almost two weeks after the Washington Post broke the story on the squalid conditions that some of the hospital's veterans endure. As usual, George Bush made claims that he was going to seriously look at the problems that veterans face with their health care that the government provides. What he will actually do in reality is another story.

Bush proposed to name a bipartisan commission to look at all the government's facilities. He will even devote his weekly radio address to veterans' care. So let the talking begin, while real action languishes. Despite the rhetoric, Bush's record in the last six years is atrocious when it comes to taking care of those that serve our nation in combat. The Veterans Adminstration has seen deep cuts over the years and now it can be seen that even the army has cut funding for the care of the wounded. Those cuts are hard to justify with their ever-increasing budget that the President and until recently, the Republican Congress has granted them. With over half a trillion dollars in their budget in addition to the hundreds of billions spent on the war, we still see that our nation's soldiers are mistreated and abused.

If the President wants to really do something, he will cut back the funds that go to military contractors and fully fund the VA. Then he will force the Pentagon to adequately fund (if not go above and beyond) the hospitals that care for the thousands that have been wounded by his illegitimate war. Of course, the President is talking this weekend but somehow I don't see much action in the future.