Under bush the republican Congresses and Two Wars

There's another Very Important House Committee on Veterans' Affairs hearing taking place Today. As important as all that have in both the House and the Senate since the 110th Congress, covering issues that weren't even mentioned nor as the many complaints rose, over a number of issues, were meaningful Congressional Investigations nor Hearings held, as two invasions and still ongoing occupations were started and only grew over these last close to a decade now!

It wasn't only with the do nothing politicians, it also came from those that supported them and these wars. As they slapped magnetic ribbons on their vehicles, quickly to disappear and not be replaced and claimed they were the true patriots who really supported the troops. It's carried into the last couple of years under a label that shows the total hypocrisy of these same citizens, the so called TEA Party, outraged at everything Government with no mention of their own complicity. They use the Military and Veterans in their false patriotism, in word and symbol, but Never Once Demanding that they even start 'Sacrificing' themselves after all these years, quite the opposite is their stand!

This House Hearing is titled: Personality Disorders Discharges: Impact on Veterans’ Benefits and if you want to listen or watch, already in session, you can do so with this link which brings up the House live stream. The Hearing will be archived at the site link after it concludes.

You can visit the site link now and read the opening statements of the participants, I'm listening now but will give a couple of cuts of a few of the first testimonies given.

This is the first of four panel members that are still seated at this point.

Panel 1
Sergeant Chuck Luther, Killeen, TX
Joshua Kors, Investigative Reporter, The Nation. Magazine

The Sergeant, at the moment is frankly getting chewed out for his testimony as it's being called, and was somewhat as in not regarding him, hear say without actual facts.

These cuts below are from Joshua Kors statement, he at present is sticking up for the Sergeant, and I'm sure there will be similar coming.

Whoops the House member complaining, didn't catch who it was, just walked from the hearing, I believe he was the minority chairman, he was seated right next to the chairman to his left, but not sure at the moment.

In the three and a half years I’ve been reporting on this story, I’ve interviewed dozens of soldiers discharged with personality disorder. All of them passed that original screening and were accepted into the Army. They were deemed physically and psychologically fit in a second screening as well, before being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and served honorably there in combat. In each case, it was only when they became physically wounded and sought benefits that their pre-existing condition was discovered.

Snip

Since 2001, the military has pressed 22,600 soldiers into signing these personality disorder documents, at a savings to the military of over $12.5 billion in disability and medical benefits. The sergeant’s story was Part 3 in my series on personality disorder. In Part 2, I interviewed military doctors who talked about the pressure on them to purposely misdiagnose wounded soldiers. One told the story of a soldier that came back with a chunk missing from his leg. His superiors pressured him to diagnose that as personality disorder.

In 2008, after several congressmen expressed outrage at these discharges, President Bush signed a law requiring the Pentagon to study PD discharges. Five months later the Pentagon delivered its report. Its conclusion: not a single soldier had been wrongly diagnosed, and not a single soldier had been wrongly discharged. During this five-month review, Pentagon officials interviewed no one, not even the soldiers whose cases they were reviewing.

Three years ago, during a hearing on personality disorder discharges, military officials sat in these seats and vowed to this committee to fix this problem. Three years later nothing has changed. {This link leads to the Testimony page}

The reason for these types of hearings shouldn't have been, they should have been already in the standards of the Military not only before sending them but being not Especially after the drums started beating! There shouldn't even be a political motive in taking care of these soldiers, nor any of us who've served before, this Country should be Demanding that any and all results of Wars it seeks and sends others into should be given top priority and with no dissenting negative votes by those we hire to represent.

This is one of many reasons that those who are still calling themselves republican should Not be in any position in the near nor coming future, not untill they understand what they're supposed to be doing in representing the citizens of their districts, All those citizens!!

Panel Two just seated and started.