On March 31, the Sun Journal carried suitably patriotic text and photos: a young boy holding a GI Joe and a flag at a rally, a scowling anti-war demonstrator in Philadelphia, Peter Arnett dumped by NBC for failing to follow the Pentagon script, a letter urging anti-war demonstrators not to “mistreat” members of the armed forces.
Yellow ribbons and flags are everywhere; Congress passed a resolution to support the troops. And the next day, the House voted 215 to 212 on the 2004 budget, which includes funding cuts for veterans’ health care and benefits of $25 billion over the next 10 years.
How this supports the troops is a mystery to me.
Cuts to the Veterans Administration hospitals are an under-reported story.
The story of the effects of depleted uranium on Gulf War and Balkans veterans and the people of Iraq and Kosovo is barely covered at all, but the DU that was loaded into warheads used in the Gulf War continues to find its way into the bodies of soldiers and civilians; studies of its effects are considered controversial.
What is certain is that it would cost billions to clean up DU in Iraq and any soldiers who present symptoms from exposure will find their cases in a long line of unprocessed claims to the VA.
Perhaps we should worry less about anti-war demonstrators “mistreating” returning vets and ask some hard questions about how the Bush administration intends to treat them.
Renee Cote, Auburn
Send questions/comments to the editors.
