by James Glaser
February 10, 2004

President Bush correctly tells America, "I'm a War President." That is true, but strutting around with his chest out, wearing a borrowed flight suit from a real pilot doesn't fill the job he should be doing.

President Bush is the Commander in Chief of all of our military forces. He should be looking out for the troops, but he isn't.

The Congress, both the House and the Senate gave George Bush the power to send our troops into harms way, but they too have fallen down on the job of giving our troops what they need to protect our country and themselves

Everywhere in America we see the flag displayed and signs on every shop door saying, "We Support the Troops." Bullshit, America does not support the troops. Not the President, not the Congress, and certainly not the American People.

From an article written by Keith Garvin for ABC News, "Mothers like Pene Palifka are out buying body armor, at a cost of over a thousand dollars, for her son Billy who is serving in the National Guard in Iraq." She says, "By purchasing something for my son, then that means hopefully some where down the line somebody else that's overseas will have adequate equipment."

Representative John Larson, D-Conn., a member of the House Armed Services Committee has introduced a Bill to repay the families of troops who buy their own gear.

This goes along with the Bill introduced to stop wounded troops from having to pay for their meals while in Military Hospitals recovering from wounds. How about the Bill introduced to pay the travel expense for troops coming home on a 15 day leave that have to pay their way to and from Iraq?

The President is out strutting, Congress is all Patriotic and the American people are waving flags while our troops are buying their own equipment so they can fight for us. Remember our troops have no say in their deployment. If they think this war is wrong they can't opt out, well, maybe if their dad is in Congress like the President's was when he was supposed to serve they could, but that is an exception most don't have.

Just this week the Secretary of Veterans Affairs is telling us that his Department has been cut by the White House to the tune of 1.2 billion dollars. In this country under our present leadership, if you can no longer bleed for America, all promises are off on health care for veterans.

Marines heading back over to Iraq for a second tour are out buying the equipment they know they will need with their own money. Meanwhile in Washington there are contracts worth billions of dollars being given out to civilian contractors and even though we are spending over 400 billion dollars on the military, it isn't trickling down to the troops.

President Bush has nothing to say about this problem and neither does Congress. Even though it has been publicized about troops buying their own equipment since before the war started, the American Public has not raised an outcry about how wrong this is.

Shame on all of us! War Time Presidents and a War Time Congress should be making sure each and every Soldier and Marine, Airman and Sailor, has the "best equipment" they will need to do their jobs. God knows we are spending enough money so that should not be a problem.

Every American that claims they support the troops should demand the best equipment for those men and women that are willing to die for our country and when they come home maimed and wounded, they should get the best care we can give then, because they have earned it.