The Comment Factory

It’s hard to think of a more nauseating spectacle than George W. Bush – draft dodging, chicken hawk extraordinaire – turning on his lacrimal glands for U.S. veterans. But as the country drew together yesterday for the annual national holiday to honor their fighting men and women, there was the commander-in-chief waxing unlyricallly about the “inspiration” he has gotten from the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, his wide-eyes and rictus smile belying his solemn tone.

The media reported his words conscientiously but failed to add the apposite context, which as usual is important. Because not only did Bush and his cronies do the obvious and send the young men and women into harms way for a completely pointless war costing 4,192 American and over a million Iraqi souls. This “war President” has also overseen the calculated destruction of the thin safety net that helps veterans as they cope with the health problems bought on by war.

In 2005, only two years into the war in Iraq, Bush was widely condemned for his budget for veterans health care which fell well short of maintaining the levels of the years before, bearing in mind the huge numbers of new soldiers returning from war. In that year not only did Bush try to double the co-payment that veterans would pay for prescription drugs, he also proposed a flat $250 new fee for some veterans to use the health care. Even Republican Sen. Daniel K. Akaka warned at the time that this could put 192,000 out of the veterans health care system because of the price hike. Later in 2005 it was revealed that the Bush administration had left a $1 billion shortage for veterans health care that had to be plugged by emergency supplemental funds voted for by Congress again.

In 2006, with discretionary spending apparently needing to be cut to deal with the massive deficit, the White House predicted a 16% cut in veterans health care, despite the increasing numbers of veterans needing the services. In that budget year Congress had to add another $2.7 billion emergency funding to the Veterans Association on top of Bush’s budget.

Under the current Bush plan being touted, even though the number of soldiers needing treatment in veterans health care has been rising about 5% per year, in 2009 the budget would be cut again and kept at this smaller number until 2012. The hope is Obama will find a way around these disgraceful estimates and re-evaluate the priorities of a administration which has lost any bearings they once had.

The effect of turning veterans health care from the most important of government responsibilities into an expendable superfluity has had painful consequences for the veterans of the U.S. Vast numbers of soldiers are returning with mental health problems ranging from schizophrenia to post-traumatic stress disorder, but a study in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that in 2004 1.8 million veterans were without health insurance, that constitutes 12% of all uninsured people in the U.S. The number of uninsured grew 290,000 from 2000, Bush’s first year, to 2004, two years into his “war on terror”.

This year the Bush administration was even employing lawyers to fight a case that had been bought to insist that mental health should be included in health care provisions for veterans. You did read that right: the Bush administration somehow doesn’t think mental health qualifies as a health issue.

Yesterday Bush unsurprisingly didn’t mention his squalid record on looking after the veterans of his wars of ideology:

“I am committed to making sure that today’s veterans get all the health care and support they need from the federal government for agreeing to serve in a time of danger,” he said.

And the headlines read: “Bush praises veterans on Veterans Day”, when they should have been, “Bush praises veterans on Veterans Day, while destroying their health care”.

There are many ironies to Bush’s tenure: some, like his IQ, are comical; some, like this one, are just tragic. Despite the Republican Party’s insistence that they are the party of patriotism and strength and “country first”, over the last eight years they have treated the veterans of their wars like every other group that infringes on their ability to stuff cash into the pockets of their rich friends. McCain’s plan was even worse than Bush: he wanted to privatize veterans health care, turn it into a market-oriented trust; just imagine what would have happened during the financial crisis if this had happened. It’s time to fight the Republicans on their own turf and say the patent truth: they just really don’t care about vets or anyone else who isn’t rolling money.