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U.S. Army Photo |
“The American Legion is glad that the president vetoed this irresponsible legislation but saddened that Congress let it get this far,” Morin said. “First the House passed a blueprint for disaster and then the Senate passed a recipe for surrender. There can only be one commander in chief and he should be the one to determine when the mission is complete.”
Morin said it is essential that Congress immediately pass a bill that the president can sign – one that contains the necessary funding but not the deadlines. “The troops need Congress to fund their mission. It is immoral for Congress to approve a military mission and then not want to pay for it once the troops are in harm’s way. You can not possibly say `I support the troops but I don’t want to pay for their bullets, beans and billeting while in combat.’”
Morin pointed out that the bill contained billions of dollars in unrelated pork. “The congressional leadership knew that the only way they could pass this cut-and-run proposal was to entice members to vote for funding unrelated projects. Congress needs to pass a serious funding bill to win the war and it needs to pass it now,” Morin said.
Gen. David Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Forces Iraq, has voiced concern that the timeline would send a message to the enemy to keep fighting. “Just a few months ago the Senate unanimously confirmed Gen. Petraeus to lead the Iraq mission. Let’s give him a chance to succeed,” Morin said. “We also can not send a message to our allies that we will abandon them in their time of need. We made that mistake in Vietnam and Somalia – examples that were cited by Osama bin Laden himself.”
Founded in 1919, the 2.7 million-member American Legion is the nation’s preeminent service organization for veterans of the U.S. armed forces, including active duty, National Guard and Reserves, and their families. A powerful voice for veterans in Washington, The American Legion drafted the original GI Bill and was instrumental in establishing the agency that today is the Federal Department of Veterans Affairs.
Comments (6)
Fantastic article. It points out what every citizen of the United State shoud know. Members of Congress and the Senate are not military experts. Let our active Generals and our President run our military and not the Congress or the Senate.
Posted by Myril | 05/02/07 1:43 PM |
We could not agree more and we depend on you to inform the public on this matter.
Posted by Admin | 05/07/07 6:32 PM |
I think it's a great thing that the president also suppored increased tricare co-pays and a reduced pay increase for all servicemembers in 2008! Those troops are definitely overpaid and don't need a 3.5% increase when a 3.0% would do just fine. They should just ride out their third tours in Iraq and keep quiet. It's a shame that Congress overrode the President's decision. The President should have the right to deny troops pay increases in a time of war. If anyone isn't making enough sacrifices, it's our troops.
Posted by Mark | 09/05/07 6:47 AM |
The president is holding our overworked and battle-weary troops hostage in the Middle East. That is not "supporting the troops", nor is it right. It is dishonest to expect the troops to carry out their duties without a rational plan or honest support from a morally corrupt administration led by Bush and Cheney, two chickenhawks extraordinaire.
How about some honesty?
Posted by Charles Dabkowski | 12/04/07 12:21 PM |
I was looking at your website and thinking of joining and then i saw this article. What the last guy said. Screw you and your neoCON chickenhawks.
Let me know when Bush and Cheney and Clinton and all the NeoCONS and the talking heads on your tv and radio send their precious kids overseas to fight their BS wars without end.
Posted by WB | 02/24/08 8:21 PM |
They will never send their kids to a fabricated war like this one. This administration is profiting big time with this war that is not about protecting US citizens, is about using them to make money for big corporations, they don't care about Americans, and is a shame that the media and organizations like this one don't contribute to convey the facts of what is really going on out there and betray the American people instead...
Posted by Alex | 03/13/08 3:43 PM |