American Wounded and Disabled Vets - Duped and Dumped

Systemic and deliberate, the cold indifference and criminal neglect targeted against physically and psychologically wounded members of the American Armed Forces is rooted deep within the power structure inherent to the corporate classism that has infected American Democracy.

War with all its accessories, has over the last century, become America's principal export. Militarism has galloped roughshod over human decency ridden by the demons of neoconservativism. Hungry for complete authoritarian power and fiendishly addicted to arms trade profits, corporate elitists have highjacked the American Constitution, and hold it hostage still. They are obsessed with American control of the entire planet and control of the realm of space beyond Earth's atmosphere. The lust of American Imperialists for a Global Empire is destroying the United States and her people.

Wounded soldiers simply don't matter in the wake of such an ambitious agendum. Non-elite personnel are, after all, expendable. The military definition of expendable which applies to personnel, equipment, or supplies is: capable of being sacrificed in order to accomplish a military objective. An American Global Empire, like the ill-fated, irresponsible invasion and occupation of Iraq is NOT a necessary military objective.

Photo courtesy Vietnam Veterans Against The War (1972)
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The Duped Part - or - What if They Gave a War and Nobody Came?

Young men and women are brainwashed when they go through basic training. The whole process is geared to break the individual down and replace their mental sense of themselves, abilities to question, to reason, and to think, with automatated, blind obedience. The German High Command used these methods to perfect obedient soldiers who, without question, would carry out the orders of their Fuher, Adolph Hitler.

While these young people, whose brains have not yet fully matured, are being stripped of their humanity and intellectual capabilities, they are fed on a steady diet of propaganda particular to whichever kings, despots, or cabal of elites they have sworn to serve.

Many of the current crop of American soldiers enlisted to defend their families, to fight the enemy "over there" so they could not destroy us "over here". Unfortunately, many were also led to believe that Iraqis were responsible for 9/11 and didn't inform themselves enough to question.

Young Americans are raised to think that "LOYALTY" means that they OWE the government their lives - that it is their lot to SACRIFICE. This type of PROPAGANDA has trickled down to the working and middle classes, from the elite ruling class, as patriotic, moral values that they themselves do not embrace. Hiding behind old world, feudalistic, double standards enables those who create war for profit and empire, to avoid endangering their family members or themselves.

We owe the government in Washington D.C. NOTHING; certainly not our limbs, minds, lives or loved ones. The President, the Vice President, and the Congress are our EMPLOYEES and they are not doing their jobs! They have failed to represent the American people by waging an aggressive war of choice. The illegal invasion of Iraq was launched with the ultimate goals of an extended occupation that would ensure the control of Iraq's natural resources (OIL) and the establishment of permanent mega bases from which the war could be expanded into Iran and Syria.

Eventually, many soldiers who are on the front lines, wake up to realize that they have been lied to and used. Then, they fight only to survive, or to save the lives of their buddies. Our military has been misused, misled, and abused. When soldiers can't fight anymore, they are dumped. Forced to fight through bureaucratic garbage for the care that is owed to them, these wounded soldiers continue to suffer, while the money for the care that was promised them is diverted to support more war.

What if they gave a war and nobody came? What if the Germans had refused to fight for Hitler? What if the Japanese had refused to fight for the Emperor. Kings cannot rule without armies. Conquerors cannot invade alone. And, Imperialists cannot colonize and exploit without the use of armed forces. American Imperialists cannot dominate the globe if "We the People" refuse to commit war crimes by refusing to fight. Support the troops by withdrawing all support for wars on foreign soil.

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Diversionary Tactics - or - Screw the Wounded Soldiers and Disabled Veterans

Why are wounded soldiers and disabled veterans treated so badly? They are no longer useful, and they are a direct financial threat to the American military industrial security complex and all the gluttons who stuff themselves at its pork-filled trough.

How are war wounded and disabled vets systematically kept from the medical and psychiatric care that is rightfully and humanely theirs? And, where are the funds and the personnel to care for the mounting needs of wounded soldiers and disabled vets? The following are some of the BULLSHIT tactics used to channel attention and funds away from those who need care along with the destinations of those funds:

- PSYCHOLOGICAL PRESSURE
is used at various levels of the chain of command to dissuade soldiers from seeking mental health help. Soldiers are sometimes refused permission to seek needed treatment. Soldiers are made to feel as if they are weak, not manly, making it up, or betraying their unit if they need or seek mental health intervention. Mental health problems and PTSD are often treated as non issues. Those who are mentally traumatized are sometimes ostracized or punished instead of treated. Recently, traumatized soldiers are being plied with psychotropic drugs and sent back into combat.

- THERE HAS BEEN AN ONGOING CAMPAIGN TO DOWNPLAY THE SERIOUSNESS OF PTSD, CANCER FROM AGENT ORANGE, GULF WAR SYNDROME, AND NOW, CANCER AND RADIATION SICKNESS FROM EXPOSURE TO DEPLETED URANIUM.
Since the Vietnam War, disabled veterans and their families have been fighting for medical care and financial compensation because of the very serious, debilitating illnesses mentioned above. The American government has concentrated its efforts to disprove the existence of and or minimize the devastating effects of those illnesses. Our government has even accused very sick people of lying and trying to "steal" from Uncle Sam.

- TREACHERY, TRICKERY, AND DRUGS
are being used to "dupe" wounded and disabled vets into signing away their medical care. Soldiers are over-medicated to keep them confused and subdued. Doped up they aren't likely to DEMAND better care.

Families of soldiers suffering Traumatic Brain Injury are being encouraged to place their loved ones in nursing homes without the patient having been treated with the aggressive cognitive rehabilitation necessary for recovery from TBI.

The are no advocates within the military medical system who act in the interest of the wounded soldier. The system is geared to exploit the wounded while protecting the government.

- ANTIQUATED RECORD KEEPING EQUIPTMENT AND UNDERSTAFFED FACILITIES
The US military has state-of-the-art, computerized weaponry that is extremely costly but cannot manage medical records within the military health care system or between the military health care system and the VA health care system. The entire military medical system is understaffed leaving soldier patients waiting months for appointments and necessary care.

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- Skewed Priorities - or - Where does our money go?

The following are glaring examples of the skewed priorities and twisted values practiced by the Pentagon and the current neoconservative Administration in the White House.


- VIP CARE AND SUITES AVAILABLE FOR GOVERNMENTAL ELITES AT WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER
This is a disgusting misuse of taxpayers funds. Consider that the President, Vice President, and members of Congress are paid well enough to be wealthy. They should pay for their own medical care and use the same care that the taxpayers are forced to use. BUT NO... The suite-filled top floor of Walter Reed Army Medical Center is set aside for the Prez, his wife, the Vice, federal judges, members of Congress, high-ranking military officers, and the President's Cabinet... Oh No... That means that Karl Rove gets better medical care than our wounded troops, in cushy surroundings, and WE ARE PAYING for it! The TROOPS are more IMPORTANT than those people. Close the VIP floor and send the money and the staff to take care of the wounded!!!!!!!

See slide show of special suites for the elite here.

- NAVAL WASTE
Two carrier groups have been deployed to the Persian Gulf region, the USS Eisenhower and group and the USS Stennis and group. The Bush Administration wants to expand its war for oil into Iran.

How much is it costing us for these ships and their crews to threaten and/or attack Iran?

- WEAPONS FOR OUTER SPACE - or - STARWARS, THE SEQUAL
Rumsfeld famously streamlined our military. He streamlined it so well that our soldiers still lack protective vests and armored vehicles. What did Rummy and the Pentagon do with all of the money they saved by not supporting the troops? They sneakily diverted the dough to fund "Weapons for Space"!

The Bush warmongers have declared to the rest of the world that outer space is now American territory. No more collaborative space programs, no more research, space will from this point on will be patrolled by the American military. Why? Well, it sure isn't to promote peace. The control of space will allow America to bully and attack any country that does not submit to American power. Bush and the Republican neoconservatives are planning an EMPIRE. We have become the Nazis that our fathers so bravely fought in Europe during WWII.

Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon are drooling at the unimaginable profits they are raking in while our wounded and their families languish.

- LITTLE BASES, BIG BASES, MEGA BASES - THE AMERICAN EMPIRE HAS BASES EVERYWHERE
"There are 192 recognized nations on Earth; the U.S. has troops in 135 of them." There are 737 known U.S. military bases on foreign soils, an unknown number of outposts (hundreds) and an unknown number of secret prisons and torture chambers established and run by the CIA and the U.S. military.

EMPIRE costs hundreds of billions of dollars. The U.S. government spends next to nothing on peaceful non-aggressive methods of interacting with its neighbors. Pertetual, preemptive wars are draining our coffers. Billions in funds are continually being skimmed from the troops and the American public. These funds are then directed by stealth toward base building.

There are 14 large bases in Iraq: four of them are "Mega Bases" ( the size of a medium-sized city. They are permanent but labeled with the misleading term, "enduring". The Bush Administration and Gen. Petraeus are planning to cycle troops through the mega bases in Iraq for the next 10 years! Someone has to guard the oil fields that western oil companies will be developing and profiting from.

Lives are being wasted, our soldiers and veterans are being neglected, and money is being wasted that we don't even have. China owns the majority of the debt run up by Bush and the oilboys, and we are hated all over the globe.

IT IS TIME FOR US TO FIGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY HERE! GET ANGRY!

DEBATE, DISSENT, QUESTION, INVESTIGATE, & DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!


* Sorry not to have posted for so long. It has taken me two weeks to research and write this. I am outraged. There was a major march against the war here and I have been spring cleaning, too. I hope everyone is well. Peace.
.............Kitchen Window Woman...............

Resident Scholar, American Patriot Institute