Monday, February 28, 2005

Raindrops fallin' on my head

OK, it's time for every Viet Nam era vet to sit up and take notice: The Bush Administration is trying to desert you. Higher co-pays, less access to VA doctors and hospitals, and now this, from Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General who thinks you have the right to torture captives, which means, you know, that the enemy has the right to torture you.

Read this in today's NYTimes, and get really really angry:

The Justice Department is urging a federal judge in Brooklyn to dismiss a lawsuit aimed at forcing a re-examination of one of the most contentious issues of the Vietnam War, the use of the defoliant Agent Orange.
. . .

One of the plaintiffs' lawyers, Constantine P. Kokkoris, said in an interview that the Justice Department's argument was misplaced because the government had not beenued in the case. He said the lawsuit raised questions about the conduct of the corporations that were limited to their supplying what he called contaminated herbicide.

The chemical companies argue that they produced Agent Orange following government specifications and that its use in Vietnam was necessary to protect American soldiers. They have long argued that there is no clear link between exposure to Agent Orange and many of the health problems attributed to it.


No clear link, eh? Hey G. I. Joe, moybe you came back OK, but did you have any buddies that weren't so lucky? The documentation is pretty clear. Too many men came back with serious afflictions traced to Agent Orange exposure. And many of these were men who believed in the cause, or at least, accepted their fates during those traumatic days of the Draft.

So your government asked, no, demanded that you go and get your ass shot at. And this is how they continue to repay you? Do the soldiers returning from Iraq have it any better? Or how about those from Gulf War I, who are showing signs of illness. Is this how they should be treated?

Any of you who have served in the military and who still support this terrible war and the government's treatment of your brothers and sisters, I just have one question:

What the hell is wrong with you?

No comments: