Bush regime stabs vets in the back (again)

When the neorightists talk about supporting the troops, it's just a slogan to them - for they've always got a knife hidden somewhere to stab America's brave fighting men and women in the back.

Now the Bush regime has done it yet again. Taking away injured soldiers' signing bonuses and trying to gut the VA wasn't enough to gratify the Decider, I guess.

The Pentagon is now changing the definition of combat-related disabilities in an effort to deny veterans the benefits that they're owed. (This blog's L.A. Times ban is again suspended.) Under this new rule, disabilities incurred by combat aren't necessarily combat-related disabilities.

Confused?

Take the case of a Marine who was injured in Iraq by a roadside bomb and a landmine. He received a traumatic brain injury, hearing loss, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other injuries. All disabling conditions, and all caused by combat, right?

Or what about an Army sergeant who had to have her hip replaced because of a mortar attack?

Well, according to the Decider-in-Chief's new rules, these aren't combat-related disabilities. Why? They aren't because they aren't. The nation's rulers say what they say because they say it. They don't necessarily rely on logic or fairness.

America's military budgets are squandered on fancy offices for high-ranking personnel, while disabled soldiers are denied thousands of dollars a year in benefits under the new rules.

I'm a lifelong civilian, and I despise war. But there are perhaps no words sufficient to express my disdain for those who stab the nation's veterans in the back with such mind-numbing attention to this sordid task.

Why does the Bush regime hate the troops?

(Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-combat25-2008nov25,0,3682816.story)