The Games People Play Part 2 - Military Medical Care - Vets to Active Duty

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Oh the Games People Play Now

Every night and every day now

Never meaning what they say now

Never saying what they mean now

Once upon a time there was no higher honor in America than to be a member of the armed forces.  But little and long wars have a way of desensitizing people to the dangers, the deaths and the casualties of war.

I remember after World War II that we celebrated our veterans and their role in world peace every year and multiple times a year during holidays, parades, and the many air and military shows that were ever present.

As a kid of a veteran we grew up to know every battle in every war our parents had fought in and we were thrilled to go to the military air shows and parades where all the planes and equipment that protect our parents was on display.

Over time the Korean War stalemate seemed to dampen the enthusiasm for the military and by the time college came and brought Vietnam there seemed to be no sense in why we were fighting wars as 55,000 of our classmates died.

America had become split.  And the more and more we learned about the war the more the prestige of the military, the intelligence agencies and our federal government lost popularity.

Then came 9/11 and the World Trade Center destruction and suddenly the nation rallied around the military and the government once more.  Faulty intelligence led to the invasion of Iraq and God only knows what led to the invasion of Afghanistan and we were suddenly pinned down into two wars without logic, without purpose and without the support of the nation.

Most certainly the arms industry, what President Eisenhower warned about when he said the military-industrial complex could become our biggest enemy against peace, has profited from these and every other war the last few centuries.

So have the financial institutions and Wall Street.

But the endless wars seemed to sap the enthusiasm of the public and suck the money out of our economy that was desperately needed for some crucial services.  While we were spending billions of dollars every year fighting wars that could never be won back home our infrastructure like roads, bridges, sewer and water systems, power plants, even the schools where we sent our children, were falling apart by American standards.

When the budget is tight it seems greed always profits at the expense of the people.

Our twin wars brought out greed to a brazen degree never seen before as millions and even billions of dollars in military, foreign aid and intelligence spending disappeared somewhere between America, Iraq, Afghanistan and the pockets of the rich.

What was our reward?  A housing, banking, automobile and stock market crash in 2008 that nearly wiped out what little assets the middle class had to begin with.  So we were the victims of lousy government and the victims of unscrupulous hucksters in the housing, financial and banking industry.

What happens next?  Well us victims, thanks to the omnipotent wisdom of Washington, use our money to bail out the bankers, bail out the brokers, bail out the unethical auto people, bail out crooks and creeps of all manner of dress, status and income.

But all that is behind us now.  Except there is a problem with the very government leading us down the path of self-destruction.  Thank Divine Providence our leaders are so busy name calling and fighting that nothing happens in our Capitol since they are too busy stealing our capital to cause us more problems.

Then we find out the Veterans Administration, another of those agencies President Obama is responsible for until the buck is passed to him at which time he passes it back like a hot potato, well we find out the Obama Vet gang is killing our soldiers.

Seems the Veterans Administration has hospitals that created secret lists so they could improve their election year statistics.  Many of  those vets in need of life saving treatment are refused treatment by the hospital regardless of the seriousness of the condition and told to get on the primary physician care waiting list, thus there is no backlog of hospital cases.

In the Phoenix VA hospital alone it is alleged over 40 real people were refused emergency treatment by the hospital and moved to the secret list of those waiting to see VA primary care doctors.  They have now disappeared from the secret waiting list, allegedly, because the 40 have died waiting to be seen by doctors.

Seems a bunch of other VA hospitals might have done the same thing perhaps to make the Administration look good during the fall elections.  These actions, like a host of other acts swept under the rug by the Administration and the Administration press agency, the national news media, shed a disturbing light on the underbelly of the beast we call the US government.

You see, this is not just a policy dispute or a partisan blow up, this is criminal bordering on murder.  You can bet the spin doctors will be burning the midnight candle once again.

And speaking of doctors, stay tuned for one of my next articles, again trying to shed light on the lousy way we treat our military and vets, and my analysis of the health treatment of our veterans while in the service where they supposedly get the best medical help available yet it seems they are virtually lab rats rather than patients.

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Was Obama Right on his Afghanistan Policy? Is it a War that can't be Won?

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In all the uproar over the new book by Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the volatile internal debate, denunciations and recriminations raging in the media, we tend to get distracted from the underlying policy actions of the President in the midst of the internal conflicts.

What needs to be assessed is did the President come to the right conclusions in overriding the advice of his military commanders and attempting to contain the build up in Afghanistan?

What seems clear is this. The president redirected the war effort from one of nation rebuilding to one of targeted terrorist attacks. At the same time he greatly expanded the use of drones and other counter terrorism efforts and increased coordination with Pakistan in an effort to reach beyond the Afghan border in pursuit of Pakistan based terrorists.

History has demonstrated that no outside nation has successfully undertaken a war against Afghanistan and won including the world's only super powers the Soviet Union and the United States. Afghanistan is a tribal run society with no particular loyalty to anyone or any political philosophy.

Could a conventional war ever be successful in Afghanistan? Hardly, but war is seldom waged for conventional purposes. Prior to World War II it was the arms dealers of the world and the international bankers, both of whom were based primarily in Europe, who dictated the proliferation of war in the world.

With American intervention into World War II the American military industrial complex became the dominant world force in war, or the instigation of war more properly. We were warned of this danger in explicit terms by President Eisenhower, the Commander of the Allied war effort, just three days before he gave up his presidency to newly elected John F. Kennedy.

The haunting words of Eisenhower delivered to the nation are as follows:

Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961

(Excerpts delivered 3 days before leaving office)

"A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.

Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.

In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.

The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present - and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite.

It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society."

Nearly 100 years earlier and just before his death President Abraham Lincoln also warned of the dangers facing America:

"We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing its end. It has cost a vast amount of treasure and blood. It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.

I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless."

The passage appears in a letter from Lincoln to (Col.) William F. Elkins, Nov. 21, 1864.

History would indicate President Obama has taken the right course in seeking a means to get out of the Afghan country as soon as possible. His compromise with the military by sending 30,000 more troops will make the path more difficult and his goal is opposite of the military industrial complex will to keep America at war. It will be a task he faces and one all presidents have faced throughout our history.

All Americans should support a path to a return to America's role as a peacekeeper, not an advocate of war. By now we should have learned the dangers of war after Viet Nam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. It is time we return to traditional American values.

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