Kerry to Fault Bush on Iraq, Veterans

I can't believe there are any veterans who still are voting for Bush (maybe the ones who don't read the papers), but this has got to be an issue that has some legs. The only thing Bush has going for him is bellicosity, which I guess has some appeal to veterans, I don't know.

<snip>
On veterans issues, Kerry criticized the GOP-led House for seeking to cut $1.8 billion from Veterans Administration health care programs that he said are already in poor shape. More than 130,000 veterans are waiting for care at VA facilities, Kerry said, and more than 50,000 wait longer than six months for their first doctor's visit.
</snip>


http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20030825_640.html

The foreign policy debate in 2004 will not be over whether the war should or should not have been fought, but how it was planned, sold and executed. And Kerry begins to frame debate in this key passage from his speech (look for him to push it harder in his announcement speech this week):


"Above all, we learned that the interests of the grunts on the ground come before all politics and all ideology. And what we urgently need now to protect our young men and women in uniform - and America's role in the world - are decisions based on professional military judgments and strategic vision, not politics and pride," Kerry said.

"I believe a lack of planning and the lack of candor with the American people have placed our men and women in uniform in increased harm's way."

He said the Bush administration has "stubbornly refused' to allow other nations to assume risks in Iraq. Kerry urged wider involvement of the United Nations.

We need to hammer this home. Seems like Bush & Co. think that spending billions on untested, unneeded and/or unwanted weapons while cutting soldiers pay and vet benefits constitutes supporting our troops.

Get the word out to the troops, Bush & Co. care about the companies who make those weapons, not the people who will use them.