One can't help but feel a tinge of pride at listening to soldiers interviewed from Iraqi front lines, and more than a touch of sadness. The personal courage and patriotism of these men and women — many of them still teen-agers — is an inspiration and a light. They deserve more respect than they often get for their fidelity, devotion to country, and skill.
Repeated attempts to cut benefits to disabled veterans, while at the same time slashing taxes for rich, betrays generations who have risked and even sacrificed their lives. For current details on struggles against these cuts, see the Web sites of advocacy organizations like the American Legion or Disabled American Veterans.
Will the soldiers who become disabled in the Iraq war face a life of dependence on shrinking public benefits, limited health care and faith-based charity? They may, if the Bush administration and its supporters in Congress have their way. Veterans benefits are not gifts by an appreciative nation; they are the hard-earned property which can not ethically be cut.
The current wrong-headed abuse of military might by an administration determined to turn a democratic and freedom-loving nation into an aggressive colonial empire is bad enough. The betrayal of loyal soldiers who put their lives on the line by following orders to do this stinks.
Tom Rue
Monticello