http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/opinion/08herbert.html?th&emc=th
Lift The Curtain By BOB HERBERT NY Times Op-Ed: March 8, 2007 Neglect, incompetence, indifference, lies. Why in the world is anyone surprised that the Bush administration has not been taking good care of wounded and disabled American troops? Real-life human needs have never been a priority of this administration. The evidence is everywhere - from the mind-bending encounter with the apocalypse in Baghdad, to the ruined residential neighborhoods in New Orleans, to the anxious families in homes across America who are offering tearful goodbyes to loved ones heading off to yet another pointless tour in Iraq. The trial and conviction of Scooter Libby opened the window wide on the twisted values and priorities of the hawkish operation in the vice president's office. No worry about the troops there. And President Bush has always given the impression that he is more interested in riding his bicycle at the ranch in Texas than in taking care of his life and death responsibilities around the world. That whistling sound you hear is the wind blowing across the emptiness of the administration's moral landscape. U.S. troops have been treated like trash since the beginning of Mr. Bush's catastrophic adventure in Iraq. Have we already forgotten that soldier from the Tennessee National Guard who dared to ask Donald Rumsfeld why the troops had to go scrounging in landfills for "hillbilly armor" - scrap metal - to protect their vehicles from roadside bombs? Fellow soldiers cheered when the question was raised, and others asked why they were being sent into combat with antiquated equipment. The defense secretary was not amused. "You go to war with the Army you have," he callously replied, "not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time." Have we forgotten that while most Americans have sacrificed zilch for this war, the mostly uncomplaining soldiers and marines are being sent into the combat zones for two, three and four tours? Multiple combat tours are an unconscionable form of Russian roulette that heightens the chances of a warrior being killed or maimed. In the old days, these troops would have been referred to as cannon fodder. However you want to characterize them now, their casually unfair treatment is an expression of the belief that they are expendable. The Washington Post has performed an important public service by shining a spotlight on the contemptible treatment that some soldiers received as outpatients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The series has already prompted Congressional hearings, and the president climbed off his bicycle long enough to appoint the requisite commission. The question is whether Congress and the public can be roused to take action on behalf of the troops. It's not just the indifference and incompetence of the administration that are causing the troops so much unnecessary suffering. The simple truth is that the Bush crowd, busy trying to hide the costs of the president's $2 trillion tragedy in Iraq, can't find the money to pay for all the care that's needed by the legions of wounded and mentally disabled troops who are coming home. The outpatient fiasco at Walter Reed is just one aspect of a vast superstructure of suffering. The military is overextended and falling apart. Equipment worn out or destroyed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has to be replaced. The perennial, all-consuming appetite of the military-industrial complex has to be satisfied. And now, here comes that endless line of wounded men and women, some of them disabled for life. How is all of this to be paid for? The administration has tried its best to keep the reality of the war away from the public at large, to keep as much of the carnage as possible behind the scenes. No pictures of the coffins coming home. Limited media access to Walter Reed. That protective curtain needs to be stripped away, exposing the enormity of this catastrophe for all to see. I remember walking the quiet, manicured grounds of Walter Reed on an unauthorized visit and seeing the young men and women moving about in wheelchairs or on crutches. Some were missing two and three limbs. All had suffered grievously. There is something profoundly evil about a country encouraging young men and women to go off and fight its wars and then shortchanging them on medical care and other forms of assistance when they come back with wounds that will haunt them forever. That's something most Americans never thought their country would do. *** Commentaries are sent to Sustainer Donors of Z/ZNet. To learn more, can consult ZNet at http://www.zmag.org Today's commentary: http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2007-03/07sandronsky.cfm ================================== ZNet Commentary "An average Joe" March 07, 2007 By Seth Sandronsky A woman employee at a shopping mall in Salt Lake City, Utah-where a young gunman recently maimed and murdered people-said he appeared to be "an average Joe," the AP reported. Yes, daily journalism is the first draft of history. Yet her description of him raises a question. That is, what are the meanings of average in the USA? One unstated meaning, I maintain, is that average is a person with white skin. This description fit the Utah killer, an immigrant teen from Bosnia, who was shot dead. His status as a white person upon arrival in the U.S. from his worn-torn country was likely never in doubt. This is hardly a new trend nationwide. For perceptive analysis on the roots of this European racial formation upon arrival in the U.S. between 1890 and 1945, see historian David R. Roediger's Working Toward Whiteness: How America's Immigrants Became White: The Strange Journey from Ellis Island to the Suburbs (Basic Books, 2005). By contrast to the experience of European immigrants in the current era, non-white immigrants fleeing armed conflicts fueled by capitalist imperialism in their homelands (African, Caribbean and Latin American) do not whiten when they come to the U.S., as best I can determine. Thus, in the sense of the quote attributed to the witness during the Utah mall shootings, average probably does not mean an Asian, black or brown person. One would have to suffer from a racial blind spot to miss the towering presence of a culture which normalizes whiteness as a U.S. standard. This racial insanity is for all purposes a taboo topic nationwide, institutionally speaking, with corporate journalism at the front of the pack. Therefore, I suggest that a misperception of white skin as being average is embedded in a description of the homicidal teen. Now let us back up a bit and look at the social context of the Utah bloodletting. This tragic event took place as the U.S. population is becoming increasingly female, non-white and wage-earners. This trend flows from capitalism's constant drive to increase labor productivity, bringing ever-cheaper goods and services for sale in the marketplace. Thus in the world's third most populous nation, non-white females are average in the sense of their class roles as producers and consumers that mirror millions of white males. To this end, a grass-roots discussion of what constitutes an average American could help to raise people's political consciousness. In other words, the Utah tragedy could provide an opportunity for Americans to better see who they really are. Sight unseen is sight not thought. Seth Sandronsky is a member of Sacramento Area Peace Action and a co-editor of Because People Matter, Sacramento's progressive paper www.bpmnews.org/. He can be reached at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** Peoples College of Law is a small, fully licensed, degree-granting law school located in downtown Los Angeles, California offering a four-year evening Juris Doctorate program to accommodate working students. Peoples College of Law was founded in 1974 as a non-profit, community-run law school to bring legal resources to under-represented communities and train legal advocates to secure progressive social change and justice in society. We only admit those students who, regardless of their quite varied political, spiritual, cultural or social backgrounds, have demonstrated a commitment to progressive social change, have an awareness of working class issues and will employ the skills gained at the school to further these goals in their own way. Thus, if you want to be a prosecutor or a corporate attorney, don't waste our time applying; there are plenty of other schools out there for you! Our graduates work as lawyers, state and federal administrative judges and commissioners, activists and union organizers, labor and legislative leaders (including the Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa). All have shared the unique and galvanizing experience of graduating from the only non-competitive, cooperative, student and community-run, progressive law school in the world! People's College of Law will be honoring individuals who have worked to support women at it's upcoming awards dinner. 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