Backtalk: Does the Bush administration care about veterans?

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Does the Bush administration care about veterans?
By Robert F. Dorr

I believe most of our nation’s leaders, regardless of political affiliation, mean well toward those who’ve served in the armed forces. And I believe they have good intentions toward our combat wounded, to whom we owe so much.

But in handling symbolic gestures that hint at larger issues, the Bush administration must do better.

President Bush appeared at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day to talk about military service and sacrifice. That’s what he should have done. He did it well.

But he was a no-show on Veterans Day. Instead, he was in Crawford, Texas. He spoke to a veterans group there but was missing from the national ceremony.

At Arlington, Vice President Dick Cheney delivered the principal speech of the day. Cheney is a tempting target for critics. He could have enlisted during the Vietnam War but didn’t. He might have been drafted but wasn’t. Yet he’s an architect of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a conflict that was launched based on flawed intelligence and without a serious plan for the aftermath of initial fighting.

On their day, veterans deserved a different speaker — but not because of Cheney’s personal history. The leader officiating at the national veterans’ ceremony ought to be someone in the chain of command. No vice president, in any administration, regardless of political affiliation — whether he received five college draft deferments or the Medal of Honor — is a part of the chain. Just as you wouldn’t assign the Arlington speaking job to the secretary of commerce or the head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, it shouldn’t be given to any vice president, in any administration, regardless of party, anytime, ever.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/community/opinion/airforce_backtalk_veterans_071203/