4,000 and Bush still disrespects the troops

This has been simmering on the back burner for a long time.  It's not new and it's not surprising, but it is, perhaps, in its own profound way, the most significant outrage perpetrated by this Bush administration.

4,000 dead, god knows how many injured...  Bush still refuses to do anything more than pay lip-service to respecting the troops...

The facts:

1.    In the first Gulf War, 17 American prisoners of war, held by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, were viciously tortured while in captivity.

2.    On April 4, 2002, the former prisoners filed suit in federal court, seeking remuneration for their ordeal.  They had sought to avoid litigation by offering to arbitrate their claims before an international tribunal.  Iraq refused.

3.    The United States State Department served process on Iraq; in July 2003, a Federal District Court ruled in favor of the American troops.

4.    The court found that "there must be a premium on protecting POWs because POWs are uniquely disadvantaged and deterring torture of POWs should be of highest priority."

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5.    The Bush administration intervened to absolve Iraq of responsibility for torturing the American POWs.  The President blocked the POWs from collecting on their judgment.

6.    For over four years the POWs have tried, again and again, to meet with the administration in an effort to come to some kind of resolution.  Their efforts have been futile.  The administration has didn't even bother to refuse the POW’s humble entreaties...  Each and every attempt by the POWs to meet with the administration has been callously and unforgivably ignored.  Their letters go unanswered.

7.    During Alberto Gonzalez's confirmation hearings, the issue was raised.  He promised to consider meeting with the POWs.  The POWs contacted him.  He refused to meet.

8.    The Federal District Court urged the government to settle.  Several Congress members wrote letters to the administration on the POW’s behalf.  The Senate voted unanimously (even the Republicans!!) to urge the administration to work out a solution.  Every single effort has been ignored.

9.    The administration won't stand up for the POWs, but they are making every effort to reconcile the claims of foreign corporations that took losses as a result of the Iraq War.

10.    The latest war funding authorization included a provision that would have provided for the POWs.  On Christmas Day 2007, George W. Bush announced his attention to veto the bill.

11.    Congress bent to the President's will and passed a new war funding bill without the POW provision.

Does any of this make sense to anyone?

These were our soldiers.  They were sent on a mission, they risked their lives, they were captured, they were tortured...

And the United States isn't going to do anything to help them recover?  Indeed, the United States will intervene to frustrate their fairly won gains?

Can there be a more explicit example of how feckless and craven the current administration has become?  They won't even stand up for their own tortured POWs...

This needs to change.   AmericanPOWblogger (a new blogger) will be writing more about this case (Acree v. Iraq) in the weeks coming up.  There is a Congressional initiative in the works; they are going to need our help.  And we need to get the campaigns on record for this. More soon...