Think Progress

7 Responses to “Just 29 Army soldiers”

1. Desi Says:

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   Or, it could be they stopped using their commercially purchased body armor since the military threatened to withhold death benefit payments if they're caught wearing it, and are trying to avoid being found to have purchased it:

   http://miaculpa.blogspot.com/2006/01/live-and-let-die.html

   January 26th, 2006 at 12:22 am

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2. Cyra Brown Says:

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   #1 Desi, I firmly believe that that is exactly why so few have attempted to make a claim. I also seem to recall hearing (reading) that those who had applied for the reimbursment were basically ignored. Just another way to hold on to all that money. And the body armor they are being "advised" not to use, is the competitor of the armor manufacturer that has a contract with the Pentagon. Guess they felt threatened by the better product. It's not like it's a "life or death" situation..... My bad. Bygones. Gawd, these people make me want to vomit. I would like to study Rummy's "remains" under a microscope, cause he sure as hell is not human, it is not possible.

   January 26th, 2006 at 1:15 am

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3. Armando Gomez Says:

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   Tummy Water

   January 23, 2006

   Halliburton made a new splash over the same old infraction: Poisoning our troops in Iraq. In “Halliburton hit over troops’ exposure to tainted water” by Larry Margasak Halliburton is accused of poisoning U.S. soldiers with contaminated water last July and had done its best not to inform the troops. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said the Democrats are pushing for an investigation since the Republicans had done their best to stonewall any oversights. The Republican created Halliburton had time after time abused its trust and responsibilities in servicing the needs to our troops. But when will our military organizations in this country will rise up in ire to confront President Bush and Halliburton former CEO, Cheney, to the destructive and degrading treatment of our troops in Iraq? Worse, why allow Bush to speak in their organizations such as the VFW in Washington last Jan.12 when the Bush administration have allowed rotten food, refused to provide body armor, rip off of their health benefits, and then extending their tour of duty over and over of our troops? Will Bush take a sip of that Halliburton’s water? We all know the answer to that, don’t we.

   January 26th, 2006 at 1:20 am

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4. Armando Gomez Says:

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   Stupid is what Stupid does

   January 16, 2006

   Liberal bashing does not make it so. In “Alito’s only agenda should be interpreting the Constitution” by Cal Thomas poorly obfuscate Samuel Alito’s anti-constitutional position as pro-constitutional stands for opposing same sex marriage and secularizing the public square. Thrashing the credibility of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Edward Kennedy doesn’t buttress Alito’s position in anti-abortion, freedom of religious expression and pro-Pledge of Allegiance in the public schools as saintly and all-American. Thomas hopes his Forrest Gump analogy will persuade Americans to see Alito as an America’s savior and its last hope for true justice. What’s behind the Alito’s curtain once drawn you’ll see what Thomas doesn’t want you to see: Alito’s authorizing illegal wiretaps of Americans with absolute immunity from legal liability; his approval of the strip search of a mother and her ten-year-old daughter even though the warrant authorizing the search did not name them; exploiting an ultra-racist/sexist group on his college campus to boost his standing with Ronald Reagan; and endorsing Unitary Executive, justifying Bush’s unilateral power to lock up any U.S. citizen without due process. These are the chocolates you won’t find in Forrest Gump’s assortment.

   January 26th, 2006 at 1:25 am

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5. Armando Gomez Says:

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   The Bogeyman of Defense

   January 17, 2006

   “What rouge Beast, Its hour come around at last, slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?” a line from Yeats’ “The Second Coming.” This poem expresses the Department of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld’s spider hole, who has condemned our troops in Iraq. Two soldiers have reported that they have been singled out because they purchased their own body armor out of their own pockets. The DoD threaten these soldiers that if they were killed wearing those armors their families will not receive their $400,000 life insurance death benefits. This is the latest disgrace of the Bush Administration to force upon on our veterans in Iraq but not the only one: Last year, Bush was proposing to slash health benefit for veterans; the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affair has fall short of its standards for serving disabled veterans; and this have forced veterans to take steps to appeal an unfavorable decision on disability benefits. The VA has repeatedly failed to eliminate redundant steps in the appeals process, making disabled veterans to wait for their appeal cases between three and ten years; thousands of veterans had died already, waiting for their cases to be resolved. Can you now guess who the Beast is?

   January 26th, 2006 at 1:27 am

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6. former army Says:

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   It doesn't surprise me that this information hasn't been widely disseminated. Putting this information only on a U.S. Army web site does nothing to help those get their money back as most soldiers get their information from one of three places. The Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, The Stars and Stripes newspaper or from their command. And if you think that this will be widely publicised in these areas think again. Because it isn't in the Armies best interests. And when the information finally does reach the solider on the ground the time constraints will prohibit most soldiers from taking part in the program

   January 26th, 2006 at 6:02 am

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7. MNW Says:

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   http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6440.html

   When President Bush launched his "faith-based initiative" in 2001 to funnel federal money to religious groups, Pat Robertson was skeptical, calling the idea a "Pandora's box" and a "narcotic" that would ensnare religious organizations in government red tape.

   Those misgivings notwithstanding, the federal government has become a major source of money for Operation Blessing, Robertson's international charity, under the Bush initiative. In two years, the group's annual revenue from government grants has ballooned from $108,000 to $14.4 million.

   $14.4 million would buy a lot of armor.

   How many millions (or billions) of dollars subsidize the operations of the right-wing demagogues? What is the total amount of money ear-marked for "faith-based" intitiatives?

   And I was under the impression that "faith-based" initiatives were meant to support DOMESTIC initiatives...like feeding the poor, housing the homeless, etc. as a counter to all the domestic aid programs that have been slashed.

   January 26th, 2006 at 10:39 am

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