Blogging Blue

Have you seen this picture before?

The photo, taken in March 2003, has become one of the most iconic images of the U.S. invasion of Iraq: that of an American soldier carrying a wounded Iraqi child to safety. The photograph of Army Private First Class Joseph Dwyer was used by news outlets around the world. In a tragic twist, PFC Dwyer collapsed and died last month after abusing a computer cleaner aerosol. After returning from Iraq, Dwyer was plagued with sometimes violent delusions that he was being hunted by Iraqi killers, and despite his obvious problems, Dwyer’s issues were never wholly addressed by Veterans Affairs:

After a PTSD program in Durham, N.C., turned Dwyer away because of a lack of space, Maureen Dwyer said her son received inpatient care for six months at the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center, beginning last August. After doctors discharged him in March, she said, his anxieties returned with such intensity that Dwyer’s wife, Matina, 30, took their daughter Meagan, 2, and moved out five days later.

After her son was discharged from Northport, Maureen Dwyer said she was especially concerned because there were no VA mental health facilities near his Pinehurst, N.C., home.

There’s no denying Joseph Dwyer did receive treatment for his mental health issues, but where was the aftercare and followup? Where were the doctors and programs to ensure Joseph Dwyer continued to receive the help he needed for his mental health issues? What’s more, why wasn’t more done to properly plan for the return of soldiers like Joseph Dwyer? At the risk of getting up on my soapbox, there’s absolutely no reason why any soldier suffering from PTSD or a related mental health issue should have to wait for appropriate services because of a lack of space.

Here’s what Joseph Dwyer’s mother has to say about the situation:

“Every second that goes by, there is another soldier just like Joseph,” Maureen Dwyer said. “Another family can’t go through this. All the politicians talk so great about the soldiers, about patriotism, but mental illness is something they are not putting enough into.”

And that’s the true cost of the war in Iraq: the tally of lives lost or irreparably altered due to the serious mental health issues faced by soldiers returning home from the field of battle.

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A national fiscal burden that now stands at $455,000 per household, that’s what.

Who or what is to blame? Undoubtedly conservatives will point to entitlement and pork-barrel spending as the culprit while seeking to blame liberals, but let’s take a look at some numbers:

This little counter shows the up-to-date cost of the war in Iraq. As I write this, our government has spent more than 500 billion dollars of taxpayer money to fund the war in Iraq, and as I’ve previously noted, the George W. Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and defense spending are responsible for 85% of the rise in our nation’s budget deficits. Entitlement spending, on the other hand, accounts for only 9% of the increase, a fact that belies the argument that entitlement spending is the cause of our budget woes.

What’s more, out of control spending under George “Big Government” Bush and a Republican-controlled Congress (at least from 2001-2006) has resulted in roughly 45% of our nation’s debt being controlled by foreign governments and interests.

$455,000 per household - that’s what Republicans have left us with, and that’s the hole we have to dig ourselves out of in the coming years. So much for Republicans being fiscally responsible.

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Thanks to a phone call campaign coordinated by Peace Action Wisconsin, a virtual urban warfare game that allowed Summerfest goers as young as 13 to climb into a Humvee simulator and fire machine guns at life-size people displayed on a computer screenhas been shut down by Summerfest officials. Obviously I’m glad the folks from Summerfest came down on the right side of this situation, because it seems a little odd to allow a 13 year old to be able to jump into a Humvee and simulate shooting a killing people, given the fact that a video game of that nature would surely be restricted to Mature audiences due to the violence, blood, and gore that I’m sure were a part of the simulator.

Putting aside the issue of letting 13 year olds take part in such a violent simulation, I just think it’s hypocritical to attempt to glorify war when war is often far from being glorious. Though I’ve not personally had any experience serving in combat, I’ve read enough accounts to know it doesn’t seem glorious at all. Bert over at folkbum summed it up best when discussing Chuck Sykes’ reaction to the situation:

Shorter Sykes #2: This virtual war game, where kids as young as 13 suit up and ride a humvee to shoot with automatic weapons at images of “the enemy”, is good because it teaches this country the realities of war.
My question #2.a: How would you or I know the reality of war, since we have never come close to experiencing it?
My question #2.b: If it is important that the citizenry know more of the reality of war (I agree, by the way) since we are fighting two at the moment, did you ever criticize the White House policy to forbid images of our dead soldiers’ caskets? Did you ever applaud reporters for showing death on either side during these wars, or did you instead support more news about privates handing out candy to children?

As I said, kudos to Summerfest for doing the right thing.

The folks over at Pundit Nation have more on the situation, and whallah! has more on the all-too-predictable reaction from Chuck Sykes and his band of follo…I mean, listeners.

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Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced a resolution last week in the US House of Representatives to impeach President Bush. The Congressman has many articles in his impeachment resolution, from creating a secret propaganda campaign to manufacturing a false case for the War in Iraq to imprisoning children.

The Democrats in both chambers on Capitol Hill are strongly against any such impeachment resolution. Speaker Pelosi has repeatedly stated that any attempts wouldn’t be welcomed in the House.

Personally, I find it sad when an American President can be impeached for a lie about sex in the oval office, but not even considered for such an act when there’s a complete political disaster in the country - from multiple wars to potential liberties being taken away to many cover-ups.

I find it puzzling when the limits of what’s “fair game” flex back-and-forth depending on the political party.

With that noted, I expect Kucinich’s resolution to not go very far.

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As I’ve previously blogged, Congressman Paul Ryan has been working furiously to paint himself as a fiscal conservative. First came his Budget Boondoggle Award, and then came his “bold new” plan to ensure prosperity and freedom for our future, but while conservatives fall all over themselves in a mad dash to parrot virtually the same talking points from Congressman Ryan’s Roadmap For America’s Future, they’re neglecting to point out Congressman Ryan’s dirty little secrets.

After all, while Rep. Ryan has tried really hard to portray himself as a so-called fiscal conservative, citing his his opposition to pork barrel spending as proof of that fact, he’s neglected to own up to his own vote in favor of the ultimate pork-barrel spending, that being the war in Iraq. Time and time again Congressman Ryan has voted to spend hundreds of billions of dollars - American taxpayers’ dollars - to fund the war in Iraq. If Congressman Ryan were so concerned about wasteful spending, perhaps he should start voting against writing virtually blank checks to support our war in Iraq.

And now let’s talk about Rep. Ryan’s Roadmap For America’s Future, which as I previously mentioned so many conservatives have been falling all over themselves to praise.

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