During the past decade I’ve made no secret of the fact that I think our government takes its men and women in uniform for granted.
I’ve written and published some articles about how deeply I feel about the loss of my best friend, Larry Hackett, who served honorably in the Vietnam War only to die from exposure to Agent Orange which was used by our government without any forewarning to our troops.
I’ve outlined the use of this chemical in previous posts and published articles and have made it clear that I view it as murder.
What I also found to be extremely galling was the government’s unwillingness to allow it to be held accountable in a court of law because it refused to allow itself to be sued.
It adhered to this position while courts dismissed class action claims brought by soldiers and their survivors against the chemical companies that manufactured this poison because they asserted the “government contractor” defense.
That means they only did what the government directed them to do.
I don’t recount this because I want to, but only to give this post some historical context.
In the aftermath of the Vietnam War we have been embroiled in two wars that have continued in Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade and a half.
In the earliest days in those wars, troops complained that they did not have the protection they needed from road side bombs and other attacks.
They were forced to scavenge to try and outfit their Humvees with armored plating to protect those inside.
Some troops actually had to resort to writing their family members and have them send them personal protection in the form of Kevlar to wear.
When they complained about this lack of support and supply, they were told, callously, by Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld that “You go to war with the army you have not with the one that you want.”
In order to avoid the renewal of a war time draft, which existed during the Vietnam War, both regular troops and state National Guard units were deployed and redeployed numerous times.
The successive redeployments caused the incidence of Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) cases to skyrocket and the suicide rate among those who survived skyrocketed too.
Reports of inadequate health care, excessive wait times for appointments and a lack of counseling services for the mentally ill didn’t improve the situation.
All of this led me to a grim and depressing conclusion.
The United States Government has one interest only.
That is getting all that it can out of its combat troops and when that is done, they are expendable.
Over the course of the last presidential campaign, we heard a lot from Trump about the shameful treatment veterans were receiving and all of the promises he made to change that.
To date, we have heard nothing more from him on that subject.
His decision to increase the Pentagon budget by fifty-eight billion dollars does not address the Veterans Affairs and is being balanced on the backs of the poor who are being helped by programs earmarked to disappear.
This past week, Trump issued his second travel ban.
Fortunately, three Federal courts rose to the occasion and enjoined its enforcement, like the first one, until the First Amendment issues can be more fully litigated.
I am very proud of the fact that the City of Syracuse has joined with the plaintiffs in challenging these two bans.
Even more disquieting is the effect his travel bans have had on those who risked their lives to aid us in the wars in these two countries.
The plaintiff in the first lawsuit involving the first travel ban is an Iraqi citizen named Hameed Khalid Darweesh, who worked as a translator for the 101st Airborne Division in Mosul and Bagdad.
He was targeted twice by terrorists for this service.
Upon his arrival at Kennedy Airport he was detained for almost a day and was nearly returned to Iraq until legal assistance was provided.
Last week, Trump’s State Department announced it would soon run out of Special Immigrant Visas for interpreters and others who assisted our troops in Afghanistan. The American embassy in Kabul has stopped interviewing applicants leaving them at the mercy of the Taliban and the other terrorist groups that they have assisted our troops in battle.
At the end of the Vietnam War, this country admitted over 800,000 Vietnamese refugees.
Many of them, like the current refugees, aided us in the fight against the enemy our troops faced in combat.
They started businesses, formed communities and enclaves, and contributed to the economy and the evolving culture of our country.
We didn’t suffer any terrorist attacks.
These bans do not represent the best that is in us.
It leads on to wonder, if another attack on America, like the one that occurred on 9/11 happened, would anyone come to our aid?