Veto could alienate military force

    Though President Bush seems to have a firm base of support in the military, he is bound to alienate the nation’s veterans with certain actions he threatens.

   Though Halloween was nearly a month ago, Bush seems intent on adding a new attraction to the Bush House of Government Horrors: he says he will veto HR303, a bill that helps military retirees.

   The bill rectifies a 50-year-old situation that prevents military retirees from collecting both retirement pay and disability compensation.

   Under the legislation currently on the books, retirees must forfeit one dollar of retirement pay for every dollar of disability compensation they receive.

   What irks veterans the most is this is a stipulation not applicable to any other retired federal employees. Retired civilian employees of the FBI, for example, can collect both retirement pay and military disability benefits.

   President Bush’s reason for planning to veto the bill is simple: it would cost too much money.

   Consider the tax cuts of last year, the currently slumping economy and the possibility of financing a war with Iraq, and one might begin to understand Bush’s fears. Clearly, with his 2001 tax cuts and plans to make those cuts permanent, Bush lacks the budgetary foresight to run an operation of America’s magnitude.

   The Veterans Health Administration does not have enough money or resources under the current budget to provide all veterans with the services they are entitled to.

   Lack of money, however, is no reason to hang veterans out to dry. The military made promises when those soldiers enlisted, and those promises must be kept.

   If such promises are broken, why would anyone enlist in the military in the future?

   Are volunteers going to have to scan the fine print of their enlistment papers for phrases like: “Wars are inherently dangerous, and I will not hold the U. S. Army, its employees or agents liable for any damages, injuries, illnesses or death that I may sustain as a direct result of serving in the military?”

   Bush needs to realize that he depends on the military, especially in the face of possible wars and terrorist attacks.

   The men and women of the military are the ones who will suffer on the front lines if a war ensues. The least our president, those troops’ commander-in-chief, can do is allow veterans with service-related disabilities to draw extra compensation.

   Perhaps it is time for Bush to take a closer look at his fiscal agenda. The tax cuts should not be permanent—at least not yet.

   Times are tough, and our nation’s leaders are going to have to make some tough choices about how to spend the country’s money, especially since there is now less of it.

   Restricting benefits for veterans, however, is not the way to save money. Most U.S. legislators agree with this opinion and support HR303.

   Yet somehow, hard as it is to believe, in a time when our nation faces multiple security threats, President Bush still doesn’t seem to get it.