American Legion accuses Congress of "betrayal of trust" and "surrender to the terrorists"

[ProSense]

Legion: Congress Sent Wrong Message Today

WASHINGTON, February 16, 2007 - The leader of the nation’s largest wartime veterans’ organization provided the following statement in response to the House vote disapproving the President’s decision to deploy more than 20,000 additional combat troops to the Iraqi theater.

“Congress may consider its vote today on H. Con. Res. 63 to be non-binding, but veterans of previous wars and those in the field of combat right now consider Congress’s action to be a betrayal of trust and the first step toward surrender to the terrorists who caused this war in the first place.

“We must never forget the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when two U.S. commercial aircraft were used to kill nearly 3,000 innocent people in an unprovoked attack against our nation’s sovereignty. We must never forget those brave Americans who downed their plane in Pennsylvania, saving the lives of many in the Capitol. We must never forget the attack on the Pentagon, or on the USS Cole, or our embassies, or our Marine barracks in Beirut. The list goes on and on.

“Even the Clinton administration tried to kill Osama bin Laden by lobbing missiles at him. This war didn’t just start with the invasion of Iraq. It’s been going on for decades. It’s been going on in Republican and Democrat administrations and Congresses.

“It isn’t about partisan politics. It’s about America. It’s about all of us, and especially those who are at this moment risking their lives on the field of battle.

“Americans are not the enemy here. The terrorists and all of those governments that support them are the enemy. We must never forget that. And, equally important, we must never forget the primary lesson learned in Vietnam: you cannot separate the war from the warrior.

link

Maybe the organization could make itself useful instead of accusing concerned Americans of supporting the enemy.

[Horse with no Name]

1. They jumped the shark a long time ago

Turned a once respectable organization into a haven for men with neocon thought processes.
Any self-respecting ex-mil should leave them in protest.
They stand for NOTHING anymore.

[htuttle]

5. They were never really respectable, unlike the VFW, etc...

They started as a union-breaking organization, became fascist sympathizers before Pearl Harbor, and collaborated in the plot against FDR. I believe it was one of the Legion's top officers who approached Smedley Butler about it.

[Horse with no Name]

6. I didn't know that

Thanks.

[htuttle]

2. htuttle accuses the Legion of "betraying the Constitution" and "being fascists"

It's true -- look it up.

[Monkeyman]

3. They went right wing in the 90s and are dying off

[Cerridwen]

4. Have they recorded for posterity their outrage over the

treatment of wounded troops at Walter Reed?

Are they bombarding the hospital's administrators with letters and calls of outrage?

Show me, please - someone have a link?

edit: I found it - their outrage is epic - /sarcasm

Statement from The American Legion Regarding Walter Reed Army Medical Center

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 20, 2007 - Every American serviceman and woman wounded or injured in the line of duty deserves the absolute best care, under the best circumstances, for as long as necessary to effect a complete recovery. Certainly, according to the Washington Post, it appears that those military men and women assigned to Building 18 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are not receiving that level of care.

The American Legion is giving those allegations the utmost priority and is investigating conditions at Walter Reed. Our professional staff will prepare a comprehensive and documented report of its findings and will release those findings to the cognizant committees in Congress and the US Army.
Under no circumstances will we be satisfied with less than a full and immediate resolution of the problem alleged.

Founded in 1919, the 2.7 million-member American Legion is the nation’s preeminent service organization for veterans of the U.S. armed forces, including active duty, National Guard and Reserves, and their families.

[City Lights]

18. ROFL!

What a forceful statement! I wouldn't want to mess with them! :scared: I'm sure they'll get right to the bottom of it. :eyes:

And :wow: in comparison to their statement posted in the OP.

At least we know where their priorities lie...

No more Poppy Day for me.

[patrice]

7. Let me see now, what might be the most common activity at an American

Legion hall? Drinking? perhaps . . .

That might explain why they don't understand that those who are intent upon becoming Islamic martyrs or tribal heroes are emboldened and motivated by death and desruction NOT deterred by it, so they're the ones who are encouraging the enemy, not the H.Con.Res.63 Yeas.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. Here's a little story about these fucking false patriots ........

...... my dad served honorably in WW2. When he died, my Mom bought two grave plots in a Catholic cemetary in Connecticut (where they lived all their lives). The plots were in some 'new' part of the cemetary where no special grave markings are permitted. She spent the rest of her life trying to get a simple WW2 insignia put on his grave marker.

Lieberman never returned her calls or mail. Ditto for Dodd. Ditto for Jodi Rell. Ditto for the mayor. Ditto for Chris Shays. Ditto for the state veterans affairs office. Ditto for the VA and Ditto for the American Legion.

My Dad was a member of the American Legion. They did the flag ceremony at his funeral. My Mom, to the day she died, was a member of their woman's auxiliary.

They asked me to join way back when. I didn't like them then (early 70s) and I don't like them even more now.

[Rene]

32. My parents and grandparents were VERY active in the American

Legion and the Auxiliary all of their lives....they volunteered thousands of hours to help the vets in our state of Connecticut and Nationally. They held top offices in the organization. They signed my sister and I up when we were Junior girls.
My membership card shows I've been a member for almost 57 years.
I'm calling and resigning tomorrow. I've been disgusted with the Legion Leadership's positions for several years now. This is the last straw.
I want nothing more to do with that organization....let it die out as it has been doing for years.

[jedr]

9. What freakin' planet do these bar stool rummies live on??????

Let Bush give 3 or 4 back to back deployments to the troops and cut their benefits , that's patriotic? Back a rich coward who hid behind his daddy and "dis" a purple heart winner.... Bad mouth John Murtha, a Marine Colonel with more action than any of those stay at home bastards....."Hey ,I backed the War, I'da gone but I couldn't." Where ya heard that one before? Just like the VFW, the only thing they provide is a cheap place for the town drunk to drink!!!!!!:nuke: :wtf:

[jmowreader]

10. A VFW member once explained the difference to me

The VFW is an organization for veterans of foreign wars.

The American Legion is the organizing body for youth baseball.

[knight_of_the_star]

11. Jawohl Herr Standartenfuhrer

Sieg Heil!

[babylonsister]

12. Makes you wonder what they think about the way the wounded are being

treated; hard to believe they actually want more soldiers to go into this meat grinder.

[The Magistrate]

13. The American Legion, Ma'am

Started out as a bunch og vigilante thugs dedicated to beating and shooting Union men, leftists, and vagrants: they have no more changed their stripes down the years than any tiger might.

[IndianaGreen]

16. And they were racists and anti-Semites

and we are blessed to have their colossal national headquarters in Indianapolis, in a building that could have well been designed by one of Stalin's architects.

[The Magistrate]

19. Pretty Near The Victory Spire, Ma'am, If Recollection Serves

A portion of my boy-hood was spent there: it is a good place to be from....

[IndianaGreen]

21. It's a lot nicer now than when it used to be known as "Naptown"

and I am old enough to remember that!

[The Magistrate]

22. We Called It 'India-no-place', Ma'am

If you put the radio in a north faced window, you could just get WLS if things were right, and that was about it for music....

[welshTerrier2]

14. betrayal of trust? surrendering to terrorists? i agree with that.

Congress authorized bush to invade Iraq at his sole discretion. we were engaged in a war on terror in Afghanistan and Congress gave him their official Okeedokee to use his best judgment about changing the focus to Iraq. we trusted them and they failed us when they trusted him. they abdicated their Congressional responsibility to keep the focus on the terrorist camps in Afghanistan and in Pakistan and let bush pursue oil in Iraq once he had his new pipeline in Afghanistan.

maybe that's not quite the American Legion perspective but somehow it seems we wind up making similar statements about betrayal and surrendering to terrorists. and yes, i believe there were terrorists to pursue. Iraq was a betrayal of trust and a surrender to terrorism.

[ProSense]

23. Poor fucking Bush, led astray by a terrible treasonous Congress.

Yeah, I think the AL would agree with you.

[welshTerrier2]

24. not led astray

empowered.

[ProSense]

25. Yes, because he was incapable of doing this without them.

Newsflash: the minute the Supreme Court awarded Bush the presidency, America was screwed. Sit here and talk crap, doesn't change the fact that a lunatic is running the country, and 535 votes didn't put him in office.

[welshTerrier2]

26. talk crap?

no thanks.

[unhappycamper]

15. This veteran sez

Fuck You!

I wanted to make my reply as clear as possible.

[niyad]

17. isn't this also a "vets" organization that refused to allow vietnam vets as members, or was that j

just the VFW?
WHERE has their outrage been the last 5 years?

[jedr]

29. VFW, in the late '60s and early '70s

These guys are hurting for membership so badly that you no longer need to have military service to join.

[City Lights]

20. They're okay with using troops as political pawns, as long as Congress

has the will to win. :wtf:

"The American Legion and the American people find this to be totally unacceptable and we will do everything within our power to ensure that our troops are not used as political pawns by a Congress that lacks the will to win.”

I'm speechless...

[PhilipShore]

27. General Clark: Hold Bush accountable for 9/11 (Jan 2004)

[AX10]

28. The "American" Legion does not speak for veterans.

They speak for the right wing of the GOP.

[Zenlitened]

30. Sorry, but when I hear their name, all I can think of is "infectious disease'"

:puke:

U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases

...

What is Legionnaires’ disease?

Legionnaires’ disease (LEE-juh-nares) is caused by a type of bacteria called Legionella. The bacteria got its name in 1976, when many people who went to a Philadelphia convention of the American Legion suffered from an outbreak of this disease, a type of pneumonia (lung infection). Although this type of bacteria was around before1976, more illness from Legionnaires’ disease is being detected now. This is because we are now looking for this disease whenever a patient has pneumonia.

Each year, between 8,000 and 18,000 people are hospitalized with Legionnaires' disease in the U.S. However, many infections are not diagnosed or reported, so this number may be higher. More illness is usually found in the summer and early fall, but it can happen any time of year.

What are the symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease?

Legionnaires' disease can have symptoms like many other forms of pneumonia, so it can be hard to diagnose at first. Signs of the disease can include: a high fever, chills, and a cough. Some people may also suffer from muscle aches and headaches. Chest X-rays are needed to find the pneumonia caused by the bacteria, and other tests can be done on sputum (phlegm), as well as blood or urine to find evidence of the bacteria in the body.

These symptoms usually begin 2 to 14 days after being exposed to the bacteria.

Link:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/legionellosis_g.htm#2

[mitchum]

31. That's just drunk talk

[bluedawg12]

33. Who wrote this for them Tony Snowjob?

This is total bullsh*t. It wasn't Osama in the hidey hole we dug up and hung OBL is sitll missing dickweeds.