Troops in Iraq face pay cut

[Robbien]

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon wants to cut the pay of its 148,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, who are already contending with guerrilla-style attacks, homesickness and 120-degree-plus heat.

Unless Congress and President Bush take quick action when Congress returns after Labor Day, the uniformed Americans in Iraq and the 9,000 in Afghanistan will lose a pay increase approved last April of $75 a month in "imminent danger pay" and $150 a month in "family separation allowances."

The Defense Department supports the cuts, saying its budget can't sustain the higher payments amid a host of other priorities. But the proposed cuts have stirred anger among military families and veterans' groups and even prompted an editorial attack in the Army Times, a weekly newspaper for military personnel and their families that is seldom so outspoken.

Congress made the April pay increases retroactive to Oct. 1, 2002, but they are set to expire when the federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30 unless Congress votes to keep them as part of its annual defense appropriations legislation. Imminent danger pay, given to Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force members in combat zones, was raised to $225 from $150 a month. The family separation allowance, which goes to help military families pay rent, child care or other expenses while soldiers are away, was raised from $100 a month to $250.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0803/14paycut.html

[bluestateguy]

1. BUT don't you DARE question MY patriotism!

I have a FLAG on my SUV!

[THUNDER HANDS]

2. You're A Mean One, Mr. Bush

Your'e a mean one, Mr. Bush
Yes you really are a heel
You're as cuddly as a cactus
and as charming as an eel Mr. Buuuuush.
You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel!

You nauseate me Mr. Bush.
You're heart's an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders
You've got garlic in your soul, Mr. Buuuuush
I wouldn't touch you with a 39 and a half foot pole!

You're a foul one Mr. Bush.
You're a nasty wasty skunk.
Your brain is full of spiders and
Your soul is full of gunk Mr. Buuuuuush.
The three words which best decribe you are as follows and I quote
STINK!
STANK!
STUNK

:mad:

[mithnanthy]

37. Thanks for the laugh, Magic Rat

That was a good one!

[Aristus]

38. You're a rotter, Vee-Pee Dick

You're the king of sinful sots.
Your heart's adead tomato splotched with
moldy purple spots
Vee-Pee Diiiiiii-ICK!

[JackDragna]

3. This boggles the mind.

A huge, bloated Homeland Security setup..tax cuts..yet we can't afford a pittance for soldiers baking in heat, getting shot and dodging homemade explosives.

Oh, God, save me, for I've gone through the looking glass and there's no way back out again.

[Kolesar]

20. A mind-boggling political mistake

Pissed off soldiers coming home on leave are going to be a major politcal problem for Resident Bush. What a political blunder.

[Loonman]

4. "Help is on the way"

Yeah, right, Mr. Preznit.

[MaineDem]

5. Families are going to love this!

What a disgrace.

Yep, it's happening...my head is about to explode.

[Sushi_lover]

6. I'm NOT gonna pay a lot for that oil....

Blood for oil just got cheaper.

[JNelson6563]

7. I hope that the families

who spoke yesterday, and are heading to Crawford, mention this often. Support the troops! Not monetarily of course.......

Julie

[lebkuchen]

8. Articles like these need to be sent to every military person you know

retired and active duty. The word is getting out about Bush and his "help" for the military.

on edit: who has a copy of the Army Times editorial? I'd like to keep that. Another one is coming out soon.

[trogdor]

25. I'm doing Reserve drill this weekend.

Maybe I'll find it lying around.

[SpiralHawk]

9. Cut the Commander-in-Chief's* Vacation Budget

pResident* AWOL Deluxe will no doubt be delighted to sacrifice an extra serving of caviar while he indulges in his four-week taxpayer-funded vacation at the Pig Farm in Crawford. It's the least he can do to support the troops.

* Clearly rejected by a majority of patriotic and discerning American voters in the 2000 election; appointed to office by the so-called supreme court.

[underpants]

10. How much money is he raising on his "working vacation"?

Unbelieveable simply unbelieveable

[Zech Marquis]

11. now this will really piss them off!

first these people are forced by Rummy and Unca Dick to fight this illegal war, next they're told to suck it up and b e quiet about the sorry ass living condiitions there, and NOW you're going to cyt their pay ?! :wow: :argh::eyes:

* just lost the military vote with this shit!!!

[underpants]

13. Allotted 2 1.5 Liter bottles of water a day per soldier

5 heat related deaths.

[underpants]

12. "It's all part of the LIE of the Bush administration......."

Susan Schuman of Shelburne Falls, Mass., said her son, Army National Guard Sgt. Justin Schuman, had told her "it's really scary" serving in Samarra, a town about 20 miles from Saddam Hussein's ancestral hometown of Tikrit.

Schuman, who like Syverson has become active in a group of military families that want service personnel pulled out of Iraq, said the pay cut possibility didn't surprise her.

"It's all part of the lie of the Bush administration, that they say they support our troops," she said.

[havocmom]

14. $$ spent to send AWOL to photo ops, $$ cut from military pay

and $$ cut from vets benifits would make a lovely graphic.

If any of you computer program masters wanna take a crack at it, I am sure the rest of us DUers would put it to good use. Would make great posters to put in public places, along with ?W logos.

[Shadder]

15. This is a set up

Go back and read it again. "The Pentagon wants to cut the pay...." Then it goes on to say "Unless Congress and President Bush take quick action...."

This is a big set up to allow Bush to look good when he comes out against this idea. Gotta get those poll numbers up again somehow.

[NNN0LHI]

16. You are right n/t

[MaineDem]

19. I think you're on to something

Good catch. :)

[underpants]

21. Supplemental spending-The "war" in Iraq is not in the budget

That's why they have to reapprove it.

[atreides1]

26. And this will work.....

...as well as Bush telling Congress to go back and look at the tax credits for those making between $10,000 - $26,000 per year. And the
Congress just jumped all over that didn't they?

Okay no they didn't.

His polling numbers didn't go up that much when he "told" Congress
to look at the child tax credits for the poor, and I don't believe
they will go up because of this.

And besides, pollsters only ask questions of the brain dead.

[wryter2000]

27. I thought about that

But I think you're assuming the sheeple will make a subtle distinction between the DoD and the White House. Unless Bush is out in front of the tractor THIS VERY MINUTE puffing his chest out and saying it'll never happen, this hurts him bad.

I'm amazed sometimes. They seem determined to give themselves a black eye.

Talk about cruelty. Start a war, send our kids to a hell-hole, undersupply them, and then cut their pay! This is an outrage.

[RobinA]

33. Agree

There's no way this will happen, Bush will ride to the rescue.

[Voltaire99]

49. Yep. Calculated to make him look a hero later. (n/t)

.

[SOS]

17. The Pentagon

gets $400 billion a year, plus $75 billion upfront for the Iraq invasion and they can't afford to keep a $75/month pay increase for soldiers?
Where the f%$k does all that money go?

[SideshowScott]

18. Everyday Bush does something that makes me burn up with anger...

Amazing simply amazing how americans still think this guy is a great leader..And the GOP has the NERVE to say that its pro military..We got guys out there dyeing of heatstroke beacuse for some reason that I cant figure out cant give them enough water and familys who thought thire loved ones would be home soon now have to face money problems beacuse of a Adminstation that wats to cut pay in our troops..Nice Mr Presendnt...

[Zero Gravitas]

22. How much did AWOL's Carrier Photo Op cost?

I wonder how much it cost the US taxpayer to have * ponce around in a flight suit on that carrier so he could have his little "Mission Accomplished" photo-op? How many separation or danger payments could have been made with that money I wonder?

[Ganja Ninja]

34. And how much money is it costing taxpayers...

for Bush to fly around on AF1 at our expense campaign fund raising?

[underpants]

35. I think Ari said it was $8

Something assinine and ridiculous like that.

[Trajan]

23. Can you BELIEVE they say ....

"Support the Troops" ?? .....

WHEN is the Democratic party going to COLLECT the facts of these constant insults to OUR soldiers, and make ALL of them well knon to the american electorate ? ...

To think that the sycophants of the GOP have the unmitigated GALL to say tha the Democrats DONT 'support the troops', when it is THEY who have cut EVERY link in the safety net ? ....

Motherfuckers .... Im JUST as pissed at my own party for letting this stuff slide by the wayside ....

MAKE HAY of this .... damnit ! ....

[GoldenOldie]

24. Paycut for Troops???

Didn't Bush say he would run the Country like a business???

Enron at it's best. I bet the CEO's of Kellogg Brown & Root, Halliburton, and Caryle, will soon get significant increase in their stock portfolio's, bonus's, etc., etc. They don't even have to leave their air-conditioned offices.

Where in-the-hell are all those Generals, Admirals, Colonels that we see on a daily basis, spewing all that knowledge they have about what is actual occuring on the battle-front??? Why are they not mentioning the shafting of their fellow military? They are worse than the corporate whores.

Keep this kicked. Write letters to your local papers and forward on to everyone you know. I get damn chain e-mails (never respond) on a daily basis from those who have phobia's about dire results if they do not reply. Why not make this a chain also - add something to the end that would give the impression that their place in heaven was secure if article is forwarded to 10 friends. Military will soon learn but those that pretend everything is rosy truly needs a good kick in the posterior.

Please keep this going - we owe the military that much.

[Bandit]

28. Imminent danger pay, given to Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force

but not to National Guard members. How about them apples? Why does the military like this cabal of thugs? :shrug: I don't get it.

[TeeYiYi]

29. PAYCUT!? OMG!? WTF !*&%#@!? ........n/t

TYY

[kimchi]

30. Money, money, money.

The cabal has it, and they aim to keep it. More weapons, more photo ops, less pay for the ones in harm's way. It is the Republican way, you know.

[study_war_no_more]

46. they'll smile in your face

the backstabbers-Ojays revival?

[0007]

31. It aisn't gonna happen!!

Just a little trick to make junior look more marvelous than he indeed is, 'eh?

This one is like that bad smell we all don't like.......

[screembloodymurder]

32. In contrast to the military pay cut,

a recently graduated friend, with an construction degree and connections, was offered a job in Iraq with Bechtel. The starting salary is $350,000.00.

[RichV]

36. How are Freepers responding?

This has to disgust them too, I hope.

[samsingh]

39. this would be disgusting and unfair

we need to support the troops and their families

[remfan]

40. From Army Times editorial

http://www.dailykos.com/archives/003195.html

Nothing but lip service
(Issue Date: June 30, 2003)

For example, the White House griped that various pay-and-benefits incentives added to the 2004 defense budget by Congress are wasteful -- and unnecessary -- including a modest proposal to double the $6,000 gratuity paid to families of troops who die on active duty. This comes at a time when Americans continue to die in Iraq at a rate of about one a day.

Similarly, the administration announced that on Oct. 1 it wants to roll back recent modest increases in monthly imminent-danger pay (from $225 to $150) and family-separation allowance (from $250 to $100) for troops getting shot at in combat zones.

more...

From the Daily Kos post...

In fact, Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee tried to restore $1 billion of the construction money, and proposed paying for it by trimming some of the recent tax cuts for those making more than $1 million. Get this: under Obey's proposal, instead of an $88,300 break, they would've gotten an $83,500 cut.

The Republicans killed the proposal. To Republicans in Congress, $4,800 for their richest benefactors was more important than improving the quality of life of our men and women in uniform.

[mrsteve]

41. Fraid I'm with the "We'll blame Congress" camp

* will come out still looking good because he'll blame "those bureaucrats in Congress" for not moving fast enough to pass the legislation to support the troops.

And if it does blow up - he'll just propose new emergency legislation to fix the problem. And then attach a poison pill tax cut to the bill to force the Democrats to stop the legislation, still making him look good and making Dems look "unpatriotic".

I'm pleasantly surprised some soldier's wife got past the cognitive dissonance of this Republican adminstration and connected the tax cuts for the rich with pay cuts to the Armed Services, but I doubt many others will be able to make that connection.

[QuietStorm]

42. UnFucking Believable

So much for the worth of anyone's lives weighed against their fucking avarice. The soldiers should strike. Perhaps next they'll recruit prisoners from American jails and have them fight for squat.

[samsingh]

43. pay cuts to the military

are unfair and unbalanced (in favor of idiot-in-Thief's friends.

[Fleshdancer]

44. bastards

What the hell goes through the minds of these idiots??!! Gee, our soldiers are dying from guerilla attacks, heat exhaustion, and a mysterious illness...I know, let's pay them less money!

To me, this is equal to pissing on the flag. Then burning it. Then pissing on it again.

[neverforget]

45. It continues to amaze me that many in the military think the Rpukes

are their best friends. How the The Republican Party can continue it's "all style, no substance" show and get away with it, is beyond me.

[TygrBright]

47. Jam! Jam!! Here's what to do...

...when they hand you a pot of jam like this.

Call every Democratic Congresscritter and Senator that you know. Urge them to howl like a pack of wolves about this, NOW.

Pre-empt the issue. OWN the issue. "How DARE Bush and his appointed Defense Chief Rumsfeld even THINK of doing the dirty on Our Boys like this. It's outrageous!"

And have ready some juicy little corporate welfare plum to offer up as a 'sacrifice' to restore the pay levels AND extend them to Guardsmen and their families.

And just keep POUNDING on it, and POUNDING on it, and POUNDING on it. Take a leaf from the GOPpie playbook. Ignore the shrub's whining about "well it's the darn Congress' fault and I was gonna make 'em play fair."

Just keep reiterating the above statement, over and over, until it's THE story.

Despicable Rummy and those slimy worms... I hope someday they go to a Legion convention and get exactly what they deserve from the vets there.

angrily,
Bright

[wellst0nev0ter]

48. And Bush Comes Out Smelling Like A Rose

Pentagon Reverses Course, Won't Cut Troops' Pay

Like you all said, pure publicity stunt

[DannyRed]

50. If you read the articles...

And the speeches fired off by various candidates, you will see that this is serious egg-on-face for the whitehouse and the pentagon, for Bush and for Rummy.

"Washington -- The White House quickly backpedaled Thursday on Pentagon plans to cut the combat pay of the 157,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan after disclosure of the idea quickly became a political embarrassment .

The Pentagon's support for the idea of rolling back "imminent danger pay" by $75 a month and "family separation allowances" for the American forces by $150 a month collapsed after a story in some editions of The Chronicle Thursday generated intense criticism from military families, veterans groups and Democratic candidates seeking to unseat President Bush in 2004 .

IF this was an attempt to do a backdoor "look good feel good" stunt, it failed miserably.

The taste left in the public's mouths, the words left on the pages of the papers and the PC screens will resonate thusly:

The Pentagon, which is under the control of a White House appointed Secretary who regularly consults with and supposedly represents the opinions and policies of the President, tried to cut pay for troops in danger and their families left at home.

The pentagon and the whitehouse were embarassed by this, and backpedaled after harsh criticism and shouts of outrage from military families (seeya military support for GOP), veterans groups, AND democratic candidates for Pres.

Big, HUGE blunder by the Bushies, and big win for the Dems and for the families, who should be getting 1) their sons/daughters/wives/husbands back, or 2) A pay RAISE.