I am not going to even pretend to know what these jackasses are thinking:
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.
I simply can not defend this decision in any way shape or form. Just plain bad policy and bad politics.
dinky dau
I think floating that ballon is dumb as a fox move – guaranteed to get the public behind whatever additional financing is needed for DOD..
And damn – those folks over there are EARNING IT!
Kimmitt
Er, they’re thinking that soldiers aren’t really that important, except as pawns and chits in geopolitical games. What else do they ever think?
dave
It’s never going to happen. It would be political suicide for Bush. Dinky may be right about the strategy, though.
The part of the article that everyone keeps overlooking is “On Capitol Hill, members say the issue will be taken up quickly after the summer recess when a conference committee meets to negotiate conflicting versions of the $369 billion defense appropriations bill. “
The money will undoubtedly be restored. Too much political capital at stake not to.
rabidfox
Rep bashing is not approprite on this issie. The additional funding for the troops comes from a special program, enacted by contress, that has a expiration date. That date has passed. DOD is currently paying out these costs from some other fund (the color of money issue could get interesting I expect). The dems can seeth all they want, the troops aren’t being penalized no matter how much the dems would like to think that they have, finally, a campaign issue.
Bill should be renewed as soon as congress comes back into session. The big question should be why did congress leave before renewing this thing in the first place.
mark
Yahoo reports that the DOD says it will not cut the pay even when the law expires…they will fund it “by other means.” I read this as pressing Congress for an increase in the defense budget. Is anyone going to object to this increase?
Well, maybe Dennis Kucinich…
dave
I’m not a fan of his, but on my way to lunch, Limbaugh was reporting that the DOD is calling the SFGate report false. (I haven’t found reliable confirmation of this anywhere yet)
Kimmitt
I’d not cite Rush Limbaugh as a reliable source if it were me. There are right-wing sources which do not consistently attempt to mislead their viewers/listeners. Mr. Limbaugh is not one of them.
dave
That’s why I said I hadn’t found reliable confirmation, Kimmitt. But I have since found confirmation from several news sites. The story as reported was a major distortion of the real situatin. Their pay isn’t dropping. The compensation plan is just changing when the current one expires.
Christopher Horner
The local rag ran an AP wire story covering this topic: http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/national/article/0,1375,VCS_123_2184432,00.html
I also saw WashPost unattributed reports stating much the same position. Seems pretty cut-and-dried to me.
One thing I learned years ago is not to “shoot from the hip”: When I followed up on this story, the quotes from Lieberman, Kerry and Dean where hilarious in the context of this (non)-issue…it was like the old west all over again.
Cait
Dodd, guest hosting at http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ has a good post on this subject. Basically, this is as Horner says a “non-issue”.