Rant of the Day=blood boiling

With Veteran's Day soon upon us, I read this today...U.S. President George W. Bush asked Congress on Monday (Oct 22, 2007) for $189.3 billion (93.2 billion pounds) to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, another huge request that faced deep scepticism from lawmakers opposed to prolonging the Iraq conflict.

Bush's request covers military operations for fiscal 2008, which began on October 1, the White House said. If approved it would make 2008 the most expensive year in the Iraq and Afghan wars and would be on top of about $600 billion already approved for those conflicts.

And then I read this...Linda Bilmes, a policy analyst at Harvard who will testify before Congress this week, calculates that over the next decade, the disability costs for vets will be at least $60 billion—more than six times the administration's official projections. The numbers coming out of government budget offices, she says, "are significantly underestimating the reality." All this has angered some vets and their families. "I would love to have the president live my life for one week to see how difficult it is," says Annette McLeod, wife of Army specialist Wendell McLeod, who is suffering from PTSD after serving in Iraq. "How do you fund a war but not fund the casualties?" By Michael Isikoff and Jamie Reno NEWSWEEK
Oct 29, 2007 Issue

http://www.newsweek.com/id/57459