Veterans continue to be mistreated and Iraq is going too tell us how long we have to stay at this cost? Says next President will decide to stay, Well?

Not only do the lies continue but In April, Congress will consider Bush's demand for another $102 billion for the never-ending and disastrous occupation of Iraq. This is on top of the $562 billion Congress has already given Bush since 2003. And it is on top of the $3 trillion the Iraq War is estimated to cost for veterans' care, weapons replacement, and higher oil prices. Not to mention the real estimated cost of the war is $3 trillion dollars!

look at the continued abuse $3 trillion buys for our veterans! Congressional Candidate Marshall Adame: I got a call from my son today. Billy is the son who was wounded in battle in Iraq just outside of Baghdad in 2006. He has shrapnel in his neck and shoulder, still. He has had surgery on his leg and it is well again. He is suffering from, and has been diagnosed with, Traumatic Brain injury (TBI). Consequently he now has a type of Tourette Syndrome and suffers from "tics", sort of involuntary jerks or sudden movements. I am happy I still have my son.

Anyway Billy called to tell me that he has been informed, by the Army Medical Board, that he is being retired with a 50% disability. My son understood the risks of being a career Army soldier. He had seen me serving in the Marines almost his whole live as a young man. It seemed a natural transition for him when he decided to make the Military his home. He also had the understanding that the Army too understood and accepted their responsibilities to him. That part hasn´t worked out that well. Our President must not have factored in the cost of wounded soldiers when he let us borrow the money from China to wage war in Iraq.

In the middle of a severe recession where millions of America´s workers are losing, or are close to losing their jobs, some of which they have held for many years, the Army is dumping my son, now visibly disabled, and expecting him to gainfully join the work force as though nothing has changed in his life. This is the same workforce who´s jobs are leaving America faster than we can calculate due to the unreliable dollar, NAFTA, CAFTA, The Columbian and Korean trade deals, our governments failure to make Mexico, our neighbor, the ally we have worked so hard at making other distant countries, our ten trillion dollar debt, and an utter failure in leadership by President Bush and the Republican Congress and Senate who helped him execute and carry out this litany of grand failures in leadership, the looting of our U.S. Treasury and the grossly failed attempt to privatize the Federal Government. Continued $3 trillion dollar mistreatment of our veterans

Meanwhile Iraq's ambassador to the United States said Tuesday that his country still needs the U.S. military to survive and predicted that the next U.S. president, whoever it is, will agree that the troops will have to stay for at least a while longer. "Now it is all about getting votes," Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie said of the presidential hopefuls and their views on Iraq.

"When the candidate is successful and is in the White House, that candidate is going to have a different mind frame. At that point, most of the choices will converge." Sumaidaie, who made the comments after a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, added that he has been in contact with the U.S. presidential campaigns. Earlier, he told the Washington think tank that American forces "have to leave in a responsible manner." "We want them to leave. Let's be clear," he said. Sumaidaie spoke as Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker were talking to Congress about the latest U.S. military and diplomatic strategy.

The focus of Sumaidaie's speech was "Iraq after five years." Looking ahead to that time frame, he predicted that Iraq will still be "a work in progress," comparing the current situation in the nation to "a recovery from a terminal illness." "I am willing to predict there will be gradual reduction over the next few years of American involvement, commitment in Iraq, but I am not willing to get into numbers and dates," he said. After his speech, he said he understands the frustration of members of Congress and many Americans seeking to end U.S. involvement in Iraq. "I say to them, yes, I understand your pain, but it is not something you can get out of so easily. This is the wrong time unless you want to hand the country on a plate to Iran," he said. Future Iraqi governments will decide whether non-combat U.S. military forces will stay in Iraq, he added. Iraq is going to tell us when we can leave

** More $Billions, continued abuse of Veterans, and we will stay in Iraq because All that remains is for Bush to find the excuse to attack Iran and get this going then we will leave Iraq to their own demise! I am afraid that Bush has set the agenda for the US regardless of who gets elected as our next President. Whoever it is will be forced to fight the future wars Bush has set the stage for! The only benefit of having a Democratic President will be to the lives of the elderly and average Americans!

James Joiner

Gardner Ma

www.anaveragepatriot.com