THE AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE AND DR. SALLY SATEL
EVERY VET A MALINGERER AND PHONY
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER
With the Keith Roberts hearing coming up, perhaps we should look at the mechanism that gave the government the ability to destroy veterans files, even imprison veterans who filed appeals, such as Keith Roberts.
Giving full aid and comfort to the enemies of America’s veterans is the American Legion and VFW, two groups that stand, side by side with the Republican politicans and the conservative think tanks that work to eliminate veterans benefits and GI Bill enhancement.
THE AEI: NOMINEE FOR THE COVETED AIRPORT SPITTER AWARD
"Conservative" means "saving money" and "keeping soldiers as slaves onto death." Whether we are talking John McCain or Burr or Graham or two dozen others, these patriotic heroes have done nothing over the years but receive continual support from our favorite veterans groups for gutting military and veterans benefits.
With a series of "think tanks" selling pseudo science, most of them got their feet wet with decades of "smoking and lung cancer denial," or similar idiocy, the American Enterprise Institute stands out as the lead in the war against American heroes.
Even more maniacal and radical than the Heritiage Foundation, private "rubber stamp" for the schemes of Amway/Blackwater, Coors extremism and Richard Mellon Scaife, private funder for the failed Clinton impeachment, the AEI focuses on destroying veterans.
Their primary tool is a Doctor Sally Satel. Satel is an "odd duck" who believes that secret groups of extremist veterans, when not busy trying to overthrow the government or tap her telephone, plot to destroy the American economy by faking symptoms of PTSD after experiencing combat.
The Bush 2005 attempt to stop all payments to veterans receiving disability for PTSD was based on her politically inspired writing.
Standing against Satel, Bush and then VA director Nicholson was Senator Barak Obama, now president and under continual attack from, not only conservative groups, but clandestinely by mainstream veterans organizations.
Satel claims that the price for treating PTSD will go over $4 billion dollars and this will bankrupt the United States.
That ten times that figure was spent on defective equipment, poisoned drinking water, faulty wiring or renegade mercenaries in Iraq, with billions going directly into the pockets of one of the families of Heritage Foundation founder Richard Devos whose family company Blackwater was forced to not only change its name but was actually banned from Iraq, is not seen as ironic.
With trillions needed to bail out Bush financial fiascos, trillions, not billions, every veteran, to "conservatives" is a drain on the government "tax and steal" machinery that was so well oiled under Cheney/Bush.
A dollar to a veteran is waste. A billion dollars paid for defective goods or undelivered services builds the economy.
Satel’s claim that PTSD is an invention of the "liberal bias in the news" led the VA to stress that troops, prior to deployment, stop getting news.
Last week, congress began the process of "business as usual" with the endless, year after year, parade of VA scandals. The VA promised to stop murdering patients with filthy endoscopy equipment.
Well, it wasn’t actually a promise, but they said they would look into it. I trust them.
Will congress ask them to stop prosecuting veterans who complain about their files being destroyed? Thus far, the longest prison sentence a disabled vet has gotten has been 4 years, simply for complaining about government corruption. No, I am not kidding.
Who do I blame? Until Keith Roberts is released from prison and replaced with George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and a long list of individuals who have defrauded the government, looted the financial system, tortured and raped detainees or covered it up, I blame President Barak Obama.
The instrument, however, is and always has been the Republican Party with their partnership with the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars and the phony think tanks and rogue "pseudo-scientists" willing to say up is down and down is sideways for a pocket of change, taking up the slack.
Maybe Sally Satel is right, who knows. Maybe veterans are being tested. Every day that vets support the groups that work to destroy them, the concepts of conservatives are proven correct.
Anyone who would behave with callous ignorance and utter disregard for reality may actually be destined for extinction.
Here, in town, two American Legion posts closed, boycotted by Vietnam veterans who feel uncomfortable with their politics.
To a conservative, it would be the members themselves that are meant to expire.
The real pro-veteran groups that coined the phrase, "DENY, DENY UNTIL THEY DIE" stress a realistic view toward veterans and the military that fulfills the nations promise to those who defend it. They are describing, not only a government policy that has destroyed so many lives, but, in a sense, a mindset in veterans themselves.
Riding motorcycles to the funeral of a veteran who might still be alive and with his family if the group sponsoring the "honor" hadn’t been an active part of the political mechanism responsible for the death is another touch of irony.
The Keith Roberts case is a classic. He stands convicted, after millions were spent on building a case against him out of perjured testimony, falsified statements and open warfare against an activist veteran.
The Bush administrations case against Roberts was based on their contention that he wasn’t really "that friendly" with a fellow soldier that was horribly mutilated in an accident.
Based on the same criteria, I could take over half the winners of the Medal of Honor and find some minor (one in particular, a close McCain friend, some VERY major)error or "editorialized" statement.
Should we spend millions sending all of them to jail also? Technically, under close enough scrutiny, I can’t think of a single veteran that couldn’t be convicted of violating the Stolen Valor act. A wrong frame on a ribbon, one extra star or a company clerk that got a date wrong and any vet is a criminal.
IMAGINE A ‘RIBBON AUDIT’ AND DD214 CHECK AT "ROLLING THUNDER." THOUSANDS WEAR VIETNAM CAMPAIGN RIBBONS WHO NEVER SAW VIETNAM. WHAT IS MEANT TO BE A SYMBOL OF SUPPORT IS NOW A FEDERAL CRIME.
It’s time that veterans started demanding that the Democratic party support them with more than money. Republicans have long abandoned vets, knowing many will vote without thought or consideration for the welfare of their friends or the troops defending America. Ignorance of the law is a crime, ignorance of reality is simply a "Darwin" problem.
Veterans votes go to veteran supporters. Putting more than lip service behind reform is needed, which means eliminating many long seated Republicans and replacing them with candidates who are veterans, activists and fighters.
Every day Keith Roberts spends in prison is a day that veterans need to feel betrayal by their government and President Obama.
Every veteran who supports groups that work against veterans and soldiers, who supports the anti-veteran media, Fox News at the forefront, only gives more strength to our enemies.
Few groups have enemies as vicious as those that plague our vets.
Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran and regular contributor on political and social issues.
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
ATTENTION READERS
We See The World From All Sides and Want YOU To Be Fully InformedIn fact, intentional disinformation is a disgraceful scourge in media today. So to assuage any possible errant incorrect information posted herein, we strongly encourage you to seek corroboration from other non-VT sources before forming an educated opinion.
About VT - Policies & Disclosures - Comment Policy
