Cameron White's Testimony in Support of SCR 4022 (House)
March 22, 2007
My name is Cameron White. I am a Marine and served as a member of Alpha Company, 1st Tank Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment Reinforced, 1st Marine Division. I served two combat tours in Iraq. My first tour was during the initial invasion of Iraq as part of an infantry support element during Operation Iraqi Freedom One, and later as part of the Post- "Mission Accomplished" group to transport vehicles and Marines from Doha Port in Kuwait to Camp Fallujah , Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom Two.
As a former active duty Marine, and a member of the Inactive Ready Reserve, it is of the utmost importance to me to Support Our Troops in the best way possible and to call an end to combat operations in Iraq and seek a peaceful alternative to the continuing violence in the Middle East. This can not come in the form of the watered-down amended resolution that recently passed in the North Dakota Senate, because those changes are a ruse that only leave room to continue to put our troops in the midst of a violent conflict. Violence which we know full well is a civil war. A situation that has Americans caught in the cross-fire as an unfortunate result of a power vacuum that we created by destabilizing the region. Americans both home and abroad are suffering the real consequences of this song and dance, and while we negotiate here more Americans are coming home in coffins. These are our sons and daughters, our husbands and wives and our fellow Americans. Our military service members are completing multiple deployments in Iraq. It is not uncommon to serve three or more combat tours in a four year enlistment. How many deployments must our troops complete? How many times will we ask them to risk their lives to continue an unnecessary war? Our troops deserve real accountability from their representatives. For the American troops the reality of this war is that it does not end or stay in Iraq. As veterans, we bring this war home with us, and it changes our lives forever, and forever, is a very long time. This war survives within us, and we re-live it everyday in different ways. For some, that comes in the form of PTSD, and for others it is due to the physical injuries and disabilities experienced through things such as loss of limbs, vision or hearing. Over 23,000 members of our armed forces have been wounded in Iraq, and many more in Afghanistan. These are the ones that have survived the initial combat on the ground only to carry with them the effects of war into their everyday lives.
We know our troops are not fighting a war to liberate a country, they are not looking for weapons of mass destruction and they are not fighting a war on terror. That is a fallacy. Terrorism is a tactic, not a tangible enemy. There is no President or General of Terrorism that will come to the table and negotiate a truce, and therefore there is no foreseeable end to this war, and no clear victory to establish. This creates an ongoing war machine that perpetually profits the Defense Industry at the cost of thousands of American and foreign lives. So our troops fight, not a war against the Iraqis or a war on terror, but instead they are fighting for survival, fighting to go home and fighting for each other. They fight for the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen next to them. They fight so that they can all go home, and preferably, in one piece. That is why they fight, and that is no reason to put our troops in harms way. We can not tell our servicemen and women that we "Support Our Troops" and then send them off to risk their lives, multiple times, for reasons that we can not HONESTLY justify. That is a crime. Not only do we ask our troops to serve this country, but we neglect them after they have done so.
Coinciding with the Invasion of Iraq, the House of Representatives voted on the 2004 budget which cut funding for veteran's health care and benefit programs by nearly $25 billion over the next ten years. This came just a day after Congress passed a resolution to "Support Our Troops." Ask yourself this question: "How exactly did that vote support our troops? Does leaving our current and future veterans without access to health care and compensation qualify as supporting them?" How can a person support sending Americans to fight a war and not support them when they return? That is a disgrace and it is shameful!
Today we are told that we must "Support Our Troops." "Wear a yellow ribbon, wave our flags, support the Bush Administration's War on Terror and War in Iraq. Stay the course." Questioning the war or ceasing to fund it is equated with deserting our troops or treason. And yet how are the warmongers supporting our troops? By eliminating their healthcare and slashing their pensions? We can support the warrior without supporting the war.
Initiatives to raise Veterans benefits have constantly been defeated by this administration and the GOP budget resolutions have contained reconciliation orders requiring the VA to cut benefits or to tax veterans by increasing their fees. For fiscal year 2006, the VA Committee was to identify $155 million in benefits cuts or increased fees; and $798 million over the next five years. This administration has consistently cut Veterans benefits while appropriating more and more money for war making, to the tune of over $300 billion and counting. In 2005, two years into the war, the House Republicans voted to reject increased funds for veterans' health care, and they voted to actually cut veterans benefits in their budget resolution.
The amount available for veterans' medical programs, including construction, and benefits administration is $127 million below the amount the Congressional Budget Office estimates would be necessary to maintain the level of services that existed in fiscal year 2005. Over five years, the Republican budget resolution cuts almost $16 billion from these discretionary programs. These type of budget resolutions will decrease critical services and inflict real pain upon service members, veterans and military families during a time of war, and Congress should be ashamed.
According to the Veteran's Administration, 28 million veterans are currently using VA benefits. Another 70 million Americans are potential candidates for such programs. That amounts to a quarter of the U.S. population. With the budget shrinking, staff will be let go, and access to healthcare will become more and more difficult. This could mean the loss of over 19,000 nurses. Without those nurses, veterans could lose over 6.6 million outpatient visits. Approximately one out of every two veterans could lose their ONLY source of medical care. That is, if they even realize help is available to them. In 2003 the Bush Administration ordered the VA medical centers to stop publicizing available benefits to veterans seeking assistance.
Bush Administration funding cuts will also prevent veterans from receiving their disability pensions. Nearly a third of Gulf War veterans (over 200,000 veterans) have submitted claims to the VA for disability. The backlog of unprocessed claims has reached the astronomical count of nearly 500,000. There are also currently 500,000 Compensation and Pension cases still pending.
And let us not forget that over forty percent of America's homeless are Vietnam Veterans. They went from serving their country in a time of war to living on its streets in poverty. How many current veterans will return home, only to find themselves in the same situation? Because this administration does NOT support its troops!
The United States constituents have spoken up by voting for new policy makers and asking for a shift in our political mind set and a new direction in Iraq. Some of our Senators, Congressman and Representatives have forgotten who they work for. They still believe that they work for corporations, lobbyists, and the almighty dollar. Our representatives need to step up and do their jobs. Implement these changes on our behalf - for the troops and the citizens of this great nation. A nation that is suffering. This is a pivotal moment, and the eyes of the world are watching, and waiting for us to correct our moral compass, hold people accountable and return this country to its core principals. As Dorothy Thompson said, "It is not the fact of liberty but the way in which liberty is exercised that ultimately determines whether liberty itself survives." We must find an alternative to the troop surge, work on a REAL exit strategy, save the lives that we can while preventing more young men and women from becoming casualties of this war, either on the battlefield or here at home.