Thursday, September 18, 2008

Why didn't McCain take care of the Gulf War POWs

When I posted this yesterday, there was something that stuck out and I haven't been able to get over it. The nagging question is, why wasn't McCain a champion for these POW's? The nauseating reminders of what McCain claims on his web site about how much he has fought for veterans, instead of the reality he's fought against them, is only magnified by this simple fact, he didn't do what he should have.

McCain should have been screaming at the top of his lungs when the law suit was shut down by Bush, but by then he was already standing so close to Bush's side that there wasn't much difference between the two of them at all left to be noticeable.

Whenever veterans were needed to support McCain, they were always there for him with their money and their votes but when they needed him, he was either nowhere to be found or stabbing them in the back by voting against what they needed. Yet in all of this if you fail to look up his record and only read his website, you think what a fine man he is, loyal as the day is long to our veterans instead of a user of them.

Now here is the point. There is John McCain, ex-POW, disabled veteran, yet does not serve on any veteran's committee.

Committees:
Armed Services, Ranking Member
Commerce, Science & Transportation, Member
Indian Affairs, Member
Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security, Member
Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Insurance, and Automotive Safety, Member
Subcommittee on Interstate Commerce, Trade, and Tourism, Member
Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Innovation, Member
Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security, Member


On the armed services committee, here is the list of names on it. You would think that if they served on this, they would have voted to make sure that Walter Reed was taking care of the wounded or the rest of the DOD problems were taken care of, but, well, he wasn't involved in fixing any of it. He wasn't involved in making sure they had the time between deployments either. One more thing to notice is that while the DOD was missing billions of tax payer funds, he never seemed to care about any of that at all. You'd think he would but then again, you'd also be just as wrong to think that McCain really cared at all until you notice what's missing from all of this.


MEMBERS
Sen. Daniel Akaka (Democratic-HI) Member
Sen. Evan Bayh (Democratic-IN) Member
Sen. Robert Byrd (Democratic-WV) Member
Sen. C. Saxby Chambliss (Republican-GA) Member
Sen. Hillary Clinton (Democratic-NY) Member
Sen. Susan Collins (Republican-ME) Member
Sen. John Cornyn (Republican-TX) Member
Sen. Elizabeth Dole (Republican-NC) Member
Sen. Lindsey Graham (Republican-SC) Member
Sen. James Inhofe (Republican-OK) Member
Sen. Edward Kennedy (Democratic-MA) Member
Sen. Carl Levin (Democratic-MI) Chair
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Independent Democrat-CT) Member
Sen. Melquiades Martinez (Republican-FL) Member
Sen. John McCain (Republican-AZ) Ranking Member
Sen. Claire McCaskill (Democratic-MO) Member
Sen. Bill Nelson (Democratic-FL) Member
Sen. E. Benjamin Nelson (Democratic-NE) Member
Sen. Mark Pryor (Democratic-AR) Member
Sen. John Reed (Democratic-RI) Member
Sen. Jefferson Sessions (Republican-AL) Member
Sen. John Thune (Republican-SD) Member
Sen. John Warner (Republican-VA) Member
Sen. James Webb (Democratic-VA) Member
Sen. Roger Wicker (Republican-MS) Member
JURISDICTION
(1)Committee on Armed Services, to which committee shall be referred all proposed legislation, messages, petitions, memorials, and other matters relating to the following subjects:1. Aeronautical and space activities peculiar to or primarily associated with the development of weapons systems or military operations.
2. Common defense.
3. Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force, generally.
4. Maintenance and operation of the Panama Canal, including administration, sanitation, and government of the Canal Zone.
5. Military research and development.
6. National security aspects of nuclear energy.
7. Naval petroleum reserves, except those in Alaska.
8. Pay, promotion, retirement, and other benefits and privileges of members of the Armed Forces, including overseas education of civilian and military dependents.
9. Selective service system.
10. Strategic and critical materials necessary for the common defense.(2) Such committee shall also study and review, on a comprehensive basis, matters relating to the common defense policy of the United States, and report thereon from time to time.


So why wasn't McCain standing up for these other POW's when he had the chance?
House Allows Gulf War POWs to Sue Iraq Over Torture

House Allows Gulf War POWs to Sue Iraq Over Torture



This is how it started


RETURNED PRISONERS OF WAR
FROM GULF WAR I --1991


NAME SERVICE DATE OF CAPTURE CARRIED AS RELEASE DATE
Acree, Clifford M. USMC Jan.18, 1991 POW 03/05/91
Andrews, William USAF -- MIA 03/05/91
Berryman, Michael C. USMC -- MIA 03/05/91
Cornum, Rhonda USA -- * 03/05/91
Dunlap, Troy USA -- * 03/05/91
Eberly, David W. USAF Jan. 17, 1991 POW 03/05/91
Fox, Jeffrey USAF Feb. 19, 1991 POW 03/05/91
Griffith, Thomas
E. Jr. USAF Jan. 17, 1991 POW 03/04/91
Hunter, Guy L. Jr. USMC Jan. 18, 1991 POW 03/05/91
Lockett, David USA Jan. 20, 1991 MIA 03/04/91
Roberts, Harry M. USAF Jan. - 1991 POW 03/05/91
Rathbun-Nealy, Melissa USA Jan. 30, 1991 MIA 03/04/91
Slade, Lawrence R. USN Jan. 21, 19915,3 POW 03/04/91
Small, Joseph USMC Feb. 25, 1991 MIA 03/05/91
Sanborn, Russell A.C. USMC Feb. 09, 1991 MIA 03/05/91
Stamaris, Daniel USA -- * 03/05/91
Storr, Richard Dale USAF -- MIA 03/05/91
Sweet, Robert J. USAF Feb. - , 1991 MIA 03/05/91
Tice, Jeffrey Scott USAF Jan. -, 1991 POW 03/05/91
Wetzel, Robert USN Jan. 17, 1991 MIA 03/04/91
Zaun, Jeffrey Norton USN Jan. 17, 1991 POW 03/04/91

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