Bush's 'Accomplishments' on Veterans Issues Are Lies, Evidence Shows from TPR: The Public Record

It's not uncommon for presidents to embellish their accomplishments upon leaving office, but George W. Bush, who will exit the White House leaving the country in the worst shape since Herbert Hoover's tenure, has gone a step further, moving well past exaggeration and straight into the realm of outright lying.

Last month, the White House has published two lengthy reports, "Highlights of Accomplishments and Results of the Administration of George W. Bush," and "100 Things Americans May Not Know About the Bush Administration Record" in an attempt to change the emerging historical consensus about a failed presidency.

What stands out among the combined 90-pages of so-called accomplishments in the reports are the extraordinary claims made by the White House regarding Bush's record on veterans' issues.

Bush claims he "provided unprecedented resources for veterans" over the past eight years and provided "the highest level of support for veterans in American history."

"The President also increased the benefits available to those who have served our Nation and transformed the veterans health care system to better serve those who have sacrificed for our freedom," both reports claim.  "Instituted reforms for the care of wounded warriors...and dramatically expanded resources for mental health services.'

That assertion does not contain even a shred of truth. And the evidence that is publicly available to undercut the president's outrageous claims is overwhelming.

Before the U.S. invaded Iraq in March 2003, documents released by the Department of Veterans Affairs said it expected a maximum of 8,000 cases of post traumatic stress disorder.

The VA's wildly off-the-mark figures about the number of PTSD cases followed statements by Vice President Dick Cheney that the war would be a "cakewalk," promises by former Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz that the war would be paid for by Iraqi oil revenues, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wrong headed claim that the U.S. didn't need to deploy more than 200,000 ground troops to maintain a post-war Iraq.

In January 2008, an Army task force found major flaws in the way the VA treated and cared for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury last year.According to a RAND Institute study released shortly after the Army published it's task force report, there are now more than 320,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars suffering from major depression, PTSD and/or traumatic brain injury largely due to multiple deployments and the VA has been and continues to be ill equipped to deal with these cases when soldiers return from combat.

Simply put, under Bush's leadership, veterans' healthcare has become worse, not better. Of the 84,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder by VA, only half, about 42,000, had their disability claim approved by VA. Instead of streamlining PTSD claims, President Bush's political appointees at VA actively fought against mental health claims.


rest at http://www.pubrecord.org/nationworld/600-bushs-accomplishments-on-veterans-issues-are-lies-evidence-shows.html