Military Times Op-ED by Hillary Clinton: Taking care of vets is 'sacred responsibility'

[riversedge]

Tweet:
Hillary Clinton ?@HillaryClinton 5m5 minutes ago

Our veterans have done so much for us; now we need to do more for them. Read Hillary’s op-ed in the @MilitaryTimes: http://hrc.io/1O3JbfP


Commentary: Taking care of vets is 'sacred responsibility'
By Hillary Clinton, Special to Military Times 12:08 a.m. EST November 11, 2015




Hillary Clinton and veterans

(Photo: Jim Cole/AP)


This Veterans Day is an opportunity to reaffirm that America’s promise to our veterans is a sacred responsibility. Yet today we are failing to keep faith with our veterans. Long wait times for health care, crippling claims backlogs, little or no coordination between different government agencies responsible for serving veterans — these problems are serious, systemic and absolutely unacceptable. They need to be fixed, and fixed now.

First, we have to reform the VA to guarantee that our veterans have reliable and consistent access to the high-quality health care they’ve earned. We should transform the Veterans Health Administration from just a provider of services into a truly integrated health care system.

If we can maintain the most advanced military in the history of the world and fight wars across vast oceans and continents, we can figure out how to ensure that no veterans ever have to wait in line for weeks or months to get care, no matter where they live or what their needs are.

It starts with accountability, from the top leadership at the VA to midlevel managers to entry-level employees. As president, I will personally convene the secretary of veterans affairs and the secretary of defense in regular joint meetings and direct them to sync up their systems, coordinate efforts at every level, and enforce zero tolerance for the kind of abuses and delays we’ve seen.

The VA currently uses more than 100 electronic health record systems, so different sites can’t talk to one another, much less with the Defense Department or other hospital systems. That doesn’t make any sense, and it does a disservice to our veterans.....

MILITARYTIMES

Clinton unveils plan for veterans, military personnel

[guillaumeb]

1. Part of "taking care of Vets" is not wasting their lives on wars started under

demonstrably false pretenses, and not voting to get involved in such wars.

[riversedge]

3. Thank you for your concern

[Evergreen Emerald]

4. I am so tired of the bullshit. Read her op/ed.

You know she did not start the war, right? You understand that no matter how she voted, Bush would have used the power poorly? You get that she did not vote to get us involved in a war.

She voted to give Bush the hammer to get Hussein in line. He betrayed her and our country.

[guillaumeb]

8. I am personally fatigued with those who rewrite and/or ignore history:

To wit:

More than a dozen years later, Hillary Clinton is still being haunted by her decision to break with the majority of her Congressional Democratic colleagues and vote in favor of President George W. Bush's call to authorize the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Clinton is the only one of the five major announced candidates for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination who supported that illegal and unnecessary war, which not only resulted in 4,500 American deaths and thousands more permanently disabled, but hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths, the destabilization of the region with the rise of ISIS, and a dramatic increase in the federal deficit resulting in major cutbacks to important social programs.

Her defenders have characterized her vote as a "mistake." However, it would have been a mistake only if she had pushed the "aye" button when she had meant to push the "nay" button. It was quite deliberate and the implications still raise serious questions.

Pope John Paul II and the National Council of Catholic Bishops, along with the leadership of virtually every major mainline U.S. Protestant denomination, came out in opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The Christian groups that supported Bush's call for war were essentially restricted to right-wing fundamentalists, thereby raising some serious questions as to where Clinton is coming from theologically.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zunes/support-for-iraq-war-stil_b_7941264.html

And also:

Hillary Clinton has yet to live down the vote she cast to back the Iraq War as a senator in 2002—a vote that helped President Obama beat her in the 2008 democratic primaries. On Thursday, her 2016 rival Bernie Sanders stopped short of saying that her vote should disqualify her from being president. But there was a "but."

"I'm not here to criticize the vote she cast years ago," Sanders, the most progressive candidate in the democratic field, told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor in Washington, DC. "But what does that mean in terms of your judgment in assessing information?"

His answer didn't go as far as another 2016 Clinton challenger, former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee, who doesn't believe that "anybody should be president of the United States that made that mistake." Sanders' take was more forgiving: "Everybody makes bad votes in their lives and I don't think anyone is 'disqualified.'"

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/06/sanders-clinton-iraq-war-vote

In the period before the war, there were millions of people marching, there were many stories in the progressive )and even the mainstream) media about the lies being used by the Bush Administration to justify what was a war of choice. Any politicians who voted for that war were either unaware of the facts or chose to ignore them.

The result of that vote was that hundreds of thousands of innocent Afghanis, Iraqis, and some thousands of US soldiers died.

[Evergreen Emerald]

25. Me too

And the vote was not to go to war. It was to threaten war.

[JonLeibowitz]

27. .

The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the US as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to defend the national security of the US against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and enforce all relevant UN Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.

Doesn't sound like merely a threat to this voter. Sure sounds like full authorization. Too bad for her, I don't vote for hawks.

[guillaumeb]

32. "It was to threaten war" was the spin,

but the whole world knew that the spin was merely voiced to give cover to the politicians. There was never any intention on the part of Cheney to stop at the threat. And the same hawkish Democrats who are ever ready to vote for wars also knew this. But it did give these Democrats plausible deniability.

[Fumesucker]

14. Dick Cheney is a psychic, he accurately predicted the course of the Iraq war in 1994

If only Hillary had listened to Cheney v1.9.94 she would not be wearing this albatross today.

[guillaumeb]

16. But there was a "coalition of the willing" for the Bush/Cheney war.

Including such powerhouses as Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, and others.

[Fumesucker]

17. Don't forget Poland

[guillaumeb]

19. And Costa Rica, until they protested at being included. eom

[oasis]

12. What have YOU done on the part of any veteran?

[guillaumeb]

18. I personally have demonstrated against war since 1968.

In my Union, as a Steward for 30 plus years, I represented many vets and gave them outside resources to consider when I could not personally help with a particular agency.

I dealt with numerous Vietnam vets who had a PTSD diagnosis and directed them to available counseling within the VA and the USPS.

[oasis]

20. Thank you.

[roguevalley]

22. given she made a lot of them with her unapologetic votes, yeah. I agree with her.

Especially the broken ones.

[BootinUp]

2. K&R

[JaneyVee]

5. K AND R!

[yallerdawg]

6. Another stark difference from Republicans:

As we work to improve the VA, I will fight as long and as hard as it takes to prevent Republicans from privatizing it as part of a misguided ideological crusade.

I believe in giving veterans more choice in where and how they receive care and I think there should be more partnerships between the VA and private hospitals and community health care providers. But we can’t put our vets at the mercy of private insurance companies without any care coordination, or leave them to fend for themselves with health care providers who have no expertise in the unique challenges facing veterans. Privatization is a betrayal, plain and simple.

[riversedge]

10. yes, it is.

[merrily]

7. And Bernie did something about it besides bloviate and tell an enlistment attempt story!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/128027637

[restorefreedom]

9. here is a great idea to take care of vets

don't be a hawk and advocate for unnecessary wars.

[mcar]

13. K&R

[jkbRN]

15. Odd coming from a candidate who supports troops on the ground..

I am deeply committed to Israel’s future as a secure and democratic Jewish state, and just as convinced that the only way to guarantee that outcome is through diplomacy. And while no solution can be imposed from outside, I believe the United States has a responsibility to help bring Israelis and Palestinians to the table and to encourage the difficult but necessary decisions that will lead to peace. As president I will never stop working to advance the goal of two states for two peoples living in peace, security and dignity.

I will do everything I can to enhance our strategic partnership and strengthen America’s security commitment to Israel, ensuring that it always has the qualitative military edge to defend itself. That includes immediately dispatching a delegation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to meet with senior Israeli commanders. I would also invite the Israeli prime minister to the White House in my first month in office.

I also will combat growing efforts to isolate Israel internationally and to undermine its future as a Jewish state, including the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. I’ve spoken out against BDS in the United States and at the U.N., and will continue to do so.

Read more: http://forward.com/opinion/national/324013/how-i-would-rebuild-ties-to-israel-and-benjamin-neta/#ixzz3rEZk2AMj

In breaking with the White House by calling for military action to protect civilians in Syria, former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton is siding with at least two of her Republican opponents in the 2016 presidential election.

Clinton adopted the opposite position from the White House she used to serve on Thursday by advocating additional international air power to protect civilians in the multi-front war.

“I personally would be advocating now for a no-fly zone and humanitarian corridors to try to stop the carnage on the ground and from the air,” the Democratic presidential hopeful said in an interview.

That puts her in the same camp as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and fellow Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Read More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/10/02/in-break-with-white-house-clinton-advocates-syria-no-fly-zone/

[riversedge]

23. Does she say that???

[riversedge]

30. Hillary does NOT support troops on the ground.

[WillyT]

21. How "Sacred" Is It To Send Them To An Illegal War ???

Richard Ertle found a creative spot for his sticker/sign when protesters from Occupy Grand Rapids picketed during Vice President Joe Biden;s visit to San Chez restaurant last month.
T.J. Hamilton | The Grand Rapids Press







Would you like me to continue ???

[riversedge]

24. “To all our veterans, and the men and women now serving: You represent the very best that our countr

Hillary Clinton ?@HillaryClinton 5h5 hours ago

“To all our veterans, and the men and women now serving: You represent the very best that our country has to offer.”

[askew]

26. Did she release a full detailed plan somewhere or is this all we get?

Her website is very light on the specifics. https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/veterans/

Compare that to the plan Martin O'Malley released which is detailed and tells us where he stands.

https://martinomalley.com/policy/veterans/

[riversedge]

28. The end of the article has a link to her plan

https://www.hillaryclinton.com/p/briefing/factsheets/2015/11/06/supporting-our-veterans-troops-and-their-families/

[askew]

29. Thanks. Happy she finally released some specifics.

I prefer O'Malley's plan but this is much better than I expected from her.

[riversedge]

31. Glad you have an open mind. Thank you

Lily Adams ?@adamslily Nov 10

READ Hillary Clinton's plan: Supporting Our Veterans, Troops, And Their Families #iacaucus
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/p/briefing/factsheets/2015/11/06/supporting-our-veterans-troops-and-their-families/ …