Webb: Bush would be first to veto veterans' benefits

by Nick Langewis and David Edwards

Some politicians have no qualms about using other people's military service for their own benefit, but appear to be reluctant to extend a benefit with historical precedent to those who have served, said Senator Jim Webb during an interview with NBC's Tim Russert this morning.

"The Republican Party...continually seeks to politicize military service for its own ends even as it uses their sacrifices as a political shield against criticism for its failed policies," Webb wrote in his book, A Time to Fight. "And in that sense, it is now the Republican Party that most glaringly does not understand the true nature of military service."

The Senator opined that Republicans have benefited from a climate of anti-war and perhaps anti-military sentiment stemming from the Vietnam era, resulting in well-meaning but misguided activism among Democratic-leaning people, and Republicans have won the image of being more positive towards the military and military service by default.

Webb's pending GI bill would offer tuition and living stipends to veterans similar to the benefits enjoyed by those returning from Japan and Germany in the 1940s.

"I introduced this GI bill my first day in office," Webb said. "The idea was to give the people who'd been serving since 9/11 the same educational benefits--the same right to a first class future--as those who served in World War II."

"No president in history has vetoed as benefits bill for those who've served," he continued. "[President Bush is] fine with sending these people over and over again where they're spending more time in Iraq than they are at home.

"He's fine with the notion of 'stop-loss,' where we can...make people stay in even after enlistments are done. And then we say, 'Give them the same benefit that the people in World War II have,' and they say it's too expensive. So I think the Republican Party is...on the block here to clearly demonstrate that they value military service, or suffer the consequences of losing the support of people who've served."

A full transcript is available here.

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