Troop in Iraq face pay cuts

[jbfam4]

www.sfgate.com

Troops in Iraq face pay cut
Pentagon says tough duty bonuses are budget-buster
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Thursday, August 14, 2003
©2003 San Francisco Chronicle




Washington -- The Pentagon wants to cut the pay of its 148,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, who are already contending with guerrilla-style attacks, homesickness and 120- degree-plus heat.

Unless Congress and President Bush take quick action when Congress returns after Labor Day, the uniformed Americans in Iraq and the 9,000 in Afghanistan will lose a pay increase approved last April of $75 a month in "imminent danger pay" and $150 a month in "family separation allowances."

The Defense Department supports the cuts, saying its budget can't sustain the higher payments amid a host of other priorities. But the proposed cuts have stirred anger among military families and veterans' groups and even prompted an editorial attack in the Army Times, a weekly newspaper for military personnel and their families that is seldom so outspoken.

Congress made the April pay increases retroactive to Oct. 1, 2002, but they are set to expire when the federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30 unless Congress votes to keep them as part of its annual defense appropriations legislation.

[samsingh]

1. reverse the tax cuts to bush's friends

give the money to the troops. support our troops.

[Exultant Democracy]

2. $75 a month in "imminent danger pay"???????

:wtf: F*#king sh*t a#% f<*k that pisses me off so much. They guys who stand next to the road during construction and wave flags at cars get more danger pay then that.

[DagmarK]

3. And the Halliburton guys they are protecting are getting BONUSES.......

Amazing.....it's just so friggin amazing.

[ameriphile]

4. Yep

Poor men fight rich men's wars to help make the poor poorer and the rich richer. A beautiful system, eh?

[StaggerLee]

6. The rich man's heaven is the poor man's hell

~Peter Tosh and Neville Livingston

[StaggerLee]

5. I wonder how fair-and-balanced is spinning this

I don't have cable (been without it for a year and a half)

Yes, my time is my own.

[lkinsale]

7. Pay Military for Imminent Danger Even If We Cut Our Own Pay --Graham

Graham's blog today on this:

If we have trouble paying the military, surely the President, who makes $400,000 a year, the cabinet and members of Congress can take a pay cut to chip in on the bill.

Something is seriously wrong with a President who thinks it's okay for the wealthiest Americans to get $900 billion in tax cuts, but spending $300 million this year to pay our men and women in danger in Iraq and Afghanistan is too much.

******


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