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

[lkinsale]

Pay the Military for "Imminent Danger" Even If We Have to Cut Our Own Pay to Do It

President Bush and the Republican-led Congress should ensure that our valiant men and women serving in the war-zones of Iraq and Afghanistan receive the full benefits they were promised in April.

As was written about in today's San Francisco Chronicle ("Troops in Iraq face pay cut: Pentagon says tough duty bonuses are budget-buster") unless the President and Congressional leaders act, men and women who live under the threat of attack every day, and their families here at home that are trying to make do without them will lose $75 a month in 'imminent danger pay' and $150 a month in "family separation allowances."

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.

(snip)

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.

[Arbustosux]

1. Amen...

Couldn't have said it better

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Hear, hear!

They are stuck in a hellhole minus the logistical support that Rummy outsourced, and are getting taken out at a rate of 2 or more per day in guerilla attacks.

We ought to be giving them a RAISE!

[dpbrown]

3. Industrial Complex CEO pay saw HUGE gains this year and last

CEO pay at Lockheed Martin went up from $5.8 million in 2000 to $25.3
million in 2002. CEO pay went up at General Dynamics from $5.7
million in 2001 to $15.2 million in 2002. It went up at Honeywell
from $12.9 million in 2000 to $45 million in 2002. It went up from
Northrop Grumman from $7.3 million in 2000 to $9.2 million in 2002.
What do those figures say to you?

http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_spinney.html
http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/defensedollars.html

What they say to me is the Pentagon is another slush fund for rich
military contractors to raid the Treasury. This is another example
of the sick and disgusting cancer that Bush brought with him to
Washington. He uses and discards the military, he rapes the Treasury
for his ultra-rich friends.

Dan Brown
Saint Paul, Minnesota

[GOPFighter]

4. Hmmm, you all just don't get it.

The rich are far more deserving of their money because they are obviously good capitalists and smart and they are what makes America work. "What's good for the rich is what's good for AMERICA" is our new slogan <insert patriotic music here>

The rest of us, and that includes ALL the troops in the military, are ordained by God to serve the rich, and sometimes that means making sacrifices like pay-cuts and loss of jobs, and - well, even losing your life. Look, this is God's will. He made some people rich and smart, and made the rest of us kinda' dumb so that we can serve the rich and tel them go about making America GREAT for all of us. (We're obviously kinda' dumb because we outnumber the rich but they're still in power!)

....<pulling tongue out of cheek>....

[mandyky]

5. Good for Bob Graham!

This is one of the most despicable cuts idiot cowboy has made, all to give rich people a freaking tax break.

[Mairead]

6. EXCELLENT suggestion - kudos to Graham

It's not actually a solution to the problem, but it's a perfect make-the-cowards-squirm move.

[lkinsale]

7. The Pentagon is squirming like a worm on this

No Pay Cut for Troops in Iraq, Afghanistan-Pentagon

Moving to quash a political firestorm, the Pentagon on Thursday denied that it will cut the pay of nearly 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan by $225 on Sept. 30 when special military pay hikes approved by Congress are due to expire.

Defense officials said that even if lawmakers do not reinstate increases passed in April in both "imminent danger pay" and "family separation allowances," the Pentagon will make up the pay losses to troops in those countries in other ways.


(snip)

"We prefer other compensation powers to ensure that we target benefits on the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan," he added, citing incentive and other packages that the Pentagon is authorized to use.

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Yeah? So what does "incentive and other packages" mean? Makes you wonder if they aren't getting ready to quietly blackmail those guys into re-enlisting.

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