What's A Fallen GI's Life Worth?

What's a fallen GI's life worth?

The lockstep parrots in the GOP-dominated Congress have decided, not very much.

In fact, last month, 19 GOP Senators cast a 'No' vote on an amendment that would "express the sense of Congress that the Government of Iraq should not grant amnesty to persons known to have attacked, killed, or wounded members of the Armed Forces of the United States."

Remember these names:

Wayne Allard of Colorado
Kit Bond of Missouri
Jim Bunning of Kentucky
Conrad Burns of Montana
Tom Coburn of Oklahoma
Thad Cochran of Mississippi
John Cornyn of Texas
Jim DeMint of South Carolina
Mike Enzi of Wyoming
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
Chuck Hagel of Nebraska
Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma
Jon Kyl of Arizona
Trent Lott of Mississippi
John McCain of Arizona
Jeff Sessions of Alabama
Ted Stevens of Alaska
Craig Thomas of Wyoming
John Warner of Virginia

This July 4th, I was curious how the Middle Eastern press was celebrating America's birthday. Bahrain, the epicenter of Arab-American bipartisan greed had some uncomfortable news.

According to the following AFP wire report in the Bahrain Tribune:

"Iraqi Shia leader Abdel Aziz Al Hakim, the head of parliament’s largest bloc, said yesterday he favours extending an amnesty to insurgents who may have killed US troops.

"He also accused US-led coalition troops of contributing to the worsening security by being “sucked into a quagmire” they were unqualified to handle.

"'Yes, they should be covered regardless of their religious or ethnic affiliations,' Hakim said.

"Hakim’s position would contradict that of his government ally Maliki, who said on Wednesday that there would be no amnesty to those who killed US troops, foreigners or journalists."

Think the story is getting much play in America? Think again.

Add to the that, the continued hatred being stirred up against our troops, and you have a no-win situation for our soldiers.

In the same issue, the Bahrain Tribune had a commentary that was extremely anti-American. The commentary, which takes the U.S. military to task for wartime abuses, begins with the following, "American soldiers have not - absolutely not - understood nor realised how much shame and odium their acts of barbarism have brought on their country, touted as the First Democracy in the world from five-star podiums."

The commentary partially blames the problem on the "western soldier’s lack of respect for non-western cultures based on ignorance and false presumptions."

This comes from a relatively pro-Western Arab source. The level of anger, hatred and vitriol is far greater on the less American-friendly Arab press and the resentment seeps from the blogs of ordinary Iraqis trying to get on with their day-to-day lives amidst the chaos and bloodshed.

It seems that the GOP 'stay-the-course' strategy, is let the troops be sitting ducks, and if some die in the process, we should not hold their killers responsible.

So which is the party that truly supports the troops? Something to consider on our nation's 230th birthday.