About a new G. I. Bill
May 26th, 2008 by 
Gerald Plessner
Posted in George W. Bush, Imperialism, Iraq War, John McCain, War on Iraq | 
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May 26th, 2008 by Gerald Plessner
I have always thought that the G. I. Bill of Rights was one of the most creative and successful acts of government in American history; all those guys who sacrificed so much getting a free college education for what they had been through and achieved, risking their lives for such a selfless and noble cause.
Of course it helped that I went through college in the same dorm with some of them — veterans of the Korean War, mostly — and a rowdy and randy bunch of characters they were! I was just a kid out of high school and they were men of the world who told great stories and raised a little good-natured Hell!
But as I grew older and formed the political outlook I have today, I realized how profoundly wise the G. I. Bill really was.
Not only did it give deserving ordinary Americans a chance to climb up the ladder to economic success and a better life. It also gave our country a burst of knowledge, intellect, creativity and initiative that led to things like computers, Silicon Valley, the Space Age, today’s quality of life, great new literature and art and just about everything good(and some of it questionable), that the United States has given to the world over the last 50 years!
And it did all that by helping every kind of American, male or female, black, white or brown, urban or rural, rich or poor.
Some of that money was wasted and there was fraud in some education that wasn’t delivered, but overall I still believe that the G. I. Bill was the best social legislation in history!
And that’s probably why George W. Bush(and John McCain) are opposed to it.
They say they are concerned that making a free college education so attractive will cause young people in our military to not re-enlist and that’s probably right.
But that’s like admitting it will discourage young people in the military from aspiring to a better life and that’s wrong!
(If you think I’m being racist or classist just look at the next list of Americans lost in Iraq and count how many come from small towns or count how many Senators or Congressional Representatives have children in the military.)
We must begin to understand one truth about our current national policy and how it impacts upon other issues.
The war on Iraq, and many other military activities are acts of imperialism and imperialistic states need professional rather than citizen militaries. A professional military will, of necessity, require large numbers of younger, less educated, lower class recruits.
Giving those recruits the chance to secure advanced education and move back to civilian life will make it much more difficult to maintain a professional military.
And that’s why you shouldn’t be surprised by the president’s position. I won’t be surprised by conservatives who will agree with him.
The George W. Bush plan to end the war
April 28th, 2007 by Gerald Plessner
Posted in Election 2008, George Bush, Iraq War | Click here to comment »
The George W. Bush plan for ending his war on Iraq is becoming increasingly clear. The New York Times, in an article by David E. Sanger, reports that “the Bush administration will not try to assess whether the troop increase in Iraq is producing signs of political progress or greater security until September and many of Mr. Bush’s top advisors now anticipate that any gains by then will be limited.”
By pushing any evaluation beyond the times established by Congress in the recent bills which the president has vetoed or promised to veto, the president is creating a situation in which a much longer commitment of front line troops will be required.
This will cause American soldiers and Marines patrolling the treacherous streets of Baghdad to remain well into late 2008. This will require longer deployments of more troops — regular, National Guard and Reserves — than ever before, causing more deaths and casualties to our troops in the field.
It will also allow George W. Bush to force the decision to withdraw from Iraq on the next president, presumably a Democrat. That way the president and future Republican politicians can blame Democrats for “losing” the war in Iraq. The president then can salvage some shred of his so-called legacy.
It won’t matter much to the president or his fellow Republican politicians that as many as 1,000 additional military lives will be lost because of his feckless leadership, but it will cause additional havoc to thousands of American service men and women, their families and the many thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians caught up in this horrific war, brought to them by an American Republican administration.
Every American citizen should remember that — today, tomorrow and in coming elections.