AP fact check sides with Bush over Hillary

[ProSense]

Facts fall short on Clinton vets claim

WASHINGTON - It's become something of an urban legend that the Bush administration is out to retrieve enlistment bonuses from wounded veterans of the Iraq war, a claim perpetuated by Hillary Rodham Clinton in the latest Democratic presidential debate.

The New York senator told a national TV audience Tuesday night that the administration has shown negligence in its treatment of veterans and gave as a leading example a policy that doesn't exist.

THE SPIN: "The Bush administration sends mixed messages," she said. "They want to recruit and retain these young people to serve our country and then they have the Pentagon trying to take away the signing bonuses when a soldier gets wounded and ends up in the hospital, something that I'm working with a Republican senator to try to make sure never can happen again."

THE FACTS: The Pentagon's long-existing policy is to pay enlistment bonuses in full to soldiers who leave the armed forces early for reasons beyond their control. Officials last year reported clerical mistakes that resulted in a few wounded veterans being asked for bonus money back, said those cases would be redressed and revised the wording of its policy in September so lapses wouldn't be repeated.

One case was uncovered by a presidential commission formed earlier last year to recommend improvements in veterans' care. "It certainly didn't rise to the level of an important issue in our work," Susan Hosek, a Rand Corp. economist who was the commission's research director, told AP in December. "If it had, we would have made sure that it was highlighted in our report ... we literally only heard about it once, that I know of."

The commission was led by former Sen. Bob Dole and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

more

[Dogmudgeon]

1. That liar Hillary!

I DEMAND that the shrill she-devil apologize to our Courageous and Wise Maximum Leader immediately!

:sarcasm:

--p!

[jasmine621]

19. I guess this is proof that she was lying.

Bill would guarantee bonus to soldiers wounded in Iraq
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
By Jonathan D. Silver, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The problem, as U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire sees it, is that soldiers wounded in Iraq are being denied bonuses when their injuries force an early military discharge.

The problem with the way Mr. Altmire presented the issue is that the soldier he had speak at a news conference wouldn't be affected by the the McCandless Democrat's proposed legislation.

U.S. Army Spc. Robert Kaminski of Shaler lost a leg and received a traumatic brain injury last year in Iraq. But under the terms of the contract he signed with the Army, he isn't eligible for an enlistment bonus.

But yesterday the wounded veteran spoke in favor of efforts by Mr. Altmire to stick up for his fellow soldiers who have fallen through the cracks -- those who might have brain injuries but haven't been screened, and those who were denied bonuses they deserve.

Mr. Altmire, D-McCandless, held a news conference yesterday at the Ross municipal building with Spc. Kaminski and other veterans to tout legislation he has authored to aid wounded soldiers.

[rinsd]

2. Wow siding with Bush with his shitty treatment of our veterans.

You even creatively left out a key passage

"Outrage swept through Congress when a partially blinded Army sniper came forward in November to say he was asked to pay back $2,800 of his enlistment bonus. More than 250 lawmakers backed legislation designed to correct the problem, including sponsors Clinton and a Republican presidential candidate, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

At the time, the Pentagon said it had received two complaints on the issue since a "wounded warrior" hotline was set up last summer."

You are disgusting

[ProSense]

3. "You are disgusting"?

I would hurl the "F" word at you, but you idiotic desperation is already transparent!

[rinsd]

15. By all means hurl it.

You already sided with the Bush admin against vets getting fucked over.

Do you think swearing would make others think worse of you? Especially in comparison to what you already did?

[lvx35]

10. a Duer sides with Bush over Clinton

better headline...

[ProSense]

12. Comments like yours are

:freak:

Seriously, was that necessary?

[William769]

13. And what is false with that comment?

[William769]

11. Desperation is in the air.

If you notice one of the other threads this OP started seen that dog was not going to hunt and abonded it! :rofl:

[HughMoran]

16. I agree

This is beyond the pale.

[aquart]

4. "A few"?

And neither BushCo nor AP are responding to the right question. "A few" may have been asked to pay back money received. But HOW MANY were refused any further payment of the bonus money because they were wounded? The AP let them slide on the real question. Since it wasn't answered, I don't see how they can say Bush was more accurate than Hillary. Since they don't actually know.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. Of course AP sides with Bush

remember that it has shown bias in this direction before, if memory serves. And it is something all our candidates need to keep in mind, so that they can counteract arguments coming from sources that used to be unbiased but are no longer.

[ProSense]

8. During the 2004 campaign

Kerry insisted that Bush was going to launch a Social Security privatization scheme if re-elected. Factcheck.org insisted it wasn't true. We know what happened, but how could anyone have expected factcheck.org to know that?

[DCKit]

6. As usual, more lame excuses for the maladministration from our MSM....

We did it, but we didn't mean it.

I was not involved in those discussions.

I may have done it, but I don't remember it.

Yes, I'm the boss, but I have no control over the actions of my subordinates.

If this article is an attempt to vilify HRC, it fails by exposing the malfeasance of this administration's minions. Whether intentional or not, the treatment of our veterans is beyond shameful and there is no excuse for the avalanche of intentional accidents under which they are continually buried. How far down the scale of incompetence do you have to go to beat this administration's record?

Thanks for the article. Oh, the irony.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Well, the AP ran the story about the Pentagon demanding back bonuses on Nov. 26, 2007..

Here’s a quote from an Associated Press report dated Nov. 26, “Service members seriously wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan after they received a $10,000 bonus for enlisting are being asked by the Pentagon to repay portions of the incentive money.”
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112607A.shtml


Seems like the AP is using itself as the source for calling Hillary a liar.
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,157627,00.html

[redqueen]

9. Good catch. (nt)

[rodeodance]

18. first AP story: "no explanation of why hundreds of other wounded veterans have also received letters

He said that when the case of Jordan Fox, an Army sniper partially blinded by a roadside bomb in Iraq, was called to the Pentagon's attention, officials replied that the demand for him to repay $2,800 was a "clerical error" and canceled the debt.

If the Mount Lebanon, Pa., soldier's case was an isolated incident, there has been no explanation of why hundreds of other wounded veterans have also received letters demanding repayment, Schumer said. "When you talk to the Pentagon, you get different answers from different people," he said.

[rodeodance]

20. A bill has been introduced by Clinton McCain and House: dec7, 2007:

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,157627,00.html


............Lawmakers condemned the practice, and more than 250 signed on to sponsor legislation designed to right the wrong. They promised to rein in the heartless government bureaucrats who dared to implement a policy that could snatch soldiers' money away like this.

......A bill was introduced in the Senate on Monday with sponsors including Clinton and fellow presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. In the House, members stepped up by the dozens after hearing Fox's story to sign on as co-sponsors of a similar bill introduced in October by Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa.

Susan Hosek, an economist at the Rand Corp. think tank who was the presidential commission's research director, said the commission was satisfied with the Pentagon's response.

"It certainly didn't rise to the level of an important issue in our work," Hosek said of the panel, headed by former Sen. Bob Dole and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. "If it had, we would have made sure that it was highlighted in our report ... we literally only heard about it once that I know of."

The commission did not mention the issue in its final report, but did discuss it with Defense Department officials and suggested that the policy be worded more explicitly. The Pentagon implemented the revised wording in September.

[Proud2BAmurkin]

14. MSM still whitewashing the 32% Idiot.

eom

[woo me with science]

17. He's only 32% idiot?

I thought it was 100%. :rofl:

[BenDavid]

21. Just so you know before the HH or hillary haters say more lies

i WOULD LIKE to post this so you know there was a story ran via print media and tv networks throughout the nation....

US Military Asks Wounded Soldiers to Return Signing Bonuses
Steve Benen: It's not their fault they got hurt. How on earth is the Pentagon justified in asking for a refund?
When Jordan Fox was serving in Iraq, his mother helped organize Operation Pittsburgh Pride, which sends thousands of care packages to U.S. troops from his hometown, which prompted a personal "thank you" from the White House. When Fox was seriously injured in Iraq, the president sent what appeared to be personal note, expressing his concerns to the Fox family.

But more recently, Fox received a different piece of correspondence from the Bush administration.


The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.


To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.


Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back.

I watched the report from the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, and I kept thinking, "This can't be right." Apparently, it is.

In Jordan Fox's case, he was seriously injured when a roadside bomb blew up his vehicle, causing back injuries and blindness in his right eye. He was sent home, unable to complete the final three months of his military commitment.

Last week, the Pentagon sent him a bill: Fox owed the government nearly $3,000 of his signing bonus.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/waroniraq/68486/