Sen. Gravel Says 'No Surrender' to Wagers of War Against Veterans

TUCSON, Ariz., July 12 -- In a blistering attack against the Bush Administration's treatment of American war veterans, Democratic Presidential contender and former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel said at the annual Leadership Conference of Vietnam Veterans of America, "A society if judged by how its leaders treat its nation's young, its elderly and the guardians of its shores. On all counts the current administration has scandalously failed. After disingenuously leading the American people into war, not providing its soldiers with the body armor and other equipment they needed to fight it, the President and his cohorts now turn their back on the very veterans they so loudly praise as they sent them off to fight."

The senator continued, "It is particularly offensive to see various administration officials most notably the President using photo opportunities to create a facade of solidarity with America's fighting men while behind the scenes deliberately undermining their most basic rights when they return from battle."

Sen. Gravel, a veteran and former intelligence officer in Germany after World War II, an early and public opponent of the War in Iraq and the senator responsible for reading the Pentagon Papers into the Senate record while arranging for their complete unabridged publication said, "Our war veterans are not, as some would have it, a 'special interest' but our primary interest and I promise as President that this most critical primary interest will receive full and unambiguous funding for its most important needs, including health care that is indexed to the increasing cost of care and medicine and the per capita use of the VA health system; to continue and make permanent the 100 percent disability ratings of those diagnosed as suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). And to insure that the VA system is fully financed and with sufficient well trained personnel to provide the finest care that is available while insuring that disability claims are adjudicated without delay. We can do no less and will do much more."

The senator also outlined his other legislative agenda including the National Initiative for Democracy which will bring the people into the operations of government as lawmakers in a governing partnership with their elected representatives. Pointing out that the current system of representative democracy is dysfunctional and beyond repair, the senator said, "My unreserved faith in the people is what motivates me to seek the enactment of the National Initiative as the law of the land."