Vito on supporting the troops, or not

So we all know Rep. Vito Fossella 'supports the troops,' he tells us it often. However what we don't see too much of is his commitment to our soldiers by ways of his vote in Congress, his ability to introduce legislation in Congress, or merely his bully pulpit should he choose to use it. Instead, like you would come to expect from that man that brought us a House resolution demanding a new stamp be made, Fossella gives you posters;

Congressman Vito Fossella (R-NY13) and Island Ford have teamed up to offer Staten Island residents a free, 11X18 color poster emblazoned with the words "Staten Island Supports Our U.S. Troops" over a backdrop of the American flag and a bald eagle.

A flag and an eagle! It doesn't get more troop supporting than both of those together. Meanwhile back in reality, where posters don't do much for troops serving overseas in the same way say training would, comes a sad piece from the Hartford Courant;

The U.S. military is sending troops with serious psychological problems into Iraq and is keeping soldiers in combat even after superiors have been alerted to suicide warnings and other signs of mental illness, a Courant investigation has found.

Despite a congressional order that the military assess the mental health of all deploying troops, fewer than 1 in 300 service members see a mental health professional before shipping out.

SNIP

These practices, which have received little public scrutiny and in some cases violate the military's own policies, have helped to fuel an increase in the suicide rate among troops serving in Iraq, which reached an all-time high in 2005 when 22 soldiers killed themselves - accounting for nearly one in five of all Army non-combat deaths.

Out of Salon, we find injured troops are being forces back into duty to meet the demands of troop levels supported by Rep. Vito Fossella;

As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor, according to medical records.

All of this supporting the troops comes to a crucial juncture today, when the House may vote on the Supplemental bill which provides funding for various projects, and has an attached piece of legislation that "would establish tough readiness standards for the deployment of combat forces and an Aug. 31, 2008, deadline for their removal from Iraq." [WaPo] We are well aware that Republicans including Rep. Vito Fossella will probably vote as a party against this, appalled that Congress would try to instill requirements for troop preparedness while we are at war! From The Gavel;

Ranking Member Jerry Lewis (R-CA) offered an amendment during the committee markup which would have stripped language from the Iraq supplemental restricting the use of troops who are not properly equipped or trained, with the only exception being when President Bush is willing to publicly certify it is necessary, along with language requiring that the Iraqi government meet the benchmarks previously laid out by President Bush. The effort was defeated shortly after Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha spoke against it;

So today, like every day that has past since this war has started, Rep. Vito Fossella
has a chance to stand up to the party that took us into this war ill-prepared and the party that sends our own soldiers into battle ill-prepared, by voting for this bill and requiring proper troop training and one that requires that goals are set and ultimately met in ending this war (which was to find weapons of mass destruction topple a dictator).

Today like almost every other day, Fossella will stand up and tell the world he supports the troops, and then do everything he can to prevent legislation showing it from passing. He will look pretty for his time in front of the media spotlights and will send out press releases and ultimately vote against requiring our men and women from adequately being trained before we send them off to fight and possibly die for our country. While one may think that under those circumstances we should give the troops everything at our disposal to make sure they come home alive; training, armor, supplies, mental health care, you would be wrong, because unless you have an 11x18 color poster with a big Ford logo on it declaring you 'support the troops' like Rep. Vito Fossella does, then you are just fooling yourself.