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As a Vietnam veteran and retired VA employee, I am appalled and angered beyond measure but what I see of the treatment of younger veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The San Diego VA is one of the finest in the country. San Diego is where the Marines return from Iraq. We have new veterans coming in for services, especially mental health service in overwhelming numbers. The staff, my former colleagues, are so overworked that I do not know how they continue to function. Yet they keep trying. But, I fear the limit will soon be reached. The problem lies very simply in the unwillingness of the Bush admimnistration to fund the VA adequately. Congress will not or cannot surmount the mission of those now running the government to "starve the beast," thereby depriving the American people of the services which the government alone can give.

The betrayal at the highest levels: by bush, Cheney and the cabal of their cronies in Congress is at the root of why my fellow veterans are in such pain. It is at the root of why my VA colleagues are so distressed.

The consequences of this betrayal are laid out in considerable detail by a wonderful piece of reporting by McClathey Washington Bureau. I invite you to read the entire piece. Then please do what I intend to do along with some of my fellow veterans: contact your local congressional representative now, without fail and raise absolute hell. Demand that they "support the troops," not with cliches and bumper stickers but with funding. Hold them accountable.