Monday March 19, 2007 Happy Anniversary?

President Bush on Monday marked the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq, which has stretched longer with higher costs than the White House ever expected.

As of Sunday, March 18, 2007, at least 3,217 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

President Bush’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year calls for a 7 percent cut for the VA.

Today soldiers are coming back from service in Iraq and Afghanistan and being forced into homelessness because they have lost their jobs while serving in the military. Yes that is against the law, but no one seems to be willing to enforce it.

Service in the U.S. military or even in combat does not guarantee a veteran health coverage for life or even complete coverage for a limited time.

Soldiers who served in combat after Nov. 11, 1998 can get free care for combat-related conditions but only for two years after their active duty has ended.

IRAQI POLLS

_Only 18 percent of Iraqis have confidence in U.S. and coalition troops, and 86 percent are concerned that someone in their household will be a victim of violence.

_Slightly more than half of Iraqis - 51 percent - now say that violence against U.S. forces is acceptable - up from 17 percent who felt that way in early 2004. More than nine in 10 Sunni Arabs in Iraq now feel this way.

_While 63 percent said they felt very safe in their neighborhoods in late 2005, only 26 percent feel that way now.

_The number of Iraqis who say their own life is going well has dipped from 71 percent in November 2005 to 39 percent now.

Iraqi civilian deaths are estimated at more than 54,000, possibly much higher. More than half of Iraqis surveyed said a friend or relative has been hurt or killed in the violence, while almost nine in 10 worried that a loved one will be hurt.

Fewer than half in the country, 42 percent, said that life in Iraq now is better than it was under Saddam Hussein, the late dictator accused of murdering tens of thousands during a brutal regime.

About four in five Iraqis oppose the presence of U.S. troops but only a third want those U.S. troops to leave Iraq immediately.