IAVA; more useless, empty gestures
The other day we talked about Paul Rieckhoff and his Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and their boundless support for a parade through New York City to mark the end, such as it is, of the war in Afghanistan. Today, we read in the pages of the Washington Times how they are pushing for a memorial for veterans of the war against terror;
Veterans of the war on terrorism say they deserve a monument in downtown Washington to recognize their sacrifices, but they are hindered by a rule that says a conflict must be long finished in order to build a memorial, leading some to wonder how to commemorate a “never-ending war.”
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America wants a location by the end of 2015 for a monument to those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, the major battlefields of the war on terrorism.
SO, I’m just wondering where the IAVA is going to get money, since a lot of veterans of those wars are unemployed. I’d think that getting them back to work would be a priority, or doing something about the suicide so there would be more working veterans to contribute to the project. But, see that’s what you get when you let a liberal group like IAVA take your megaphone. IAVA sprang from Rieckhoff’s first project, OpTruth which was just IVAW in suits complaining about President Bush incessantly. The board of OpTruth had such luminaries as Jesse Ventura, Code Pink’s Ann Wright and Obama cheerleader, Paul Bucha.
Obviously, IAVA is more interested in making empty gestures instead of really helping veterans. Having parades and building memorials is easy compared to solving the problems that veterans face. Rieckhoff can get you free tickets to a ball game or free music downloads, but he can’t help you find a job – especially with IAVA, since they don’t seem to want to hire veterans for their executives. Can we talk about fixing the suicide rate and the backlog of disability claims before we talk about building a monument to Paul Rieckhoff?
Category: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
VSOs that get things done are bipartisan and can work both sides of the aisle. Publicly, IAVA is a media darling. Privately, IAVA is known for it’s bias, on Capitol Hill, where it matters.
More smoke and mirrors.
Sounds like more attention whoring to me, how much money do the IAVA execs entitle themselves to each year for their salaries?
This link has some of their salaries from more than year ago.
Thanks Jonn. Did not remember that. The checks in the mail to IAVA. Just wait for it fellows!
You are 100% correct Sparks!! Don’t hold your breath waiting on help from these assholes, you will turn blue and die first!!
IAVA is focused on peripheral bullshit instead of helping vets. Photo ops instead of doing the real work of helping those that need it.
I am a Vet and no one asked me about a memorial.
IVAW = Losers.
Paul Rieckhoff is a twatty dude.
I don’t want to go to New York City. Hell I would rather it be in Las Vegas, at least there it would be fun and I would probably feel welcome.
IVAV is to veterans and PETA is to animals (only they don’t euthanize 95% of all veterans the meet)– it’s the advocacy, not actual veterans (you know, those nagging individuals) that count for them.