We have seen far, far too many times how the Bush Administration uses "support the troops" as a mantra to ward off any criticism, then gives those same troops the shaft when no one's looking. From denying them sufficient armor in Iraq to using a pet facility for cremating soldiers' bodies to housing soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder next to a firing range, they keep finding new and increasingly terrible ways to insult and belittle the men and women who have given so much.
And they have done it again.
ABC News is reporting that the Veterans Administration enlisted returning soldiers in a clinical trial of Chantix, a new anti-smoking drug made by Pfizer. No problem with that. The problem is that the drug has been linked to such psychological problems as depression and suicide - and that the VA didn't tell the soldiers about it.
In fact, they probably would never have admitted it if not for James Elliot, an Army sniper who returned from Iraq with PTSD and signed up for the study. After several months on the drug, he snapped, left his home with a loaded gun and threatened to kill the police officers who confronted him.
Fortunately, Elliot survived - but the VA sees no reason to stop the trials. Doesn't matter that the FAA has barred pilots from taking the drug, nor that the VA warned the subjects (only after Elliot's breakdown, of course) that the drug was linked to "anxiety, nervousness, tension, depression, thoughts of suicide, and attempted and completed suicide" - onward!
"Lab rat, guinea pig, disposable hero," an understandably bitter Elliot described himself.
Supporting the troops, once again.
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