THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 TAG: 9606010007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Ediorial
LENGTH: 46 lines
It is possible to do the right thing for the wrong reasons.
Consider President Clinton's order last week that disability benefits be given to Vietnam War veterans suffering from prostate cancer or a rare nerve disorder called peripheral neuropathy.
A recent National Academy of Sciences report showed a ``limited or suggestive'' connection between exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange and the two ailments. Veterans Affairs Secretary Jesse Brown conceded that the evidence is ``evenly divided'' between showing and not showing any connection. He added, ``But we in the VA have resolved all reasonable doubt in favor of the veterans and their families.''
President Clinton also announced he would ask Congress to provide new benefits for Vietnam veterans' children who suffer from spina bifida, a congenital birth defect. A recent study found that the veterans' children may have a higher risk for the disorder. Never before have benefits been extended to offspring of veterans linked to Agent Orange.
We can't read Clinton's mind, but his timing in announcing new benefits for veterans could not be more political. He is running for re-election. He is continually assaulted by conservatives for avoiding service during the Vietnam War. In a colossal public-relations blunder last week, Clinton's lawyer suggested Clinton's role as commander in chief may qualify him for a delay in a sex-harassment trial, though that claim was later withdrawn.
Obviously, Clinton needs to make nice with military veterans every chance he gets. By extending additional benefits to Vietnam vets, he undoubtedly hopes to convey the message that he's on their side and they should be on his. Although he didn't actually fight beside them, he feels their pain.
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Alan K. Simpson, R-Wyo., who is retiring, argued that the new benefits - projected to total $350 million over the next five years - are not based on ``sound medical or scientific evidence.'' He noted that hundreds of thousands of American men will get prostate cancer, whether or not they served in Vietnam.
In the past, when medical and scientific evidence was ambiguous, the government usually declined to award benefits to military veterans. But a government that asked 2.6 million of its citizens to risk their lives in Vietnam surely owes those men and women the benefit of the doubt. Whatever his motives, Clinton has done the right thing. by CNB