Democrats in New Hampshire Ignore Trump’s V.A. Bible in a Box Scandal
That the entire field of Democratic Presidential candidates have ignored the controversy caused by a Bible placed on a POW/MIA “Missing Man” Table situated in the main entrance of the Manchester Veterans Administration Medical Center might be explained by veterans not being a demographic group they covet so thus ignore, but what of Congresswoman Annie Kuster of New Hampshire? Despite having asked the Manchester VAMC to provide a separate entrance or facilities for women veterans suffering from Military Sexual Trauma so they won’t get triggered by exposure to male veterans, she remains silent on the in-your-face religious display that has the potential of triggering a Charlottesville type confrontation between militant Evangelicals should the display be removed.
The large, altar-sized Bible in a padlocked plastic box triggered the filing of a federal lawsuit after the Department of Veterans Affairs refused to remove it from the Missing Man table, which is considered a memorial. That may change soon, as it has been revealed that the story about the Bible in the Box used to justify its presence in a federal facility is a lie.
The Northeast POW/MIA Network that placed the Missing Man Table at the Manchester VAMC claims that the Catholic Standard Bible was taken into combat by a World War Two airman and was with him during his 18-months in captivity in a German POW camp, an account backed up by the Manchester VAMC. The large Bible, which may weigh between six to ten pounds, allegedly was with the veteran when he escaped the camp and made it back to his own lines and back to The States.
That story has now been revealed to be a fabrication likely used to justify the placement of a religious object in a federal facility by claiming it was an historic artifact. The Bible came nowhere near combat, having been given to World War Two veteran Herman “Herk” Streitburger by his mother after his return home from the European Theatre.
The lie put forth by the Northeast POW/MIA Network has disgraced and dishonored the memory of Herk Streitburger, who as a B-24 heavy bomber crew member survived an 18-month ordeal after being shotdown over Hungary. The irony is rich, as Fox News attacked opponents of the Bible placement as “dishonoring” veterans.
Fox News quoted Department of Veteran Affair Press Secretary Curt Cashour as saying, “This lawsuit — backed by a group known for questionable practices and unsuccessful lawsuits — is nothing more than an attempt to force VA into censoring a show of respect for America’s POW/MIA community.”
That statement was suspiciously similar to a statement made by a spokeman for the First Liberty Institute, a Texas based non-profit legal advocacy organization that represents the Northeast POW/MIA Network that placed sponsored the POW/Missing Man table and put a Bible on it. First Liberty chief of staff Mike Berry told Fo News that the Bible was an “historic artifact.” Fox News described Berry as saying it was “something that helped sustain Streitburger when he was held captive.”
Berry said in an interview with Fox News, “This is the person we want to attack now? This is the person we want to dishonor?” The strategy of First Liberty seems to be to substitute the veteran for the Bible itself. There is a possibility that First Liberty helped the Northeast POW/MIA Network manufacturer the story, which is utterly false.
Triggering Trauma
Annie Kuster is on record acknowledging that women veterans can get triggered and suffer due to the environment at the military health care facility whose users overwhelmingly are male. Yet, she has not publicly recognized that placing a Christian Bible in one of the two entrances to the health care facility has created a hostile environment for some vets. In a news cycle dominated by President Trump’s racist baiting of women of color, including a prominent Muslim, Kuster remains mum about the Bible in a Box controversy. If she were to enter the main foyer of the Manchester VAMC, she would witness a picture of President Donald Trump smiling from one wall over at the Missing Man Table, a war memorial privileging male veterans over female and Christians over non-Christians.
James Cambridge, an Air Force veteran who is a devout Christian, filed suit on Thursday, May 10th. The former U.S. Air Force pilot was one of 15 Manchester VAMC users who complained about the Missing Man Table’s Bible to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. However, he was not one of the original group of vets who contacted the MRFF. The other 14 have decided to remain anonymous, so they will not be retaliated against.
Acting on behalf of the first 14 Manchester VAMC users who reached out to the MRFF for help, the self-described secular civil rights organization contacted the veterans health care facility in January. The Bible was removed within three hours. Cambridge complained after the Bible was returned to the table.
The original Bible display did not involve a padlocked plastic box, which made its display more conspicuous and more offensive, according to MRFF President Michael Weinstein.
The press secretary for Congresswoman Kuster, a Democrat who represents Congressional District 2, did not respond to inquiries. New Hampshire only has two Members of the House of Representatives. The Manchester VAMC is located in CD-1, which is represented by Chris Pappas, a freshman who also sits on the House Veterans Committee. Neither Pappas or New Hampshire’s two U.S. Senators have acknowledged the dispute.
The lawsuit filed against the Veterans Administration asking for the removal of the WWII Bible has generated a great deal of publicity. Fox News gave it prominent play, while mischaracterizing the MRFF as an “atheist organization” and failing to give equal time to the MRFF on its original broadcast. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Concord Monitor newspaper published a story focusing on a pro-Bible vet who claimed that the Bible represents everyone and all religions, a statement that essentially was left unchallenged. Concord is the capital of New Hampshire and lies in Kuster’s district.
Other news sources have been rife with errors. Breitbart’s Rome correspondent published an article that described the large altar-sized Bible as “small.” Other news sources used pictures of different Bibles, or of the Manchester VAMC Bible in the display case it was put in after its removal from the Missing Man memorial, before being returned to the table in the padlocked box. Much of the social media commentary on sites was pro-Bible placement, with the comment boards on the more right-wing sources being filled with invective, some of it anti-Semitic.
Despite the publicity, the Democratic candidates remain silent as concerns the Bible in at Box scandal.
Separate Entrances
The lack of any comment by the Democrats is telling in that New Hampshire Congresswoman Anne McLane Kuster is a strong advocate for improving services for women veterans, including those who are Military Sexual Trauma survivors. Kuster and Congresswoman Jackie Walorski, Republican of Indiana, have sponsored H.R. 713, a bill to improve MST survivors’ access to treatment. The Kuster-Walorksi bill would enable MST survivors obtaining treatment outside their Veterans Integrated Service Network to be compensated for their travel expenses by the V.A.
Denouncing the pervasiveness of MST in the armed services as “outrageous,” Congresswoman Kuster said in a press release, “Sadly, many survivors of military sexual trauma face challenges in accessing the physical and mental health services they need when they return home, because the VA does not provide travel benefits to all victims of MST. This failure must end. It’s critical that survivors are able access care that will help them recover from this trauma.”
The Manchester VAMC recently hosted The Clothesline Project, a display of T-shirts fashioned by MST survivors to raise awareness of sexual trauma in the military and in veterans. Under the directorship of Al Montoya, the VAMC has made strides towards being more inclusive, offering services to the LGBTQ community.
Kuster was one of the signatories to a 2017 letter sent by the New Hampshire Congressional delegation to Montoya requesting a separate entrance for women veterans to access services for MST. The Women’s Health Clinic, located on the sixth floor of the Manchester VAMC’s six-story main building, was damaged during a flood that year. The letter asked that the Women’s Clinic be relocated to either to the first floor or in a separate building on the premises.
The letter, which also was signed by U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen and then-CD1 Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, used the example of Desert Storm veteran and MST survivor Cindy McGuirk to justify the need for a separate entrance. McGuirk has post-traumatic stress disorder due to MST, and using the elevator with men often triggers her PTSD.
As of May 2019, the Women’s Clinic remains on the sixth floor. There is no separate entrance for women. The Manchester VAMC plans to tear down four of five historic brick buildings on the campus to provide 11 parking spaces. One building was saved after vociferous opposition spearheaded by the City of Manchester’s Historical Preservation Committee. There have been no reports about whether it will be used to rehouse the Women’s Clinic, though that is a possibility. The Manchester VAMC worked with the Historical Preservation Committee to come up with a solution for their concerns.
The flooding that wrecked the Women’s Health Care Clinic occurred during the outbreak of a scandal that rocked the national Veterans Health Administration system. In 2017, the Boston Globe Spotlight Team revealed that care had deteriorated to dangerous levels. The management was replaced, and the Manchester VAMC has made remarkable strides in improving the quality of care and creating a positive environment under Montoya. Apparently, Montoya and his management team tried to broker a compromise over the Bible display before being overruled by Washington.
Tulsi Gabbard, who serves as a major in the Army National Guard, has been silent on the Bible in a Box and on the need for the entrance for MST survivors. So have all the women presidential candidates.
One of the most important issue not being addressed is whether the lawsuit and opposition to the Bible display could trigger violence at the Manchester VAMC.
The failure of the Democratic Presidential candidates to respond to the situation at the Manchester VAMC is significant, in light of the spate of synagogue shootings and the continued discussion over the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia over a Confederate monument. The Charlottesville violence that led to the death of a woman was mentioned by former Vice President Joe Biden as triggering his own decision to run for president.
With the administration of Donald Trump taking a hard stand over this monument to Christian soldiers in a state that hosts the nation’s presidential primary, and President Trump’s propensity for stirring up trouble and advocating violence, there is a possibility for a second Charlottesville.
