[antiwar-van] US Firefighters: Boycott Bush [fwd]

[hde_tollenaere]

[Shortly after 11 September 2001, Rightist Republican Mayor of New York 
City, R. Giuliani, had firefighters demonstrating against him, arrested. 
Now, George W. Bush has a conflict with  the firefighters:]

Firefighters Vote to Boycott Bush Sept. 11 Tribute

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - The International Association of Fire Fighters
voted unanimously on Wednesday to boycott a national tribute to
firefighters who died on Sept. 11, in an angry response to U.S.
President George Bush's rejection of a bill that included $340 million
to fund fire departments.

Bush is expected to speak at the Oct. 6 ceremony in Washington D.C.,
where the National Fallen Fire Fighters Foundation is hosting its
annual tribute to those who died in the line of duty during the prior year.

The ceremony will honor 343 firefighters who died responding to the
Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, as well as about 100
others who also died in the year.

The IAFF, the umbrella organization for the nation's professional
firefighter unions, is enraged by the president's rejection of a $5.1
billion appropriations bill that included $150 million for equipment
and training grants requested by some of the nation's 18,000 fire
departments.

It also include $100 million to improve the communications systems for
firefighters, police officers and other emergency personnel as well as
$90 million for long-term health monitoring of emergency workers at
the Ground Zero site where New York's World Trade Center towers once
stood.

Firefighters and survivors will be urged to skip the Oct. 6 event in
protest, said R. Michael Mohler of the Virginia Professional Fire
Fighters Local 774.

Mohler made the boycott motion before about 2,000 union leaders
convening in Las Vegas for the IAFF's first national conference since
Sept. 11.

"The president has merely been using firefighters and their families
for one big photo opportunity," Mohler said. "We will work actively to not
grant him another photo op with us."

BUSH ACCUSED OF "NEGLECTING HEROES"

Bush said Tuesday the bill was bloated by less important projects and
a White House spokeswoman said Bush remained committed to firefighters
and other emergency groups.

"The president is committed to our nation's first responders," White
House spokeswoman Claire Buchan, traveling with Bush in Des Moines,
Iowa, said.

The firefighters' boycott vote followed anti-Bush speeches by Senate
Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and IAFF general president Harold
Schaitberger in which accused the president of neglecting the heroes
of Sept. 11.

Schaitberger ridiculed as insincere Bush's videotaped remarks shown
Monday at the conference, in which Bush expressed sympathy and
admiration for the firefighters who responded to the Sept. 11
attacks.

"Don't lionize our fallen brothers in one breath, and then stab us in
the back by eliminating funding for our members to fight terrorism and
stay safe," Schaitberger said. "President Bush, you are either with us
or against us. You can't have it both ways."

Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, told the firefighters: "I strongly
urge the President to reconsider. If he refuses to do so, however, I
am prepared to do everything I can as majority leader to see that you
get the resources you need to do your jobs safely and effectively."