Having been exposed for lying to the public, it appears (two weeks before the election) that The Pentagon has backed off its demands for repayments of re-enlistment bonuses from tens of thousands of California National Guardsmen.

As we detailed yesterday, shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon hired Bell Pottinger, a London-based PR agency. The PR firm was tasked with promoting what the Pentagon called “democratic elections” in Iraq, ultimately earning over a hundred million dollars yearly. Part of the firm’s job included producing “fake al Qaeda propaganda films,” the Bureau of Investigative Journalism recently reported.

Despite the PR operation’s hefty price tag, the Pentagon seemed to have no issue allocating taxpayer resources to have these videos produced. But over ten years after the Iraq invasion, the Pentagon is now concerned about its past appropriations — at least part of them, anyway.

Ten years after promising $15,000 bonuses to soldiers willing to re-enlist in 2006 and 2007, the Pentagon is now forcing California veterans to pay the bonuses back.

In California, the Los Angeles Times reports, “officials signed up soldiers in assembly-line fashion” in 2006 and 2007, outlining the “generous terms available for six-year reenlistments” to those willing to sacrifice their safety, leaving their homes, once again, to fight abroad in exchange for a large bonus. Now, the Pentagon wants their money back.

To Get Soldiers to Re-enlist, the National Guard Lied

But now, under pressure ahead of the election, AP reports,

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has ordered the Pentagon to stop seeking repayments of enlistment bonuses given to California National Guard members who served overseas. His decision comes in the wake of angry reaction from members of Congress who demanded he relieve the burden on the Guard members. And the White House said President Barack Obama has warned the Defense Department not to "nickel and dime" service members who were victims of fraud by overzealous recruiters. In a statement issued during a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels, Carter said effort to collect reimbursement should stop "as soon as is practical" and will continue until a process to help the troops deal with the problem is worked out.

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This action follows a letter from Congressman Vern Buchanan saying it was “obscene” to force thousands of veterans to repay enlistment bonuses issued a decade ago when the Pentagon needed troops for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Buchanan said it was no fault of the soldiers if the government later realized it made a mistake in calculating eligibility for bonuses and other incentives.

“Forcing innocent soldiers and veterans to repay these funds 10 years after they went to war on the nation’s behalf is obscene and unjustified,” Buchanan wrote. “The Pentagon needs to back off and leave them alone.”

