“Young Turks” host Ana Kasparian had a message for Republicans on Veteran’s Day: You don’t respect our troops, but you are always eager to put Americans in harm’s way.

Kasparian told GOP hawks:

“You don’t respect the troops. You use the troops as an excuse to go to war in a country where we don’t belong. And on top of that, you deny them of incredibly important health benefits so they can get the treatment they need when they come back to the United States.”

She also noted that recruiters target people in low-income communities to join the military:

“Recruiters will go to them and say, ‘Hey you know what? Here’s a chance for you to turn your life around.’ Once they’re out of the military or once they come back, they don’t have the same type of safety net that the middle class or the upper middle class have.”

And without that safety net, many veterans become homeless. According to a Vocativ report,  there are nearly 50,000 homeless veterans in the US, and more than 1.2 million veterans are without health care.

As Kasparian said so eloquently:

“We know now that ‘Support Our Troops’ means now what it always meant. It means,’ Do not question the military adventure that we are proposing right now. That’s all it means. Veterans, after they’ve served — for most politicians, especially Republicans but some Democrats, as well — serve one or two limited purposes. You put them in back of you for photo ops or speeches, or maybe one or two of them who have told you in advance they will launch the next series of wars, you can put them up as potential congressmen.”

I have heard a true statement from several veterans, some of whom are family members of mine: If the people who start wars had to fight them, there would be no more wars.

And to those who served, I thank you and honor your service and your sacrifice. Not just on Veteran’s Day, but every day of the year.

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.