Standing in the free speech area Saturday during the Defenders of Freedom parade in Oceanside was a deeply moving experience. I've never felt so happy and so poignantly sad at the same time.

As the Marines and sailors marched and drove past or flew overhead, I thought of what amazing accomplishments they had achieved in Iraq through their discipline and valor. Victory is sweet. Homecoming for the warriors is a time of celebration. I was exuberantly happy.

Yet around me, members of groups such as Veterans for Peace held banners calling for all the troops to be brought home from Iraq now. Signs stated, "Bush lied -- people died." I am concerned about those still on active duty, about replacing mold-infested housing on Camp Pendleton, ensuring pay equity for disabled veterans and fully funding the VA hospital system.

Now that the parade is over and the confetti swept away, our military personnel and veterans still need our care and support. And they are not getting it.

Funding for VA patients has decreased by about $635 per patient in recent years. The Bush administration and its allies in Congress are more interested in cutting taxes for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans and for job-destroying multinational corporations than they are in honoring our commitment to the tong-term care of our defenders of freedom.

I conducted field investigations for the IRS back in the mid 1980s. I know how to read budget numbers. The story they tell is an appalling one.

The Bush administration has betrayed its promises to these brave young men and women. It has overridden the collective will of our NATO allies and the United Nations, shattering the world's longest and most successful alliance, gravely weakening the world's collective security mechanisms. Why did they do it?

We were told in no uncertain terms that Saddam Hussein possessed chemical and biological weapons and had a nuclear weapons programs -- that at any moment he might strike us. We were told Hussein maintained a close relationship with al-Qaida. We were told Hussein was directly involved in the Sept. 11 attacks on our nation.

Many still believe some or all of these propositions.

All these assertions are false. The administration took us into war, shattered the world's institutions of collective security and squandered the good will our nation had accumulated, on a basis of lies.

Watching the parade pass, I saw in my mind's eye a tapestry of military parades across the ages, from the victorious legions of Rome to the victory march of the triumphant federal armies through Washington in 1865 at the end of the Civil War to the jubilation that followed the end of the world wars and the parades that followed the end of the first Gulf War -- and now this parade was unfolding before me.

These brave troops were safely back, but they will be deploying again soon. Our warriors whose fiscal welfare is of such little concern to their commander in chief had fought bravely and many of their comrades have died for lies, and they will be doing so again soon. Relieved that they are here now, I felt a deep sadness that they will be returning to a war zone and may not have adequate housing or medical care upon their return.

Mike Byron teaches political science. He is a member of the San Diego Chapter of Veterans for Peace and president of the Democratic Club of Carlsbad-Oceanside.E-mail: mpbyron1@cox.net.