title: kurds worried turkey will stab them in the back as they fight isis
text: obama admin targets soldiers bonuses lets bad va employees keep theirs pentagon asks troops to repay bonuses va rewards employees after widespread problems morgan chalfant  free beacon  october   comments 
  the federal government is trying to recoup enlistment bonuses given erroneously to thousands of california soldiers despite routinely allowing poorperforming va employees to keep their bonus checks 
  the los angeles times reported last week that the pentagon demanded that thousands of california soldiers repay bonuses they were given to fight in iraq and afghanistan the defense department asked the soldiers to repay the bonuses which amounted to  or more each after audits revealed they were overpaid by the california national guard 
  but the practice stands in contrast with that of the obama administrations department of veterans affairs which has failed to take back hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to highranking bureaucrats who have been scrutinized for bad behavior or poor management 
  for instance the va said last year it would not collect over  in bonuses paid to two senior executives who manipulated the agencys hiring system to take new jobs with less responsibility and receive relocation benefits the va which acknowledged that the employees abused the system said it did not have the legal authority to recoup the money