Sometimes the emotion involved in an apparent case of mistreatment causes too many to leap before they look and do harm in the process.

A wounded Iraq war veteran last month declared that the Pentagon asked him to repay a large chunk of his enlistment bonus – apparently because someone determined he had not filled in all the squares of time and service to get the full amount.

The issue was made to order for lawmakers who covet the chance to rectify such behavior, particularly for someone who in good faith served the nation and paid a high price in so doing. More than 250 members of Congress cosponsored legislation to right the wrong. They promised “to rein in the heartless government bureaucrats who dared to implement a policy that could snatch soldiers’ money in such a manner.”

A closer check indicated this is not much of a problem. Only a handful of cases were found in which a wounded soldier was asked to repay a bonus, and they all turned out to be nothing more than correctable clerical mistakes.

Before all this came out, members of Congress and their minions were having a field day. “It shocks the conscience.” “It’s outrageous and indecent.” “Unthinkable.” “A dirty disgrace.” Those were just a few of the comments by headline-and-camera-conscious members of Congress.

The issue was sharply overstated, claim calmer heads who checked into the matter.

“We’re six years into a war. The military’s been paying enlistment bonuses for a while, and we would have heard a lot about it if it were happening very often,” said Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. “There are other issues that are more important for the Congress to be taking up.” Such as health care, the economy and the status of the war itself.

The Pentagon says it has received just two complaints on the issue since a “wounded warrior” hotline was set up the past summer. The fact that an incident or two does not translate into a “flood of mistreatment” never began to register with the off-the-handle legislators who tried to capitalize on the few mixups. Many of those who hear the original outbursts never hear the updates and corrections, and if they had bad feelings about the government before, they simply have those emotions reinforced.

It is unfortunate and unacceptable when any member of our military does not get every cent and benefit due to him or her. But for the most part, all the dues are paid, and that is as it should be. Too bad that periodic opportunities for attention, such as this one, are overplayed for no reason other than to focus attention on the critic.