Walter Reed: Outrage du Jour

Every single American should be horrified by the terrible conditions and treatment that some of our military personnel receive at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and facilities around the country.

The problems must be rectified immediately. Anything less is simply unacceptable.

That said, I think it's disgusting that the Democrats are playing politics with the matter.

They are acting as if it's a Bush administration scandal.

The buck does stop with the current administration, but it also stops with every single elected official in Washington, as well as politicians at the state and local levels.

WASHINGTON -- Substandard living conditions found at the Army's flagship veterans hospital likely exist throughout the military health care system, the head of a House panel investigating Walter Reed Army Medical Center said Monday.

"We need a sustained focus here, and much more needs to be done," Rep. John Tierney said of a scandal enveloping Walter Reed. Charges of bureaucratic delays and poor treatment there have produced calls in Congress for quick reform.

Tierney said he is afraid "these problems go well beyond the walls of Walter Reed," adding that "as we send more and more troops into Iraq and Afghanistan, these problems are only going to get worse, not better."

A House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing Monday at the hospital brought a wide range of apologies from top-level Army officers and the Army's No. civilian. "We have let some soldiers down," said Peter Geren, the undersecretary of the Army.

It's terrible.

WE have let them down.

WE = The U.S. Government

The U.S. Government is more than the Bush administration.

Senators and representatives need to take responsibility, too.

They need to be held accountable as well.

Tierney, D-Mass., chairman of the panel, questioned whether problems at the facility are "just another horrific consequence" of inadequate planning that went into war in Iraq; a problem created by contracting out work there to private business, or some other cause.

"This is absolutely the wrong way to treat our troops, and serious reforms need to happen... immediately," he said.

These are the sort of political games that I find nauseating. Tierney is exploiting the situation to score political points with the anti-war crowd.

He appears to care more about that then the sick and wounded.

Here's more.

From The Los Angeles Times:

Congressional Democrats on Sunday kept up their attacks on substandard care for injured soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as they prepared for hearings on the issue this week.

"If it's this bad at the outpatient facilities at Walter Reed, how is it in the rest of the country?" Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on ABC's "This Week." "Walter Reed is our crown jewel."

In a letter sent Sunday to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Schumer called for the creation of an independent commission to examine conditions at all medical facilities treating military personnel and veterans. He suggested that former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, a retired Army general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, lead the panel.

"To think that men and women are serving their country in the most honorable and courageous way possible and all we give them is a dilapidated, rat-infested, rundown building to recover is a disgrace," he wrote. "My fear is that Walter Reed is just the tip of the iceberg, and merely highlights the pervasive and systemic mistreatment of our service members."

Schumer's call for an independent panel follows a promise from President Bush last week to name a bipartisan commission for the same purpose.

...Members of Congress from both parties have expressed outrage at the substandard care. The revelations have also embarrassed the Bush administration as it has been laboring to build support for sending 21,500 additional troops to Iraq.

The Bush administration should be embarrassed.

SCHUMER SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED, TOO.

No vets should be lingering in poor conditions. This didn't just start with Iraq.

It's a disgrace.

Many administrations owe vets an apology. U.S. senators and representatives from decades past owe vets an apology.

This is not a partisan matter to be exploited by the Democrat Party for political gain.

Their hands aren't clean.