Private Contractors at Walter Reed fail to deliver mail

WASHINGTON - Turns out the trouble at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the focus of a firestorm of criticism over poor treatment of wounded war veterans, reached into the mailroom.

MSNBC reports.

Walter Reed Photo Op

“Walter Reed is not a photo-op,”said Veterans for America’s Bobby Muller, in reference to President Bush’s visit today to the army medical center. He said Bush isn’t going to see areas of the hospital most in need of change. “Walter Reed is still broken. The DoD health care system is still broken. … Our troops need their commander in chief to start working harder for them.”

Except when it is...Think Progress story here.

Paul Krugman Gets It

Yesterday's Paul Krugman editorial, "Valor and Squalor"

Yet even now it’s not clear whether the public will be told the full story, which is that the horrors of Walter Reed’s outpatient unit are no aberration. For all its cries of “support the troops,” the Bush administration has treated veterans’ medical care the same way it treats everything else: nickel-and-diming the needy, protecting the incompetent and privatizing everything it can.

Read the rest...

Someone get Kiley a Barfbag...Stat!

Dana Milbank tells us why.

Lt.Gen. Kevin Kiley would do well to take on advisement the words of Elbert Hubbard:
"Responsibility is the price of freedom"
Be a man, go down with your ship you coward.

"I command by commanding through my commanders and trusting them to execute the mission."- Kiley at today's hearing in response to Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.), calling Walter Reed, "...a massive failure of competence in management and command."

I don't write by writing through my writers and trusting them to write. What'd he say?. Am I the only one that thinks Kiley looks like he's gonna spew?

Cafferty on Walter Reed

Crooks and Liars has the film.

Bob WoodRuff on Iraq

For anyone that missed it, I'm linking the ABC News docmentary, "To Iraq and back" done by reporter Bob Woodruff who himself was the victim of a roadside IED in Iraq while reporting 13 months ago. Bob has made a remarkable recovery and is now trying to shed light on the mis treatment and plight of injured soldiers waiting to be medically boarded and the newest veterans who are being warehoused without adequate treatment and resources. So worth it. Watch it here.

Another Horrific Consequence of Poor War Planning.

The situation a Walter Reed is personal for me. We are military and my husband works at a military hospital. As I write this he is at the Audie Murphy VA hospital here in San Antonio. He works 12- 15 hours a day, 5 days a week, with every other weekend on call. "On-call" in critical care means several calls a night and having to go into the hospital one out of five phone calls. It means going into the hospital at 7 AM Saturaday and Sunday mornings, then back on Monday with no time off. He routinely works 14 days without a day off. The doctors and medical staff at these military hospitals are overwhelmed with the number of casualties and the lack of resources and support for the job they have to do. I'm really glad congress has decided to get off their fat, lazy asses and "look into the situation at Walter Reed." HuffPo has commentary and the New York Times Story.

"Next!" Army Secretary Harvey Resigns-UPDATED

It is finally hitting the fan...L.A. Times tells us about it. The Army Times follows-up. Stay tuned, DOD boss Gates said a permanent replacement for Weightman, who was fired yesterday, would be announced by the Army later today.

Update:DOD secretary Robert Gates announced his choice for the new boss at Walter Reed: Meet Maj. Gen. Eric Schoomaker. Army Times has the story. In the perpetual slop trough of cronyism and nepotism in BushCo, Gen. Eric Schoomaker is the brother of another general who's been in the news lately, General Peter Schoomaker, U.S. Army Chief of Staff. The hits just keep on comin'...

Rep. Demands Kiley Be Ousted

Representative Louise Slaughter(D-NY) has called for the immediate removal of LTG. Kevin Kiley. Think Progress has that and so much more. Think Progress is burning it up today on the Walter Reed fiasco and its fallout. Read here.

News from Speaker Pelosi on Walter Reed

On her new blog "The Gavel," the latest round-up of stories on the Walter Reed fiasco.

Bush to Name Commission on Veteran Care

From today's NYT:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush will name a commission to investigate the quality of care at the nation's military and veterans hospitals after a scandal about the treatment of wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

A day after the firing of the commander of Walter Reed, the White House said Bush would devote his weekly radio address to veterans' health care. The yet-to-be named commission will be bipartisan and will be given a yet-unspecified deadline to report to the president, spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Less than a week after Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Walter Reed and said those responsible would be ''held accountable,'' the Army announced Thursday it had relieved Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman of command. He is a physician who had headed the hospital for only six months.

In a brief announcement, the Army said service leaders had ''lost trust and confidence'' in Weightman's leadership abilities ''to address needed solutions for soldier outpatient care.'' It said the decision to fire him was made by Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey.

We can only hope that the shame and public outcry will be sufficient for Junior to make this commission one with teeth and not one staffed by the usual suspects. It may be too much to hope for but a girl has to have her dreams.

Walter Reed General Loses His Command

My own OpEd response:ha ha
Headlines via Lotus:(thank you)

Walter Reed General Loses His Command
The Associated Press
Thursday, March 1, 2007; 2:01 PM

WASHINGTON — The Army said Thursday that the two-star general in charge of Walter Reed Army Medical Center has been relieved of command following disclosures about inadequate treatment of wounded soldiers.

Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who was commanding general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command as well as Walter Reed hospital, was relieved of command by Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey.

In a brief announcement, the Army said service leaders had “lost trust and confidence” in Weightman’s leadership abilities “to address needed solutions for soldier outpatient care” at Walter Reed.

Kiley needs to go too, but this is a start. -Lotus
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The U.S. Army Public Affairs office said this:

Maj. Gen. Weightman was informed this morning that the senior Army leadership had lost trust and confidence in the commander's leadership abilities to address needed solutions for Soldier-outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The Commanding General of U.S. Army Medical Command, Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, will be acting temporarily as the Walter Reed commander until a general officer is selected for this important leadership position.

I concur with Lotus, Kiley needs to go. He has spun this despicable treatment of soldiers right into the ground, he needs to pay for his purposeful inattention and breach of contract to the soldiers that have fulfilled their duties. As far as Maj.Gen. George Weightman, good riddance to bad garbage.

More AYFKM: Walter Reed

Loose Lips Sink Shits

Beyond the Bush administrations incredibly shameful behavior after the discovery of the abuses at Walter Reed that came to light in recent reports, the newest information posted in an Army Times article tells us the DOD has ordered these soldiers to stop talking to the media. If that doesn't make your blood boil maybe this will: soldiers are being punished for the speaking out that has already occurred. Seasoned, experienced, professional soldiers are being told to wake up, clean their rooms, and report for formation and inspection by 7AM. The Army Times article states it this way,"It is unusual for soldiers to have daily inspections after Basic Training."

"Unusual" doesn't begin to cover it. I'm a Veteran, married to an active duty servicemember. Formations and room inspections are part of training for new recruits as part of instilling discipline. To expect these soldiers, marines and airmen who have been in war to engage in these punitive practices is not only humiliating but possibly medically unsound. These servicemembers are amputees, some multiple; they are blind, deaf, have serious traumatic brain injury and multilple other serious health problems. Once you move past the facility neglect exposed in the WaPo write-ups, the stark reality of the more severe problems are brought to the fore: the warehousing and abandonment of severely brain-injured troops.

Where's the outrage America? Is this how we support the troops? Is there a car magnet ribbon for this one? Get back to me on that one.

Walter Reed Patients Told to STFU

File under AYFKM? (are you f'ing kidding me?): Patients at Walter Reed have been ordered to stop talking to the media. These severely injured servicemembers are active duty and still subject to orders from superiors. The Army Times brings this compounding shameful behavior of the US Army to light.

Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Medical Hold Unit say they have been told they will wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and have their rooms ready for inspection at 7 a.m., and that they must not speak to the media.

“Some soldiers believe this is a form of punishment for the trouble soldiers caused by talking to the media,” one Medical Hold Unit soldier said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Tell me again how junior's administration supports the troops? These warmongering hawks HATE the troops or worse don't care about them one whit. If there is one way to truly show support for the servicemembers of this country, not just lip service, please contact your representatives and DEMAND action. Heads should roll for this ignominious disservice. Our troops were doing their jobs; make congress do theirs.

In related news, ABC news anchor Bob Woodruff who himself was severly injured by an IED in Iraq, produced a special documentary called "To Iraq and Back" broadcast last night on the topic of wounded soldiers and their recovery process.. Watch it here.

Finally, please go to the site "Wounded Warriors" and toss some support their way. They are advocate for veterans and applying pressure to this criminal administration to compel them to do the right thing in regard to our injured soldiers and veterans.

Thanks to my ear to-the-ground, Lotus.