* With the recent revelations about the horrible conditions at Walter Reed Army Hospital, you have to wonder why this stuff hadn't been revealed until the Washington Post articles. The Republicans in the House and Senate knew about the mold and mice in the rooms for years, but did nothing. The Republicans did not hold any hearings or ask for investigations. The Republicans did not want to embarrass Bush.
Meanwhile, several newspapers and news outlets are reporting about the hearings yesterday about the conditions at Walter Reed. I watched the hearing on C-Span, and it was heartbreaking.
Here are some excerpts from SFGATE:
Mounting revelations about decrepit housing and mistreatment of injured soldiers at the U.S. Army's major medical complex have touched a raw nerve with the public and have sparked fierce bipartisan outrage on Capitol Hill.
The outcry has led a White House known for defending its embattled leaders to fire the Army secretary and relieve a two-star general of his command. Vice President Dick Cheney was dispatched Monday to soothe the angry feelings by telling the Veterans of Foreign Wars: "There will be no excuses, only action."
Lawmakers' fury was on display at a hearing Monday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the hospital complex in the nation's capital long seen as the crown jewel of military health care, where allegations of mice-infested buildings and neglected patients first surfaced.
The tearful wife of an injured National Guardsman told lawmakers her husband received "treatment ... a dog wouldn't have deserved." A wounded soldier described how Army officials ignored his complaints about black mold in his room for months -- until photos of his mildewed walls appeared in the Washington Post.
"We find it appalling," said Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., who chaired the hearing of a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee.
Lawmakers noted that injured soldiers and veterans are flooding their offices with phone calls and e-mails complaining of similar conditions at military medical facilities and veterans' hospitals nationwide....
.....Army Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon, who suffered from brain and eye injuries after being shot in the head in Iraq, told lawmakers how he had been waiting in an outpatient facility for two years for surgery on his eye while haggling with the Army over his disability benefits. "The system can't be trusted," Shannon said. "Soldiers get less than they deserve from a system seemingly designed to run and run to cut the costs associated with fighting this war." The toughest questioning Monday was reserved for top Army officials who ran Walter Reed in recent years. Kiley, who oversaw the hospital from 2002 to 2004 and now leads the U.S. Army Medical Command, said he took responsibility for the problems at Building 18, an outpatient building where patients complained of unsafe conditions. "The housing conditions here in one of the buildings at Walter Reed clearly has not met our standards," Kiley said. "For that, I am personally and professionally sorry, and I offer my apologies." But lawmakers complained that some Army leaders were still downplaying the scope of the problems, focusing instead on damage control...... This is how this administration supports the troops.