"By JENNIFER TALHELM, Associated Press Writer Sat Mar 10, 11:13 AM ET
WASHINGTON - An Arizona congressman said Saturday that mold-covered walls, rodent infestations and other problems uncovered recently at Walter Reed Army Medical Center reveal "a catastrophic failure of leadership" by the Bush administration.
Rep. Harry Mitchell (news, bio, voting record), D-Ariz., said in the Democrats' weekly radio address that Congress is acting quickly to hold the administration accountable for underfunding and mismanaging the veterans health care system...
Defense Secretary Robert Gates forced Army Secretary Francis Harvey to resign. Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who was in charge of Walter Reed since August 2006, also was ousted from his post.
A bipartisan commission appointed by
President Bush is reviewing the military and veterans health care systems, as are the
Pentagon, the Army and the Veterans Affairs Department."
Firstly, the pairing of the first and second paragraphs of this article is extremely misleading. Walter Reed is not a VA hospital, it's an Army hospital. Rep. Mitchell continuing to fall back on improving VA funding and such has nothing to do with problems at Walter Reed... and unless I'm missing something he has failed to show that Bush is dealing with VA funding "on the cheap", or that it's causing ill effects. As a veteran, I'm fairly confident in the VA system, and I think any negative aspects that exist were there long before the current administration.
Secondly, I don't think the Bush administration had any opportunity to fix this problem beforehand, as they probably were never told there was a problem in the first place- the bureaucratic machine responsible for this one is likely the Army, not the presidency. Now that the problem has been uncovered, I think the Bush administration has taken every appropriate step to fix it- they're cleaning house, and sending in a reviewing commission, to 'micromanage' something the Army should have been able to do itself, and I'm fairly certain from the Army's past reactions to elected officials that plenty of people are now feeling the squeeze to shape up.
I think this article makes about as much sense as blaming Bush for the weather, or the NCAA tournament standings. Do you think this is a case of "straw man" attacks, or do you think the Democrats really think this wouldn't have happened if a D was in the white house? Is attempting to unjustly blame the presidency for negative current events a common occurrence?
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2 comments:
This is an Army issue. This is not an issue at all between the parties.
Walter Reed is the premier hospital in the country. The in-patient care is outstanding and the people are mostly friendly.
The problem is often not clarifeid in the media. The problem is with the out-patient clinic where soldiers, injured in combat, are housed.
It is unacceptable. And this attention will hopefully only do positive for the base.
I think it as well that the issue remains with the Army and not with the political parties. It deals with the out patients and the care that was given to them. I think it was just bluntly attacking someone to just attack them instead of telling the media about the story.
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