Walter Reed: A Case of Neglect

Here is an article that helps create a new scapegoat for the Bush Administration trying to avoid responsibility for severely cutting funding for veteran health care. All money went to Iraq. Funding for anything else was severely cut, especially in the military and veteran programs. CBS News helps Bush by attributing the blame to the "Pentagon", a behomouth that includes no real accountability.

Money woes and Pentagon neglect are to blame for shoddy outpatient conditions and bureaucratic delays at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, an independent review has concluded.


The blistering report called for major changes in troop care and cautioned that problems probably extend to Army hospitals around the country.


“The American ethic is that America always takes care of its wounded,” said John O. “Jack” Marsh, Army secretary during the Reagan administration and co-chairman of the review. “We must make certain that America continues that ethic.”


Co-chairman Togo D. West, secretary of the Army and Veterans Affairs under President Clinton, blasted the Pentagon's “virtually incomprehensible” inattention to maintenance at Walter Reed as well as an “almost palpable disdain” for troop care.


“Although Walter Reed's rich tradition remains to this day unchallenged, its high reputation has not been maintained,” he said.