Wounded U.S. veterans get a raw deal at home

[RBHam]

by Gene Collier, post-gazette

excerpt:
"I can't speak for the DAV's national organization," Tom said, "but I have my own feelings about why the Bush administration is bringing the casualties back to the States in the middle of the night and wants to keep organizations like the DAV away from them. I believe the administration wants to keep the American people in the dark about the number of troops being wounded, the severity of the injuries they are receiving and the types of illnesses that may be surfacing."

http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20040208gene0208fnp1.asp

[Gung_Fu]

1. Makes sense

If the voters did know about what was happening to the soldiers Bush would lose his momentum and his chances for reelection.

[Karenina]

2. Brought to you by...

*aWol!!!

[tabasco]

3. The American people should demand the truth.

It is no secret how many are being maimed. The PEOPLE need to find their souls and be outraged! Soldiers are not expendable!

[donco6]

4. If Shrubby pulls an October surprise -

we'd better be ready with one of our own. How about a pictorial expose on this very topic?

Scenario: Bush pulls Osama out of a hat on October 18. We counter with, "at what cost?" with photos, stories, interviews with maimed and wounded.

Would this offset the capture? Or not?

[lovedems]

5. Well, if they wouldn't give us the Dover Test, why should we expect

to see the injured soldiers? I know how many troops have been killed but I can't remember the last time I saw a report on the numbers of injured.

If someone is injured and is brought home and then dies of his/her injuries, does that number count in the 500+ killed in action or do they track those numbers differently? Main point, could the actual 500+ be even more but we don't know because they were transported out of Iraq?

[enough]

6. Shameful

snip>

For more than six decades," Gorman wrote, "the DAV has always been granted access to military hospitals so our professionally trained and fully accredited representatives could provide such crucial information and counseling to service members to help smooth their transition from military to civilian life. Sadly, that is no longer the case. The current policies of the Department of Defense citing the Privacy Act and security are preventing our skilled representatives from carrying out our congressionally chartered mission.

"At one facility in particular -- Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. -- our efforts to visit with wounded patients have been severely restricted. For example, all requests to visit patients must now be made through headquarters, which then selects the patients we may visit and strictly limits information about the patients. Even the patient's name and the nature of the injury are withheld without express permission."

All contact with patients is closely monitored, he adds. "This is particularly unnerving and inappropriate, as all conversations between a representative and client are confidential in nature.

snip>

[Mari333]

7. Yes, its a blackout.

No one covers the families, the caskets , the body bags, the wounded, people dont see their faces, its just an abstract to them ..something "out there" they dont want to think about.
My stooooooooooooooopid doctor, when I went for a physical said "stop thinking about a war a half a world away its not good for you"
What??????? talk about denial...I informed him my stepson was going there and he looked at me and walked away..
I have a new doctor
in the meantime, this is the kind of denial people are in because its too painful.
Its longggg overdue the US public get the TRUTH and the images of our loved ones are shown..and the caskets and the funerals..LONG overdue.

[Karenina]

8. But EVERYONE covers

the *dauphin prancing around on a carrier (delaying people returning to their families), holding a plastic turkey (resulting in troops being turned away from THEIR Thanksgiving dinner) and insisting his military record is on the up and up (meanwhile, every shred of a document found screams "INDICTMENT."

America needs to SEE the results of the *misadminstration policies. FILM AT 11. Caskets, injured, destruction, the WHOLE BALL O' WAX.

Maybe demanding to SEE *dauphin's military records will help a few stragglers get up to speed.