Katrina vanden Heuvel: “If Iraq Don't Kill You, Walter Reed Will” (The Nation)

[marmar]

BLOG | Posted 02/20/2007 @ 11:43am
“If Iraq Don't Kill You, Walter Reed Will”


According to the Washington Post, Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the nation's capital has treated one out of every four soldiers injured in Afghanistan and Iraq. Over 700 outpatients reside on the hospital grounds or nearby as they receive continued treatment or await bureaucratic decisions – which can take 18 months or longer. They outnumber in-hospital patients by 17 to 1.

In a two-part series, reporters Dana Priest and Anne Hull have done a great service in rendering a portrait of the sad and horrifying state of "supporting the troops" when they come home to Walter Reed.

These soldiers suffer from amputations, brain injuries, post traumatic stress, and other life-changing combat wounds. They are housed in rooms with "mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses," as well as rotting floors and black mold. "Suicide attempts and unintentional overdoses from prescription drugs and alcohol, which is sold on post, are part of the narrative here."

Soldiers with "brain injuries sat for weeks with no appointments and no help from the staff to arrange them. Many disappeared even longer. Some simply left for home."

"If Iraq don't kill you, Walter Reed will," said one soldier's wife. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=167657

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. That woman is worth her weight in gold.

[marmar]

2. You can say that again....I love the ground she walks on.

Like Amy Goodman, she's a national treasure. :loveya:

[Nimrod2005]

3. BIG K&R