Valor and Squalor: PAUL KRUGMAN - Walter Reed; Attacking Iran KRUGMAN: The horrors of Walter Reed Army Medical Centers outpatient unit are no aberration. THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AND MORE
Valor and Squalor: PAUL KRUGMAN - Walter Reed THE COMPLETE ARTICLE THE NEW YORK TIMES OP-ED COLUMNIST Valor and Squalor By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: March 5, 2007 When Salon, the online magazine, reported on mistreatment of veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center two years ago, officials simply denied that there were any problems. And they initially tried to brush off last months exposé in The Washington Post. But this time, with President Bushs approval at 29 percent, Democrats in control of Congress, and Donald Rumsfeld no longer defense secretary Robert Gates, his successor, appears genuinely distressed at the situation the whitewash didnt stick. Yet even now its not clear whether the public will be told the full story, which is that the horrors of Walter Reeds outpatient unit are no aberration. For all its cries of support the troops, the Bush administration has treated veterans medical care the same way it treats everything else: nickel-and-diming the needy, protecting the incompetent and privatizing everything it can. *** The redoubtable Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, points out that IAP Worldwide Services, a company run by two former Halliburton executives, received a large contract to run Walter Reed under suspicious circumstances: the Army reversed the results of an audit concluding that government employees could do the job more cheaply. And Mr. Waxman, who will be holding a hearing on the issue today, appears to have solid evidence, including an internal Walter Reed memo from last year, that the prospect of privatization led to a FEMA-type exodus of skilled personnel. --MORE-- http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/03/valor-and-squalor-paul-krugman-w Israel, U.S. involved in Iranian general's disappearance? http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/03/israel-involved-in-iranian-gener Attacking Iran could speed up nuclear programme: think tank http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/03/attacking-iran-could-speed-up-nu US economy suddenly appears vulnerable http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/03/us-economy-suddenly-appears-vuln NATO Airstrike in Afghanistan Kills 9 More Civilians http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/03/nato-airstrike-in-afghanistan-ki And More http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/ http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/ http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/blog/38 --------------------------------- All new Yahoo! Mail --------------------------------- Get news delivered. Enjoy RSS feeds right on your Mail page.