AP: Lawmakers to hold Walter Reed hearings...(fasten your seat belts)

[catgirl]

WASHINGTON - As several House committees prepared to delve into the scandal at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, outraged lawmakers vowed quick action and called for an independent commission to examine poor conditions for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's national security panel, headed by Rep. John Tierney (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., scheduled a hearing at the hospital's auditorium Monday morning. The list of Army officials, hospital staff and patients invited to speak includes the medical center's previous commander, Maj. Gen. George Weightman.

The defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee also scheduled a hearing on Walter Reed for Monday.

In a letter Sunday to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., asked for an independent commission, possibly headed by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, to investigate all post-combat medical facilities and recommend changes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070305/ap_on_go_co/walter_reed

[AzDar]

1. Colin Powell? Will he bring his rodent-free etchings? Jesus H. Christ,

let's try to appoint someone who is still in full possession of his soul, shall we?

[maddezmom]

2. Heartbreaking tales of problems at Army hospital

Heartbreaking tales of problems at Army hospital
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two Iraq war veterans and the wife of a third sat before a House panel Monday and gave heartbreaking, at times stunning, tales of neglect at the now-notorious Walter Reed Army Medical Center .

"Two years after first being admitted, I'm hearing the same thing that I heard two years ago," said Sgt. John Daniel Shannon, after describing his many extensive efforts to get needed treatment and better living conditions.

Annette McLeod, wife of Cpl. Wendell McLeod, gave a similar tale of neglect, saying, for example, that her husband at one point waited four months to receive the results of an important medical test.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/05/monday/index.html?section=cnn_latest

[maddezmom]

3. Wounded Army Spc. Jeremy Duncan: My room 'wasn't fit for anyone'

My room 'wasn't fit for anyone'
POSTED: 10:57 a.m. EST, March 5, 2007
Story Highlights• NEW: Soldier: I lived in a room that "wasn't fit for anyone"

• Rep. John Murtha, a Vietnam vet, calls conditions "absolutely inappropriate"
• Sen. Jon Kyl says most wounded vets get the best treatment
• Hospital's fired ex-commander to testify

Adjust font size:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A soldier who said he once lived in a recovery annex at Walter Reed Army Medical Center described unfit hospital conditions Monday during a House hearing on the scandal.

Wounded Army Spc. Jeremy Duncan told the panel he spent some of his recovery in Building 18, an annexed former motel used for Walter Reed outpatients. Duncan said that his room "wasn't fit for anyone."

"I know most soldiers that come out of recovery have weaker immune systems and black mold can do damage to people," Duncan said. "The holes in the walls -- I wouldn't live there even if I had to. It wasn't fit for anybody."


more:http://us.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/05/congress.reed/index.html

[Miss Chybil]

4. Joh Kyl is trying to defend this? nt

[maddezmom]

5. yesterday on CNN's Late Edition he was trying to put the spin on it

He tried to blame the Democrats for defunding, etc. Dodd actually called him on it. I'll try to find a transcript at some point today.

[Miss Chybil]

6. I really can't stand that man. I don't know how he won again. nt

[maddezmom]

7. Kyl is scum

BLITZER: Let me bring Senator Kyl back. Senator Kyl, you have confidence in the secretary of veterans affairs, Jim Nicholson? KYL: He's a good man, but they've obviously got to do some of the things that Chris is talking about. I agree with Senator Dodd, we don't need to raise taxes.

<<me putting in kyl's name, as CNN hasn't)
Let me illustrate part of the problem. We had the continuing resolution to fund the government for the next year. And the Congress, led by the Democrats, took $3 billion out of that that was designated for the facilities for returning troops from Iraq and spent that money on domestic things, on domestic projects.

Now we're going to have to find $3 billion to put back into those very same facilities for these returning trips. So I think part of the blame lies with the Democratic leadership in being very short- sighted about removing funding that we now find is very necessary.

BLITZER: Senator Dodd?

DODD: Well, I've got to get -- (inaudible), that's because the Republicans who controlled the Congress in the last Congress didn't get a budget done, and we had amendments last year, including the one that I offered for $20 billion, to deal exactly with this issue, which were rejected by the Republican majority.

So, we've got a budget to deal with here. Now, we can go back and point out history where we haven't met our obligations in the past when it comes to these people. We ought to get the job done. That's what we ought to be doing.

http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0703/04/le.01.html