(9NEWS NOW) EXCLUSIVE: Major New Problems At Walter Reed

[sabra]

http://www.wusa9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=56746

EXCLUSIVE: Major New Problems At Walter Reed

Washington, DC (WUSA) -- A major 9NEWS NOW EXCLUSIVE -- allegations from a former inspector at Walter Reed of widespread and dangerous problems in nearly all the buildings at the Army's premier hospital.

Burst steam pipes near electrical cables, rats, mold, and holes in floors and walls -- all of that extends far beyond the well-publicized problems at the notorious Building 18.

And 9NEWS NOW has learned managers may have been slow to respond.

A worried quality control inspector, Mark Cordell, finally quit last week in frustration, and brought his fears to 9NEWS NOW.

"I won't sit back and watch someone get killed," he says while running through 81 pictures of the problems on a laptop computer.

Cordell says the worst of it may be Building 40. The old research institute has been condemned, but last week, the private contractor now responsible for maintaining Walter Reed sent workers in to fix a leak.

[bearfan454]

1. Let's run this shit up the flagpole nt

[0007]

18. ....better yet let's run it up FAUX's ass!

[Maddy McCall]

2. Fucking disgusting. I hope all those yellow ribbon bumper magnet people....

are raising holy hell about this, because to do anything less while riding around with "Support Our Troops" on their back bumper is head-in-the-sand hypocrisy.

[Akoto]

3. Holy cow, that's atrocious.

Good for Mr. Cordell, though, bringing this into the light of day.

[BluePatriot]

4. Good for Mr. Cordell

If all of the ethical folks like clerks/inspectors/accountants that worked for these contractors suddenly spoke up it would be like a quiet revolution. Quietly keep those records and take those photos all across the USA, guys -- the day of reckoning is coming and it will be because of you.

[Dhalgren]

5. The Bush regime will, no doubt, prosecute Mr. cordell to the fullest extent of the law...

[Rosemary2205]

6. The BUILDINGS are not the problem.

The problem is that these buildings have not been needed for decades and were mothballed. Now that Bush's war ain't going too good, coupled with the fabulous advances in medical care keeping soldier alive that would once die - well suddenly we need these buildings. It is unrealistic to expect a building that was mothballed for 20 years to be in tip top condition. Walter Reed is not negligent. They are overwhelmed and doing the best they can with limited resources. Medically they are doing a damn fine job too.

All of this goes right to the heart of Bushco's poor judgement and planning -- not to the dedicated men and women serving at Walter Reed.

[Doremus]

7. I've no reason to doubt you, but what about reports of soldiers

sitting in urine-soaked bedding for hours/days? That's a personnel thing, not building maintenance.

[TahitiNut]

9. Out-sourcing ... i.e. privateering.

The services have been out-sourced and contracts are given to cronies - with nice profits, of course. I'm willing to bet that the contractor CEO's new TV is warming up before a single sheet gets changed or a single electrical outlet is repaired.

[Hekate]

17. Exactly: so-called "privatizing" is old-fashioned piratical "privateering"...

...All Halliburton, KBR, and the rest need is a grinning Jolly Roger for their corporate logo. None of them gives a damn about human lives.

Hekate

[elehhhhna]

19. and how about replacing lightbulbs? The list in the OP has bunches

of them.

Motel Sux

[atreides1]

8. Maybe not negligent

Would you agree to incompetent? After the first year of the war, when it became pretty clear that those flowers that Dickie kept talking about, were being replaced by bullets the command staff at Walter Reed could have started preparations to get ready for more wounded.

Instead, they went right along with the administration and did nothing, when some of those buildings could have been made useful with a little extra time and money. So, Walter Reed was incompetent not negligent.

[sutz12]

10. Yes and no....

Agreed, the real problem is the people behind the poor building maintenance issues.

However, anyone who opened these buildings up for habitation before rehabbing them has a LOT to answer for.

I've heard Freepers, typically, trying to blame Clinton for this. He's the one who closed them, or the mismanagement started on his watch and on and on.

BushCo has been in charge for 6 years. The Repubs have had the purse strings in Congress for 12 years.

I'm tired of being told to just "get over it." Anybody who thinks that way should be forcibly shipped to Wash DC, taken to one of these buildings, and made to tell the wounded soldiers living there to "get over it."

And I'd make sure that the soldiers in question had some small, hard objects issued to them before said person arrived (assuming they are lucky enough to have working limbs to use them).

Fuck the dissembling and the bullshit. This is more of the same and it's about accountability.

[Virginian]

14. Mothballed buildings?

Isn't it cheaper to demolish the building and build new?
There aren't too many mothballed buildings in DC because real estate is so expensive. The offices that surround Lafeyette Park are very modern inside but the facade of the townhouses was retained for esthetics. There is also a mall by GW University that has used the exteriors of the original buildings. You can't tell it is a mall from the outside.
I wonder why this one wasn't renovated. Maybe because Walter Reed was going to be closed and sold.


I don't want to see Walter Reed closed. I think we need some redundancy in the system to take over if the primary facility is overwhelmed or incapacitated. Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval have always existed and there has been a need for both ever since I can remember. Why, when we need additional facilities the most, is this administration thinking of shutting it down rather than revitalizing it?

:rant:
Bush hates Americans. He wants this country to become a third world nation. He wants us defenseless. Why else would he try to use up our munitions and exhaust our fighting forces. Why else would he offshore our jobs. Why else would he bring in tech workers to take those jobs from Americans which discourages Americans from majoring in those fields. Why else would he give tax breaks to the wealthiest 1%. Trickle down doesn't work in a Global economy. The 1% invests in foreign countries. The gap between rich and poor widens daily.

:rant:

[caledesi]

16. * didn't want those bldgs. fixed or to give $ for them because

then the public would know that the war is NOT going well and there are MANY troops with severe injuries. They wanted it kept as a secret as always so they could continue with their LIES.

* hates the troops and I think he is a bastard.

The "secrets" are all coming out though...they always do.

They couldn't control Katrina and the public was outraged at the pix they saw. That I thin was the beginning of his downfall and one of the main reasons we won in '07.

[Ian David]

11. Walter Reed is starting to sound more like "The Danger Room" from The X-Men

"Burst steam pipes near electrical cables, rats, mold, and holes in floors and walls..." killer robots with laser beams, giant flying balls with metal spikes on them, spinning blades that pop out of the floor...

Welcome to Walter Reed.

[Justice]

12. Mark Cordell - where have I heard that name before?

[peacetalksforall]

13. With every image I think Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld. Even

when the slave taming prison on the property Rumsfeld now owns was whipping humans into a white concept of good behavior to masters - it probably wasn't as bad as this hospital.

The positions on privitization and the DOD's opinion of the soldiers is plainly seen.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

15. hey, it looks like Baghdad. That should make our

troups feel right at home, eh?

bastards.

[progressoid]

20. Looks like freedom is on the march in the good ole USA too!

[neuvocat]

21. HUH?!???

Watch someone get killed? In a hospital????

[heatstreak]

22. kick