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Edited on Mon Mar-12-07 12:27 PM by JohnWxy
Much as I would like to lay the entire blame for the shameful treatment of wounded vets at Walter Reed at the feet of the Cheney administration this sort of dispicable treatment of vets in need has been going on since the Revolutionary War. After vets come back from action needing help of any sort it seems they have to beg the Government for what ought to be forthcoming without going through a gauntlet of haughty, niggardly bureaucrats to obtain. It seems people are more easily motivated to send men and now women into harms way but later when vets come back from war in pieces (physically and psychologically), the former cheerleaders for intervention and war are nowhere to be found. And other than the vets themselves almost no one can be found to plead the veterans case for better treatment.
This is shameful treatment of men and women who were are heroes, who have done what their country asked of them and risked everything for their country. These men and women didn't set the policy but it was their job to carry it out.
The new wrinkle the Cheney administration has brought to this anti-morality play is their penchant for contracting out everything the Government does. (I guess they feel since the PResident is bought and paid for by various wealthy powerful groups, corporations and business associations, why shouldn't the rest of the Government be based on a commercial arrangement? Money paid for services performed.) The company which was responsible for building maintenance at Walter Reed just happens to also be the outfit who had truckloads of ice running all over the place EXCEPT where they were suppposed to be after the Katrina disaster. The ice was being delivered everywhere except where it was needed.
Contracting out services, the GOP likes to sell it as way to save money, so often in the long run does NOT SAVE money, and often results in significant reduction in the quality of services performed. This is because their are many people out there who are eager to GET a Government contract, but once they get the contract spend most of their efforts figuring out how to deliver less and less for the same amount of money. In order to preclude this from happening you would have to add massive amounts of auditors to monitor performance (full-time). Then, where is the savings?
And even with close monitoring I still feel the quality issue trumps all others (and remember, in the long run their usually is NOT any savings)
YEs, the way we have treated vets after they come home from war has been a national disgrace for a long time. I can only hope this latest example will actually lead to a real commitment to change the situation. But, I'm going to wait and see what happens.
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