Don't take me to Walter Reed

Walter Reed Army Medical Center is in very hot water and justifiably so. It's been treating wounded U.S. soldiers quite horribly. From CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Witnesses told a House panel Monday that wounded U.S. soldiers are forced to struggle against a nightmarish and untrustworthy Army medical system that leaves veterans stranded in unfit conditions.

Two Iraq war veterans and the wife of a third gave heartbreaking, at times stunning, tales of neglect at the now notorious Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The panel was convened in the wake of a scandal triggered by The Washington Post's detailing of problems at the hospital. (Full story)

And the president learned about it in the Washington Post. That's odd. He's admitted that he doesn't read the papers.

So they send soldiers into the meat grinder and call anyone who questions the war a traitor. The soldiers come back wounded and with shell shock and get crappy treatment. Very nice.

Reminds me of two things. One, an interview with a Republican candidate for president. As his party is wont to do, he kept saying "all life is sacred." Apparently this doesn't apply Iraqis or soldiers. (I know, I know it's not his fault but all the same!)

It also reminded me of Michael Penn's song, Walter Reed. It's not overtly anti war but you get the point (see/hear at YouTube):

Count the cases piled up high
For the 1:15.
For platform and for passerby
It's the same routine.
I'm ranting while I'm raving,
There's nothing here worth saving.

Tell me now, what more do you need?
Take me to Walter Reed tonight.
Baby I've lost the will for fighting
Over everything.
Well there's a few things I gotta say
And make no mistake, I'm mad...
'Cause every good thing I've had
Abandoned me.

All I want to do is hide.
It's graduation day
And everything I learned inside
Didn't seem to pay.
I've had my fill of palm trees
And lighting up Grauman's Chinese.

I'm the walking wounded
And I'd say it to your face
But I can't find my place.

Hypocrisy

Look at the proud, middle-aged white guys surrounding the president. Such hypocrites. "Right to life" is just for pre-birth I guess. Once you're out of the womb, the government can do anything to you.

Bush signs law authorizing harsh interrogation

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush signed a law on Tuesday authorizing tough interrogation and prosecution of terrorism suspects and took an indirect, election-year swipe at Democrats who opposed the legislation.

Bush, trying to help Republicans maintain control of the U.S. Congress by emphasizing national security, called the Military Commissions Act of 2006 "one of the most important pieces of legislation in the war on terror."

Human rights groups charge that the measure would allow harsh techniques bordering on torture, such as sleep deprivation and induced hypothermia...

The American Civil Liberties Union expressed outrage, calling the new law "one of the worst civil liberties measures ever enacted in American history."

"Nothing separates America more from our enemies than our commitment to fairness and the rule of law, but the bill signed today is an historic break because it turns Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. facilities into legal no-man's-lands," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero.