Tuesday, February 20, 2007

The mistreatment of our wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital



A special report on the Walter Reed Hospital following the Washington Post article. Dana Priest co- author of the article (with Ann Hall) is interviewed about her two month study. She admits that she cried while investigating the story - the situation was so bad.

Only 30 soldiers are in the actual Walter Reed Hospital, but 700 hundred are in a outpatient role facing neglect and lack of follow up. These are soldiers that are not ready to go home. These vulnerable soldiers are the focus of the piece.

In this video we get to see Building 18 - built between the two world wars, which is a centerpiece of the story with mice, cockroaches, mold, broken elevators, lack of hot water and traumatizing isolation.

This video gives visuals to this great work of journalism. Because of the article- major improvements including hiring more people and promises to fix the situation have come about.




Here is Kieth Oberman's coverage of the story giving more visuals and analysis. In addition to Dana Priest, he brings on former soldier John Soltz of Votevets.org with more great insights:




Link to origional Washington Post article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/17/AR2007021701172.html

posted by paul Grant (follower of Basho)
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