It looks as if there won't be any smiling photos of the President posing with recovering soldiers published in the near future. The Commander-in-Chief has his work cut out for him after a series of articles printed last month in the Washington Post revealed squalid conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The problems unveiled by the Post's reporting - from black mold and rodents in recovery rooms to inadequate medical care - will not be solved by some glossy publicity and a few photo-ops.
Thankfully, decisive action has been taken by top level military and government officials. The former commander of Walter Reed, Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, was relieved of his duties last week (although his responsibility for the deplorable conditions is questionable, as he had only been on the job since August of 2006), Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey resigned last Friday, and House subcommittee hearings began yesterday as Congressmen investigate the matter.
But as Massachusetts Democrat John F. Tierney, chairman of a House oversight subcommittee on national security and foreign affairs, commented at Monday's hearings, "These problems go well beyond the walls of Walter Reed."
If the Bush administration is serious about its commitments to a troop surge in Iraq and to a significant American military presence in the Middle East, then it must realize that money alone an army does not make. The president can request as much money for defense spending as he desires, but a volunteer military force ultimately requires the enthusiasm of participants in order to properly function. An army without a draft must provide incentives for potential soldiers, sailors and pilots to agree to put their lives on the line.
With commanders already facing considerable troop shortages, disrespecting wounded veterans will not result in any rise in recruitment numbers.
There are, however, several heroes to emerge from this distressing scandal. The Washington Post's reporters Anne Hull and Dana Priest demonstrated the value of solid, dogged reporting with their series on Walter Reed. The ultimate series published by the Post was the culmination of over four months of reporting, but it took only two weeks from the date of the first article's publication for congressional hearings to occur. Over the course of those weeks, two higher level Army officials were dismissed from their jobs.
According to one article written by the two journalists, top officials at Walter Reed had known about questionable conditions at the facilities for over three years. Veterans spoke of letters they had written to their congressmen which had gone unanswered. It was not until an article appeared on the front page of a national paper that anyone in the government decided to take action.
Ultimately, those in command must realize that soldiers are not an expendable resource. The sophisticated body armor and triage used by those on the ground demonstrate that military leaders are concerned with saving lives of American service men and women. But where concern seems to be lacking is in care for the quality of life once wounded soldiers come home.
As the United States becomes more and more mired in Iraqi civil strife, Americans should hope and demand that their countrymen fighting amongst Sunnis and Shiites receive proper medical treatment upon return to American soil.
This scandal looks to be just the latest manifestation of the Bush administration's lack of planning before the Iraqi invasion. What the Post's reporting proved is that this incompetence will not go unnoticed.
