Military amputee uninvited from Bush event because the press would see him with no legs

May these people fry in hell. (This a portion of a much larger, second part of the expose in the Washington Post on Monday.)

Perks and stardom do not come to every amputee. Sgt. David Thomas, a gunner with the Tennessee National Guard, spent his first three months at Walter Reed with no decent clothes; medics in Samarra had cut off his uniform. Heavily drugged, missing one leg and suffering from traumatic brain injury, David, 42, was finally told by a physical therapist to go to the Red Cross office, where he was given a T-shirt and sweat pants. He was awarded a Purple Heart but had no underwear.

David tangled with Walter Reed's image machine when he wanted to attend a ceremony for a fellow amputee, a Mexican national who was being granted U.S. citizenship by President Bush. A case worker quizzed him about what he would wear. It was summer, so David said shorts. The case manager said the media would be there and shorts were not advisable because the amputees would be seated in the front row.

" 'Are you telling me that I can't go to the ceremony 'cause I'm an amputee?' " David recalled asking. "She said, 'No, I'm saying you need to wear pants.' "

David told the case worker, "I'm not ashamed of what I did, and y'all shouldn't be neither." When the guest list came out for the ceremony, his name was not on it.

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Al Qaeda is making a comeback. Bin Laden is still in charge.

So much for the Global War on Terror. If I have my recent history right, George Bush was going to get Bin Laden before he decided he didn't care about him. Well, Bin Laden and Al Qaeda are making a comeback while the U.S. is pinned down in Iraq. If this can happen, George Bush doesn't care about the security of Americans. The NY Times has the story:

As recently as 2005, American intelligence assessments described senior leaders of Al Qaeda as cut off from their foot soldiers and able only to provide inspiration for future attacks. But more recent intelligence describes the organization’s hierarchy as intact and strengthening.

“The chain of command has been re-established,” said one American government official, who said that the Qaeda “leadership command and control is robust.”

American officials and analysts said a variety of factors in Pakistan had come together to allow “core Al Qaeda” — a reference to Mr. bin Laden and his immediate circle — to regain some of their strength. The emergence of a relative haven in North Waziristan and the surrounding area has helped senior operatives communicate more effectively with the outside world via courier and the Internet.

How George Bush let the people who attacked this country get away with it is really beyond explanation. How the Republicans in Congress let this happen defies explanation. Thanks to Bush and his GOP allies, the world is a much more dangerous place.

Al Qaeda is back. Bin Laden has reasserted his authority. It's really almost unbelievable. Read the rest of this post...

NYT's David Brooks: Hillary doesn't need to apologize

Conservative writer David Brooks wrote a few days back about Hillary that I think is worth sharing. He argues that Hillary has no reason to apologize for her war vote.

Far be it from me to get in the middle of a liberal purge, but would anybody mind if I pointed out that the calls for Hillary Clinton to apologize for her support of the Iraq war are almost entirely bogus?

I mean, have the people calling for her apology actually read the speeches she delivered before the war? Have they read her remarks during the war resolution debate, when she specifically rejected a pre-emptive, unilateral attack on Saddam? Did they read the passages in which she called for a longer U.N. inspections regime and declared, “I believe international support and legitimacy are crucial”?

If they went back and read what Senator Clinton was saying before the war, they’d be surprised, as I was, by her approach....

If they went back and read what Senator Clinton was saying before the war, they’d be surprised, as I was, by her approach. And they’d learn something, as I did, about what kind of president she would make.

The Iraq war debate began in earnest in September 2002. At that point Clinton was saying in public what Colin Powell was saying in private: emphasizing the need to work through the U.N. and build a broad coalition to enforce inspections.

She delivered her Senate resolution speech on Oct. 10. It was Clintonian in character. On the one hand, she rejected the Bush policy of pre-emptive war. On the other hand, she also rejected the view that the international community “should only resort to force if and when the United Nations Security Council approves it.” Drawing on the lessons of Bosnia, she said sometimes the world had to act, even if the big powers couldn’t agree.

She sought a third way: more U.N. resolutions, more inspections, more diplomacy, with the threat of force reserved as a last resort. She was triangulating, but the Senate resolution offered her a binary choice. She voted yes in order to give Powell bipartisan leverage at the U.N.

Brooks can be a dope, and at other times he's really quite good. In this piece, it's hard to know whether he's supporting Hillary so that she'll stay the course and self-combust, or what. Read the piece, it's an interesting analysis.

I would just add one more thing. People who assume that Hillary's only problem is with the "anti-war Left" are missing the boat. Not all of us are the anti-war left, and not all of us could give a hoot about an apology, or Hillary's vote at all. I honestly don't care that she voted for the war authorization. What I do care about is feeling like I'm being played. And Hillary's answers in response to the war vote feel scripted, as if she's searching for the perfect soundbite that will please 50.1% of the voters.

I don't want to hear scripting, I want to hear Hillary. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Nice little mini snowstorm we had in DC this afternoon. Read the rest of this post...

Bush budget will cut health care for vets

Welcome home. The Republicans hate you.

The Bush administration plans to cut funding for veterans’ health care two years from now — even as wounded troops returning from Iraq could overwhelm the system.

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"Fabulous success" or not in Baghdad

Friday's report from Iraq's leader (coincidentally, just in time for the House and Senate votes):

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki assured President Bush that the three-day-old plan "has achieved fabulous success," according to an account of the conversation released by the prime minister's office. Speaking by video, Maliki also told Bush that officials will be "firm in dealing with any side that breaks the law, regardless" of their sect.

Today news from Baghdad via Reuters:

Two car bombs tore through a busy shopping area of a mainly Shi'ite district of Baghdad on Sunday, killing 55 people and wounding scores as militants defied a military offensive by U.S. and Iraqi troops.

I guess it depends what the meaning of success is. Read the rest of this post...

It's time to fire Major General George W. Weightman, now

Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman is the guy in charge of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the army facility where our wounded troops are being treated like scum. Weightman admits that he knew of the mistreatment of our war veterans, and claims he's been "addressing" those problems. Yeah right. Well, clearly Weightman can't get the job done since the problems haven't been fixed, and it's taking a newspaper expose to get them any attention at all.

Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman needs to resign his position immediately, or be fired. And his ass need to be hauled in front of Congress when they return from recess in a week.

And a special raspberry for the AP which totally downplayed the Washington Post story that caused this uproar. The AP spins the story as being about slow paperwork for a few troops. Conveniently, the AP leaves out the mention of the cockroaches, the lack of heat and water in winter, the deaths, the semi-delusional soldiers left wandering the streets, etc. The Washington Post's Dana Priest and Anne Hull deserve a Pulitzer for this story. The AP... Lord knows what their problem is.

Here's your "paperwork," AP:

Read the rest of this post...

No gifts for the wounded soldiers, please - it's Christmas

Sick.

Wilson, the clinical social worker at Walter Reed, was part of a staff team that recognized Building 18's toll on the wounded. He mapped out a plan and, in September, was given a $30,000 grant from the Commander's Initiative Account for improvements. He ordered some equipment, including a pool table and air hockey table, which have not yet arrived. A Psychiatry Department functionary held up the rest of the money because she feared that buying a lot of recreational equipment close to Christmas would trigger an audit, Wilson said.

In January, Wilson was told that the funds were no longer available and that he would have to submit a new request. "It's absurd," he said. "Seven months of work down the drain. I have nothing to show for this project. It's a great example of what we're up against."

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George Bush accounting

Apparently, now we live in the third world:

At an orientation for new arrivals, a staff sergeant walked [injured US soldiers and their families] through the idiosyncrasies of Army financing. He said one relative could receive a 15-day advance on the $64 per diem either in cash or as an electronic transfer: "I highly recommend that you take the cash," he said. "There's no guarantee the transfer will get to your bank." The audience yawned.

That is beyond belief. These morons can't even handle a wire transfer? Where the hell were the Republicans that past four years of this war? Where the hell were the commanders running the military? Where the hell was George Bush? Read the rest of this post...

Shame

And do be sure to read the small insert box at the bottom of the article:

* Wounded can wait for weeks with no help from staff to arrange treatement

* Recuperating soldiers are asked to manage and guard other soldiers

* Case workers are untrained, and there are not enough of them

* Lost paperwork and bureaucratic delays are common

* Buildings are overcrowded

Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Any Republican who talks about supporting the troops better be made to answer for the horrible treatment the injured troops are receiving at Walter Reed Army Medical Center right here in DC. Walter Reed is just a couple miles down 16th St NW from the White House -- and not all that far from the Capitol. The horror show at Walter Reed happens right under the noses of the Bush team and their allies on the Hill. Not protecting the troops is treasonous. No wonder they can't run a war half a world away. Of course, challenging a GOP talking point has never been a strong suit for the talking heads. (Can you imagine Russert actually asking Tony Snow a question that deviates from the White House spin?)

Here's the lineup:

• ABC's ''This Week'' _ Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann Romney; actor Michael Douglas.
___

• CBS' ''Face the Nation'' _ Sens. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind.
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• NBC's ''Meet the Press'' _ White House press secretary Tony Snow.
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• CNN's ''Late Edition'' _ Snow; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson; magician Penn Jillette; former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele; and Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League.
___

• ''Fox News Sunday'' _ Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.

Provide the real commentary. Read the rest of this post...

Chinese AIDS campaigner finally allowed to accept award

Confused about how to respond to AIDS campaigner Gao Yaojie when she was announced to be honored by the Vital Voices Global Partnership in the US for her work, the 80 year old was put under house arrest, making it impossible for her to apply for a US travel visa. After extensive discussions with the highest levels of the communist leadership, Gao's house arrest has been lifted. Now she is being praised by a high ranking communist official for her work and the police who were blocking her house have since moved on.

Gao, who previously had been awarded by the UN and other international organizations but has been unable to leave China because of politics, became a controversial figure when she exposed tainted blood selling schemes in China as well as actively working working with AIDS patients and orphans. Read the rest of this post...

Happy New Year - Year of the Pig

It's the year of the pig, which many are claiming means conflict and more natural disasters. Welcome to the year 4074 according to the Chinese calendar. Hillary Clinton was born in the year of the pig though some see trouble ahead for her.

But a word of caution to the presidential candidate.

The pig finished last in the race that determined the zodiac's order, behind the dog.

Other animals in the zodiac are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey and rooster. The zodiac runs on a 12-year cycle, and each year is associated with the five elements that Chinese mystics make up the universe: metal, water, wood, fire and earth.

Therein lies the trouble.

Pig years can be turbulent because they are dominated by fire and water, conflicting elements that tend to cause havoc, Lo said.

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