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TechnoratiFailing the Troops
No lights at the end of the tunnel. No corners turned. Give Gen. David Petraeus points for using well-understood clichés to express the obvious: We are bogged down in Iraq, the general in charge there has now testified on Capitol Hill.
Most of us had long assumed this was so, and have become ever more certain of it as the Democrats elected to Congress in 2006 to force a change of course have been stymied in trying to budge President Bush. There are consequences of stumbling along until sometime after Jan. 20, 2009. More lives will be lost, more billions spent. More thousands of injured airlifted to the safety of a military hospital and then dropped into the stultifying bureaucracy that is supposed to ensure that they get care and compensation for their disabilities, but doesn't.
It has been more than a year since The Washington Post reported on nightmarish conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and recounted the scandalous treatment of severely wounded veterans who spent months trying to get their disabilities properly recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs, then often months more battling claim rejections that leave the vets and their families struggling financially, emotionally and, of course, physically.
This wasn't one of those revelations that made headlines for a day or two and then faded. Oh, no. There were hearings in Congress-too many to count. And commissions. And the usual vows to do better. This week, the Post won a well-deserved Pulitzer Prize for its Walter Reed exposé.
The government's response earns no such accolades.
Despite a new law called the Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act, returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have suffered significant physical injuries or, increasingly, have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health ailments, still must navigate a bureaucratic maze that requires weeks or months for approval of their disability claims. They wait alongside about 400,000 of their fellow veterans with backlogged cases. The average waiting time, according to government data compiled by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, is about six months.
The act, says Linda Bilmes of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, is supposed to bring improvement, but all it did was take measures to smooth the bureaucratic glitches the wounded must navigate when they leave the military's medical system and try to enter the veterans' health system. " ... Fundamentally, the problem is that veterans-soldiers when they get back-should be automatically enrolled in the VA and automatically enrolled for benefits."
Another part of the Wounded Warriors Act is now entangled in a lawsuit in which the group Veterans for Common Sense argues that a judge must force the VA to provide timely care and do so for the full five years required under the legislation-a time frame that Paul Sullivan, the veterans group's director, charges the Bush administration opposes. "The system is broken," he says.
It is broken as the Iraq war itself is broken, an epic of false assumptions, incompetence, corruption and the hubris of a president who refuses to admit his blunders. The public is justified in throwing up its collective hands, resigned to wait until what now seems uncontrollable and unfixable is delivered to a new president's desk.
Not so the care of veterans. There are no inscrutable, ancient sects that we must placate; no warring political factions whose motives we do not understand. There are no disputed borders, or outside agitators or regional suspicions to be soothed.
"There are some aspects of the Iraq conflict that are intractable, but this is fixable," Bilmes says. "We can control how we pay for the war." Her book "The Three Trillion Dollar War," co-written by Joseph Stiglitz, illuminates the many hidden costs-one of which is the long-term care of disabled veterans-that get little public notice. "We can control how we take care of our veterans," Bilmes says.
Still, after all the heartbreaking stories that have aired on television or played out in our own neighborhoods, our response has been mostly to shake our heads at the system, not change it. This test is now before us, and will be for as long as the wars continue, the wounded return home and the veterans age with what we are obligated to give them: dignity.
--Marie Cocco
© 2008, Washington Post Writers Group
19 Comments so far
Show AllAs best I can tell, r jackowski is correct about the 2 million dead veterans. And only a few percent of the 20+ million surviving veterans of the war receive decent medical care. Actually, most don't have much food, clean water, or electrical power either.
failing the troops. who are busy killing innocent Iraqis, sending hundreds of thousands to their graves where they don't have to worry about the quality of their medical care.
please try to remember this is a war made entirely of lies. There is no reason any troops should be there
jehosepha- ieds are being used to resist an invading army
Iraqis don't have any body armor
Its amazing and it seems like a time warp whenever I hear someone use the phrase "light at the end of the tunnel." Petreaus morphs into General Westmoreland circa 1967 calling for more cannon fodder for Vietnam. Like Vietnam, we also should not be in Iraq. Our attacks (that is the right word)on Vietman, Laos, and Cambodia were done incrementally and in a more stealthy way, but the attack on Iraq was televised as video game entertainment in March, 2003. The Iraq occupation is being characterized by mainstream media and Congress people (predictably)as a "botched job" AND NOT as a war crime, which it really is.
I strongly urge everyone to see, and to bring all of your friends & family, "Body Of War", the new documentary about a paralyzed soldier who's life was permanently changed by the Iraq "war" (occupation) - the film is by Ellen Spiro & Phil Donahue. Culture, esp. films, can change people's hearts & minds much more easily than intellectual discussions or words on a page. It's a must see.
JESUS OF JONESBORO: Cynicism is way too kind in describing this amoral band of murdering theives who hide behind religion, patriotism, and groovy PR slogans like "fighting for freedom."
"Most of us had long assumed this was so, and have become ever more certain of it as the Democrats elected to Congress in 2006 to force a change of course have been stymied in trying to budge President Bush."
Speak for yourself, you naive little twit.
Mr. Curmudgeon. Can you provide a link to info about the VA denying Vets the right to vote? It would be good to find out what their reasoning is.
"Support the Troops" was always a big lie, code for "Support the War." As we can see they never demand real support for the troops.
I often wonder how many troops would have been saved from death or terrible injury from EIDs if they were provided with MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles). These were available from the beginning of the conflict, but you never heard those on the right who clamor for everyone to "support the troops" demand that they be supplied with these critical vehicles.
Not to mention taxes to purchase these vehicles,
and proper medical care,
and the body armor.
Never have I heard wingnut pundits demand these be provided to support the troops. Only the Left has been vocal for real support and they get derided and ridiculed by the Right for there efforts. Is the World really this upside down?
Shameless hypocrites.
Hummmm...very interesting. Does anyone here care about the 2 million Iraqis killed by the US since the bombing started in 1991 ?
your link doesn't work styve. i got the page cannot be displayed thingy....
Check out http://www.vawatchdog.org/, for up to date info on how our veterans are being abused by the Bushits.
The Bush/Cheney calculus is simple: more money for the troops means less for the war profiteers.
It's almost impossible for a decent person to understand the level of cynicism with which this administration operates.
jj
And the VA is denying them the right to register to vote. Could be that the admin is afraid they would vote against their veteran's 'policies' or lack thereof.
The Bushcos do not miss atrick.
"Most of us had long assumed this was so, and have become ever more certain of it as the Democrats elected to Congress in 2006 to force a change of course have been stymied in trying to budge President Bush."
The Democrats haven't been stymied, they have refused to act. They have refused to withhold funding for the illegal war in Iraq.
Lobo Gris
The government doesn't much care about troops who have mustered out. Thousands of them from Gulf I and now Gulf II are committing suicide. I'd bet that most who have served three or four or five tours of Iraq and/or Afghanistan will eventually commit suicide. Its part of the plan. Wear them down, wear them out, discard them and hope they kill themselves so they won't have to provide life long medical care. The government sees it as a win-win situation.
The ones who started (lied) this mess don't really care, they'll get their pensions forever and of course health care any where except the VA and it'll be all paid for. How about pushing for an amendment that states any health care for federal politicians should be provided by the VA. You'd see a drastic change and maybe a lot less red tape and more health providers and less managers/analysts/administrators.
And let's not forget this little fact:
"...Military scientists describe Traumatic Brain Injury as a signature wound of the Iraq war."
"The FY 2008 Budget does not request funding for the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Grant Program."
"Honestly, they would have loved to have funded it, but there were just so many priorities," says Jenny Manley, spokeswoman for the Senate Appropriations Committee."
At least "they" really, really wanted to help troops, but, you know, stuff happens...
I heard Joseph Stieglitz say we are already paying billions for the disabled from the first Gulf War - 40% of those soldiers have become disabled. I can't even start to count the dollars if 40% of this war's soldiers become disabled over the next 10 years or so. We will be paying for this forever as it is; we must stop adding to the problem by getting out quickly and completely.
I seem to recall we have a "Commander in Chief" who skirted military duty, met with families who lost sons or daughters to the illegal occupation, er war to shed fake tears, and has tethered this nation to perhaps the most disastrous military campaign in American history that is bankrupting the country. The country has not failed the troops. I think we ought to look at the Pres, Veep, and Congress for failed leadership. For they are the people who have failed the troops.