I grew up with a small creek running behind my house. As a child, my friends and I spent hours, sometimes all day, down there doing all sorts of things. The creek was full of life - minnows, crayfish, salamanders, water-striders - some of which could only be found if you turned over the rocks on the bottom of the creek bed. One day, I turned over a rock, looking for a crayfish, and saw the most horrific looking creature imaginable. It was small, but it was still vile. I consulted a field guide my parents own, and it described the creature as the larva of a crane fly, what we in our ignorance called "mosquito hogs", because they look like huge mosquitoes. Years later, at the Monterrey Aquarium, I saw a larger version of the same thing - only this was called a Sea Cucumber. When invited to touch it, I thought I would rather touch anything else - a rotting corpse, say - than this disgusting creature.
The Washington Post turned over a rock two weeks ago at Walter Reed Army Hospital, and all sorts of vile creatures emerged. Today, Congress held hearings and, while the specifics are bad enough, and some of the testimony defies any moral description other than horrible (two examples, via links are here at Think Progress.org in which current Army Surgeon General and former Walter Reed Commander Lt. Gen. Kiley blamed "junior officers" for the conditions described in the Post piece, and this one, also at TP, in which a DoD official argues that increasing money for the health care fo returning vets endangers national security). The best summary of the entire day was given in one single bit of testimony, by the wife of a returning vet who said (as you see here and here) that their lives were "shattered", first by the war, then by the inadequate care offered by the Army.
While these details - and I am quite sure more to come - are awful in and of themselves, and point to an almost pathological disdain for returning vets, I am interested, for the moment, in the process that is unfolding before our eyes. Today, it was Walter Reed, tomorrow it will be hearings in both the House and Senate on recent firings of US Attorneys (TPM has been on the trail and deserves a Pulitzer for its tenacity). All this points out what happens when there is real oversight. All this shows the power Congress has, all by asking a few simple questions. All of this vindicates Glenn Greenwald's piece yesterday in which he calls for vigorous hearings on the part of Congress. These hearings, like my creek expeditions, are uncovering all sorts of horrors.
Of course, as Rep. Henry Waxman noted, the information the Post revealed was not exactly new. Salon.com had an article two years ago on this very issue, and the General Accountability Office has issued several reports on sub-standard conditions both at Walter Reed and at VA Centers around the country. The difference between 2005 and now is really quite simple, and should be obvious to anyone - the Democrats are in charge, and for all their faults, with Waxman in a position of authority, these and other issues will be pursued relentlessly (Waxman is tireless, like a terrier with a rag; he is my current hero). This is what Congress is supposed to do; oversight is not just some part of Congress' duties, but a very necessary act in which those who are in charge of making sure various executive departments actually do their jobs as they are legally required to do. Giving a pass to the Bush Administration is no longer possible, and should never have been done. We are reaping the fruits of Republican control of Congress for the past six years, and the results are every bit as vile as that crane fly larva.
I should just like to make one point. Like the war in Iraq, the deficit, Ann "Edwards is a faggot" Coulter, and the potential death of one of America's greatest cities (New Orleans, for those not paying attention), this latest outrage needs to be placed firmly and locked around the neck of the Republican Party. This is not the result of "mistakes" or "incompetence" or "the failures of junior officers" (how like Rumsfeld's excuses for Abu Ghraib) but the direct result of conscious decisions on the part of our elected officials. This point needs to be made over and over and over; perhaps, just perhaps, the Republicans will reap the benefits of the reality of their rule once the public recognizes the utter, abysmal failure at governance that is the modern Republican Party.
One final note. While much of the press has done an admirable job, Brit Hume's comments yesterday need to be held up as the kind of awful apologetics too many in the press have engaged in for far too long. To focus solely on the political fallout - as if the situation is not objectively awful, and the result of policies enacted from the top down - is to add an idiotic insult to the egregious injuries our vets have already suffered. In an ideal world, Hume would lose his job for such a statement. In Bush's world, Hume most likely will get a raise.
Virtual Tin Cup
