Activists see deception in night arrivals at Walter Reed

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
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http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=28095
WASHINGTON ? Steeling against rain and cold night air, clutching candles and placards, a group of activists are standing nightly vigils at the entrance to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, protesting what they believe is the Pentagon?s attempt to hide the human toll of the war in Iraq.

With wounded troops arriving from Germany, where most receive treatment after being stabilized in the field, flights to the United States are arranged so that soldiers are admitted into Walter Reed for follow on care at night.

?When we first heard about this, we were appalled,? said vigil organizer Gael Murphy, part of nationwide grass roots women?s group dubbed Code Pink. ?Why are they bringing them in only at night? Is it because they don?t want the media to cover it? Is it because they don?t want Americans to see the real cost of this war??

No, say military officials.

?Night arrivals are beneficial to the patient, as they allow for a regular night of sleep, and then for doctors in Europe to make final determination on their ability to make the long flight, move patients from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and board the plane,? wrote Walter Reed spokeswoman Lyn Kurkal, in a prepared statement.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Gary Keck said the arrival times were simply a matter of Air Force scheduling.

A spokesman for Air Mobility Command cited operating restrictions and patient processing in Germany.

Injured troops arrive at Andrews Air Force Base on Aeromedical Evacuation channel missions aboard C-141 Starlifter aircraft.

?These missions are scheduled to depart Ramstein in compliance with airfield operational restrictions and allow patients a restful night before the long trans-Atlantic flight,? the spokesman said in a written response to Stars and Stripes questions.

?The Defense Department has been nothing but forthcoming in reporting the cost of war,? said Jim Turner, another Pentagon spokesman, pointing to press releases on every servicemember killed, plus daily updates on numbers of wounded.

According to a Monday press release from Walter Reed, the hospital has treated 3,985 patients from Operation Iraqi Freedom since the war began, 1,050 of whom have been battle casualties.

But statistics and press releases are one thing, say the activists, the reality of burns and missing limbs quite another.

The activists say the practice seems too much like the White House ban on the filming of honor cordons repatriating war dead to U.S. soil in flag-draped coffins.

?The guys in here are the real cost of the war,? says George Taylor, a former Navy officer and veteran of the 1962 Cuban Blockade, shrugging off the night cold among about two dozen activists outside the Walter Reed gates Tuesday night.

?It?s just shameful that the military would try and sneak them in like this and hope no one notices their wounds,? he adds, as a red minivan sporting a ?Support our troops? yellow ribbon passes by. The driver honks the horn, yelling ?We support you!? to the activists.

Kevin McCarron, a former Marine intelligence specialist and a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War, said he thinks the late-night admittances are a dishonor to the troops.

?They should be feted as they arrive, honored as heroes, not slipped through the back door like this,? he said.
Just par for the course for the Propagandist's administration. Veterans and families are getting ticked off at the lack of proper respect being shown our fallen and injured soldiers (no more press allowed at Dover to cover the incoming coffins).

Keep the toll out of the sight of the sheep and they'll support the war. Well, Propagandist, we all see through your veil of deception.
 

Pliablemoose

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
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If I was an injured serviceman, I really wouldn't want to be on national TV & run the gauntlet of protestors to get to the hospital...

 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
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What a stupid argument. As if the planes coming in during the day would make any difference? Are people just lining up at this airbase to watch what goes on?

I mean talk about making something out of nothing.
 

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
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Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
If I was an injured serviceman, I really wouldn't want to be on national TV & run the gauntlet of protestors to get to the hospital...
It's not quite about that...come on.
 

Pliablemoose

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
25,195
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Originally posted by: conjur
Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
If I was an injured serviceman, I really wouldn't want to be on national TV & run the gauntlet of protestors to get to the hospital...
It's not quite about that...come on.

Yeah, it really is...
 

feralkid

Lifer
Jan 28, 2002
16,709
4,807
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Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
Originally posted by: conjur
Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
If I was an injured serviceman, I really wouldn't want to be on national TV & run the gauntlet of protestors to get to the hospital...
It's not quite about that...come on.

Yeah, it really is...



Isn't...
 

kogase

Diamond Member
Sep 8, 2004
5,213
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Originally posted by: conjur
clipped. have you heard the one about the cheetah and the equestrian par shnoker?
Just par for the course for the Propagandist's administration. Veterans and families are getting ticked off at the lack of proper respect being shown our fallen and injured soldiers (no more press allowed at Dover to cover the incoming coffins).

Keep the toll out of the sight of the sheep and they'll support the war. Well, Propagandist, we all see through your veil of deception.[/quote]

Best to speak for yourself there, conjur.
 

PatboyX

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2001
7,024
0
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Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
If I was an injured serviceman, I really wouldn't want to be on national TV & run the gauntlet of protestors to get to the hospital...

i dont think thats the weird part. that is actually pretty normal. id read about this before and the bit i read said that the camera and tv policy has pretty much stayed the same. reporters could get in but it was always very hard. no cameras. just rare to get in with cameras and reporters. which makes sense.
i think the weird bit is that the planes come in at midnight every time they come in. when there is very little staff on hand and whatnot. i see the one Marine's point and i do think this can send mixed messages to people. there really has been a lot of censorship on the wounded and the dead in this war and im certianly not asking to see bodies but i do find it strange that new policies of hiding things keep seeming to fall into place.
 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,681
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Just part of the effort to sanitize War, to hide the cost in human misery, to control the press w/o actually appearing to do so...

 

Pliablemoose

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
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I know too many Vietnam Vets that came home to protests after they got off the plane & were pretty fvcked up by it for a long time to go along with this...

Originally posted by: Jhhnn
Just part of the effort to sanitize War, to hide the cost in human misery, to control the press w/o actually appearing to do so...

So you want an 8X10 glossy of each injury/casualty given to the media?

This is a crap argument, and the soldiers deserve some privacy...
 

3chordcharlie

Diamond Member
Mar 30, 2004
9,859
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Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
I know too many Vietnam Vets that came home to protests after they got off the plane & were pretty fvcked up by it for a long time to go along with this...

Originally posted by: Jhhnn
Just part of the effort to sanitize War, to hide the cost in human misery, to control the press w/o actually appearing to do so...

So you want an 8X10 glossy of each injury/casualty given to the media?

This is a crap argument, and the soldiers deserve some privacy...
I think it's a tough choice; there are lots of reasons not to subject injured soldiers to the scrutiny of the media; they have enough to deal with.

But at the same time it does appear somewhat like a cloaking strategy. And appearances matter, too.
 

Velk

Senior member
Jul 29, 2004
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Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie
Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
I know too many Vietnam Vets that came home to protests after they got off the plane & were pretty fvcked up by it for a long time to go along with this...

Originally posted by: Jhhnn
Just part of the effort to sanitize War, to hide the cost in human misery, to control the press w/o actually appearing to do so...

So you want an 8X10 glossy of each injury/casualty given to the media?

This is a crap argument, and the soldiers deserve some privacy...
I think it's a tough choice; there are lots of reasons not to subject injured soldiers to the scrutiny of the media; they have enough to deal with.

But at the same time it does appear somewhat like a cloaking strategy. And appearances matter, too.


It's a silly argument. Bringing them in at night prevents the media from filming them because they don't like working late ? It's too dark to see anything ? Heh.

I find the desire to collect film clips of injured people against their will to use as ammunition in political campaigns to be kind of distateful.

If they asked the injured soldiers themselves, and they said yes, and the goverment refused to allow it, then that would be more of a problem, but from reading the summary I have about as much sympathy with paparazzi complaining that actors keep their house blinds closed.

 

3chordcharlie

Diamond Member
Mar 30, 2004
9,859
1
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Originally posted by: Velk
It's a silly argument. Bringing them in at night prevents the media from filming them because they don't like working late ? It's too dark to see anything ? Heh.

I find the desire to collect film clips of injured people against their will to use as ammunition in political campaigns to be kind of distateful.

If they asked the injured soldiers themselves, and they said yes, and the goverment refused to allow it, then that would be more of a problem, but from reading the summary I have about as much sympathy with paparazzi complaining that actors keep their house blinds closed.

It's not 'silly'. It's a case where there may be perfectly valid reasons for why the injured soldiers arrive at night - convenience of scheduling, privacy for the soldiers, whatever.

That doesn't change the 'optics' of the situation; it does, to an extent, look like something that is being 'hidden'. Policitians and their handlers spend an incredible amount of effort on 'optics' because they know such things are important (for example, this, and not 'ideology' is the real reason there are no dissenters allowed at Bush's love-ins). To believe unconditionally that they haven't thought about the optics of this situation, and that it's really just a conincidence, is not a very informed way to look at things. They know what the appearances are; the question is whether they chose to bring injured soldiers in at night because of how it looked, or in spite of it.
 

XMan

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
12,513
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This is the same national media, mind you, that pretty much collectively decided to stop showing 9/11 video and images because it might hurt someone's feelings.

Maybe if our culture wasn't so sanitized we'd realize that it's not all bunnies and roses out there, and have a little more respect for life.

If they want to show pictures of the injured servicemen, what's stopping them, really? It should be easy enough for them to slip cameras inside of the hospital. This is much ado about nothing, because they're not going to do anything. The outcry from their advertisers would overwhelm any station that pulled such a stunt, and God forbid they lose an advertiser. So instead they get the best of both worlds and they post a BS story passing the buck, and guys like conjur pop a chubby because it's yet another Bush admin bashing story.
 

CycloWizard

Lifer
Sep 10, 2001
12,348
1
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When you've been in a nasty car wreck, you want me to stick a camera in your face? What you're suggesting is propaganda. What is going on is what liberal courts like to refer to as the 'right to privacy' that you uphold so veraciously. If you gave a rat's about the troops rather than your own propaganda, maybe this would have crossed your mind. I know for a fact that Bush regularly goes to Walter Reed to visit the wounded and distribute purple hearts. Are you going to fault him for that somehow too? If you're going to demonize him, do so without using wounded soldiers as your stepping stone.
 

Steeplerot

Lifer
Mar 29, 2004
13,051
6
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hmm...seems to me like we all know who is using the soldiers as a stepping stone.. and it's sure not your fictional liberal media and courts....