Pentagon Classifies As Top Secret "Mice, Mold Issues" At Walter Reed

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Blog Related
Posted on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 03:53:00 PM EST
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And the next chapter of the Walter Reed scandal, the number of mice in Walter Reed is a "national security secret":

Soldiers say their sergeant major gathered troops at 6 p.m. Monday to tell them they must follow their chain of command when asking for help with their medical evaluation paperwork, or when they spot mold, mice or other problems in their quarters.

And yes, the classification line is a joke from me. I know this is not classifying the info. It is just putting a de facto gag order on our soldiers:

Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Medical Hold Unit say they have been told they will wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and have their rooms ready for inspection at 7 a.m., and that they must not speak to the media. “Some soldiers believe this is a form of punishment for the trouble soldiers caused by talking to the media,” one Medical Hold Unit soldier said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

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Pentagon Classifies As Top Secret "Mice, Mold Issues" At Walter Reed | 26 comments (26 topical)

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I Hate Those Mices to Pieces! (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by Che's Lounge on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 01:11:22 PM EST

I'd wager they DID use the chain but it was broken. People like that don't go to the press unless they get no results by following normal channels first. That's just from my experiences working with military personnel. Time will tell.

In other words..... (none / 0) (#1)
by kdog on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 12:01:49 PM EST

take your complaints about the disgraceful conditions through the chain of command so the problems can be ignored and the govt. can keep cutting big checks to arms manufacturers.

The budget belongs to them...not the guys and gals who bleed.

Mice & Mold (none / 0) (#2)
by squeaky on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 12:11:08 PM EST

Obviously agents of al-qaida. The US gov has been infiltrating the al-qaida mice with moles, and new strains of mold have been developed to corrupt the al-qaida version which had been sending spores full of military info back to Afghanistan.

We are winning.

The rats say (none / 0) (#3)
by Edger on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 12:17:23 PM EST

the mice don't exist?

the rats say (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by Jen M on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 12:21:51 PM EST

the mice squealed


: Time to call (none / 0) (#5)
by Edger on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 12:31:44 PM EST

another exterminator.

Oh , for rats sake, the insurgents (none / 0) (#6)
by Electa on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 12:49:45 PM EST

made em do it. It's a matter of national security not to let the rats know what the mole is doing.

: Remember ... (none / 0) (#13)
by Sailor on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 02:47:53 PM EST

... the moles have already been removed.

Support the troops (none / 0) (#8)
by TomK on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 02:25:43 PM EST

Why don't these amputees and other injured soldiers support the troops? They must not be very patriotic.

Now (none / 0) (#9)
by HeadScratcher on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 02:26:06 PM EST

Now that we know the conditions what are Pelosi, Reid, Clinton, Obama, and anyone else going to do about it!It should be of the highest urgency to resolve this issue and shouldn't take more than a week to do so...

Complaining and playing gotcha is a nice game, but there are people at the other end of this...

yes, now. (none / 0) (#12)
by Sailor on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 02:45:58 PM EST

Several House and Senate committees will begin oversight hearings into how Walter Reed Army Medical Center subjected wounded soldiers and Marines to bureaucratic indifference and allowed them to live in squalor.
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee and a leading critic of the Iraq war, has scheduled a closed hearing on Friday and Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.), an Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee chairman, announced yesterday that he intended to conduct a field hearing to Walter Reed next Monday.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has planned a hearing for the following day and the House Armed Services Committee is also planning an oversight hearing.

Except (none / 0) (#14)
by HeadScratcher on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 02:56:18 PM EST

Who is cleaning up the mess today, tomorrow and all the time while the 'hearings' are going on. What are they hearing anyway? Squalid conditions don't need testimony.

Fix the problem and then have hearings.


Are you missing ... (none / 0) (#16)
by Sailor on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 03:01:45 PM EST

... the fact that congress has no direct access?

Since it was exposed publically a lot of actions have been taken. Now there will be hearings to try to make it not happen again.


Fast enough? (none / 0) (#17)
by Sailor on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 03:09:43 PM EST

Rep. Slaughter on the Silencing of Walter Reed

and

The proceedings are likely to occur on the grounds of the medical center in Washington, D.C. so that members can observe the facilities and speak with wounded soldiers and staff, according to Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass, who chairs the subcommittee.

: And contrast the dem reaction with (none / 0) (#21)
by Sailor on Thu Mar 01, 2007 at 09:50:38 AM EST

how repubs reacted:
In 2004, Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and his wife stopped visiting the wounded at Walter Reed out of frustration. Young said he voiced concerns to commanders over troubling incidents he witnessed but was rebuffed or ignored. "When Bev or I would bring problems to the attention of authorities of Walter Reed, we were made to feel very uncomfortable," said Young, who began visiting the wounded recuperating at other facilities.
[...]
On Feb. 17, 2005, Kiley sat in a congressional hearing room as Sgt. 1st Class John Allen, injured in Afghanistan in 2002, described what he called a "dysfunctional system" at Walter Reed

Well, that should (none / 0) (#15)
by Edger on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 02:58:40 PM EST

absolve the Bush Administration, DOD, the rethugs, and all 4 of their supporters from having to accept any responsibility for it.

Right? Headscratcher?


Clearly (none / 0) (#10)
by scarshapedstar on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 02:33:11 PM EST

If Al-Qaeda knows about mice and mold, we're doomed.

The news stories emboldened the mice (none / 0) (#11)
by roy on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 02:43:40 PM EST

If the liberal MSM would just stop glorifying the mice, the exterminators would have already won. Any future outbreaks are now on the heads of the reporters.

: You have a gift sir...lol (none / 0) (#18)
by kdog on Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 06:14:18 PM EST

In the meantime, (none / 0) (#19)
by jimakaPPJ on Thu Mar 01, 2007 at 06:59:15 AM EST

I haven't heard any definitive information about increasing funding to speed the replacement of Walter Reed.

BTW - Did anyone besides me call their representatives to complain?

Did you? (none / 0) (#23)
by Big Tent Democrat on Thu Mar 01, 2007 at 11:25:33 AM EST

: Yes. You?? (none / 0) (#24)
by jimakaPPJ on Thu Mar 01, 2007 at 08:41:27 PM EST

It's Social Liberal Man! (none / 0) (#20)
by Che's Lounge on Thu Mar 01, 2007 at 09:23:04 AM EST

to the rescue!

C'mon you lazy pseudo-liberals. Make some calls!

"But Social Liberal Man, my fingers are tired."

"You want some cheese with that whine? Look what I did!"

"Oh, Social Liberal Man. You're the greatest!"

Che, you too cheap to drop a dime?? (none / 0) (#25)
by jimakaPPJ on Thu Mar 01, 2007 at 08:44:40 PM EST

I mean you with all your alligator tears??

Come on, surely you can spare the price of a LDC?

Or do you even know who to call?

For democracy to work, the citizen must be part of the process.


: you mean citizens like ... (none / 0) (#26)
by Sailor on Thu Mar 01, 2007 at 09:55:10 PM EST

...
Joyce Rumsfeld, the wife of then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, was taken to Walter Reed by a friend concerned about outpatient treatment.
[...]
At the end of the meeting, Rumsfeld asked one of the staff members whether she thought that the soldiers her husband was meeting on his visits had been handpicked to paint a rosy picture of their time there. The answer was yes.
When Walter Reed officials found out that Rumsfeld had visited, they told the friend who brought her -- a woman who had volunteered there many times -- that she was no longer welcome on the grounds.
The SecDef and republican congress members knew about it and did nothing for years!
Yet some would try to distract from the discourse and blame the problem on folks who just learned about it and who's Senators and Reps are already scheduling hearings.

rummy knew (none / 0) (#22)
by Sailor on Thu Mar 01, 2007 at 09:53:22 AM EST

Last October, Joyce Rumsfeld, the wife of then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, was taken to Walter Reed by a friend concerned about outpatient treatment.
[...]
At the end of the meeting, Rumsfeld asked one of the staff members whether she thought that the soldiers her husband was meeting on his visits had been handpicked to paint a rosy picture of their time there. The answer was yes.
When Walter Reed officials found out that Rumsfeld had visited, they told the friend who brought her -- a woman who had volunteered there many times -- that she was no longer welcome on the grounds.