Political Quotes

“In addition to these fallen heroes, thousands of our troops have come home with serious injuries, disabilities--blindness, amputations, and the signature injury of this war, traumatic brain injury. We have been outraged in recent weeks to read about the shabby way some of these wounded veterans have been treated. I went out today and I asked to finally see this infamous Building 18, which is about a block away from Walter Reed Hospital. It is a rundown, old motel that our military took over. Under Secretary Rumsfeld, they had this passion to privatize--taking the men and women who were responsible for maintaining this building and removing them and bringing in a private contractor. That is when the worst happened. The men and women who were involved in the private contract clearly did not do the job. As a result, the Washington Post ran this well-publicized series about mold and mice droppings and evidence of bugs and the general rundown condition of Building 18--an outpatient facility for our soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital. Every day, we learn--as I have learned back in Illinois--of wounded soldiers who have been denied proper medical care, housed in substandard and even deplorable living conditions, and forced to fight a massive bureaucracy and endure long waits for decisions about disability compensation. Meanwhile, their families suffer and many of the wounded soldiers go without medical care.”