Zachary T. Space: “both high-ranking Pentagon officials and the White House have said that they were shocked to learn of the shoddy…”

“both high-ranking Pentagon officials and the White House have said that they were shocked to learn of the shoddy treatment wounded soldiers were receiving at Walter Reed. They say the first time they heard about this treatment was from The Washington Post investigation last month. Madam Speaker, there is simply no way that the Bush administration did not know that this was a problem before the Post report. Several GAO reports have been conducted at the urging of Congress, and the findings of those reports back up exactly what we are now seeing at Walter Reed. The Washington Post was also not the first media outlet to highlight this problem. Salon magazine reported on the mistreatment of soldiers at Walter Reed 2 years ago. And yet the Bush administration continues to claim that it knew nothing about this until the Washington Post investigation last month. The administration is either completely out of touch or it simply does not believe taking care of our wounded military personnel is a top priority. Either way, it should be a top concern for this Congress and the American people.”