http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/05/bush-fort-irwin
April 5, 2007
‘Strangely Quiet’ Scene As Bush Visits Base Where Medically-Unfit
Troops Were Deployed
Yesterday, President Bush visited Fort Irwin, California, the main
desert training camp where most U.S. soldiers are sent before
deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Bush told the troops:
"Ours is a remarkable country when people volunteer to serve our
country in a time of war.
The amazing thing about our United States military is thousands and
thousands have signed up knowing full well that we’re a nation at war.
The government didn’t say, you have to do this, you chose to do it on
your own.
You decided to put your country ahead of self in many ways."
That message must have resonated in a unique way for some of the
soldiers present.
As Salon.com’s Mark Benjamin reported recently, Fort Irwin is where
some soldiers with debilitating injuries and other medical conditions,
including female soldiers who were pregnant, were deployed for weeks:
Hernandez is one of a dozen soldiers who stayed for weeks in those
tents who were interviewed for this report, some of whose medical
records were also reviewed by Salon.
All of the soldiers said they had no business being sent to Fort Irwin
given their physical condition.
In some cases, soldiers were sent there even though their injuries
were so severe that doctors had previously recommended they should be
considered for medical retirement from the Army.
Military experts say they suspect that the deployment to Fort Irwin of
injured soldiers was an effort to pump up manpower statistics used to
show the readiness of Army units.
With the military increasingly strained after four years of war, Army
readiness has become a critical part of the debate over Iraq.
As Steve Benen noted, Bush’s remarks to the soldiers yesterday hardly
produced the rally-like atmosphere of years past.
Reuters reported that troops “sat quietly at their lunch tables, some
joined by family members, as Bush spoke.”
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/10423.html
The Houston Chronicle’s Julie Mason described the event as “less than
a rally, more than a stare-down,” and said the troops were “strangely
quiet.”
http://blogs.chron.com/whitehouse/archives/2007/04/less_than_a_ral.html
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AWOL Georgie heard crickets
Harry
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