VA report in 2004: Walter Reed was a clusterf@ck then too!

So, while the Bush Administration claims ignorance towards the care of our Vets prior to the Walter Reed Scandal, a damning VA report indicates otherwise.

Mark Benjamin at Salon has been following the Walter Reed Scandal since it broke.

In August 2004, VA researchers conducted focus group interviews with WalterReed patients and their families. The report based on those interviews, and
obtained by Salon, says that the patients -- seriously wounded veterans of Iraq
and Afghanistan -- told the VA that they were "frustrated, confused, sometimes
angry" about their experiences at the hospital. Documents provided to Salon show
the focus group report was delivered to top VA officials in November 2004.

"I was in a wheelchair and they expected me to push myself all the way
over to Building 11," says an anonymous soldier in the report. "One hand was in
a bandage and one leg I couldn't use and they wanted me to push myself around
the post ... It just became more of a hassle and my mom did it."

One of Bush's biggest fundraisers. Jim Nicholson took over the VA shortly after this report.

Did Nicholson ever see this report or did he simply ignore it? With the state of the VA at this point, it's clearly obvious that both Nicholson and President Bush have ignored our Veterans while continuing to use them as photo-op props.

Paul Sullivan at Veterans for Common Sense has worked at Walter Reed in the past.

Paul Sullivan, who until March 2006 was a project manager at the VA in
charge of data on returning veterans, told Salon that Kussman's role troubles
him. "Kussman knew in 2004 that Walter Reed was a disaster," fumed Sullivan,
"and thousands and thousands of veterans have needlessly suffered long delays."

Sullivan questioned why the military and the VA apparently
did not address these problems two and a half years ago. "The VA had clear and
unambiguous warning that Walter Reed was a fiasco in 2004," Sullivan said.
"There is no way they can say they did not know ... The question is, did they
share this with the Department of Defense [which runs Walter Reed] in 2004?"

Scandals are abundant in the Bush Administration right now.

Whether it's a group of US Attorney's that were terminated because they were not loyal enough, Iraq War funding and veto threats, Walter Reed / Veterans health care issues, Scotter Libby and the Vice President's dealings with exposing a CIA operative, or the Abrhamoff scandal, this is a dark time in the Bush Administration.

I'm fired up over the lip service that the Bush Administration continues to give the American people.

The 2008 elections will be a referendum on the treasonous acts of the Bush White House and those Republicans who support this deceit.