This Is What Oversight Looks Like
This morning The Army Times reported that patients at Walter Reed were being ordered not to speak to the media. There's more:
A report today that soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are being told not to speak with the press is apparently just the latest move in a recent effort to tighten restrictions on journalists' access to many military facilities, according to the president of Military Reporters and Editors.James Crawley, a military reporter with MediaGeneral and MRE president, said today's revelation by Army Times that Walter Reed patients had been barred from speaking with reporters is not the first case of tightened restrictions. In recent months, he says several MRE members have reported similar crackdowns. What's worse, many of the denials are apparently in reaction to the potential negativity of a planned story.
"It is starting to look like it is becoming a policy in some areas where they are not allowing reporters on the base unless it is an absolutely positively good news story," said Crawley. "The military is making it harder and harder to do stories on bases, as far as doing man on the street interviews."
This may have been acceptable in the past, to just clamp down on stories when the news doesn't seem cheery enough for the Administration, but it's not going to fly with a Democratic Congress that takes seriously its oversight responsibilities. In fact, Speaker Pelosi's office is already reported on field hearings scheduled to address the issue of Walter Reed.
In addition, Congresswoman Slaughter blasted back at reports that the Pentagon was trying to silence its critics:
"Last Friday, Secretary of Defense Gates publicly stated that the situation at Walter Reed was, in his words, unacceptable," Rep. Slaughter said. "The accountability he seemed to embrace was demanded by common decency and welcomed by the public.""The only acceptable course of action for our military and civilian leaders to take is to fully and openly address any and all concerns regarding veterans' facilities nation-wide," Congresswoman Slaughter continued. "Any attempt to silence the very soldiers who brought their own mistreatment to light, or to hide ongoing abuses from the public eye - if such attempts are occurring - would be morally reprehensible. It would be an abdication of one of the most fundamental responsibilities of our government: the protection of those who have fought to protect us."
"Secretary Gates should act on the same principals of accountability and responsibility he so recently advocated and address these reports immediately. As a nation, we need to be honest about the care our veterans are receiving. Their enormous sacrifice demands nothing less."
Amen.
Comments (3) «
« Hide Comments
Comments are now closed for this entry.
