Why Bill Young Remained Silent On Walter Reed

What I get on bloggers about is to pay attention to the details. Think for five seconds before blowing off a story as unimportant. The Washington Post ran a story about the horrible conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Bill Young was quoted in the story.

In 2004, Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and his wife stopped visiting the wounded at Walter Reed out of frustration. Young said he voiced concerns to commanders over troubling incidents he witnessed but was rebuffed or ignored. "When Bev or I would bring problems to the attention of authorities of Walter Reed, we were made to feel very uncomfortable," said Young, who began visiting the wounded recuperating at other facilities.

Beverly Young said she complained to Kiley several times. She once visited a soldier who was lying in urine on his mattress pad in the hospital. When a nurse ignored her, Young said, "I went flying down to Kevin Kiley's office again, and got nowhere. He has skirted this stuff for five years and blamed everyone else."

Young said that even after Kiley left Walter Reed to become the Army's surgeon general, "if anything could have been done to correct problems, he could have done it."

The Buzz linked to the story. Susan S started the first comment that set off a negative avalanche for the Congressman. Beverly Young gave a lengthy defense of her husband in the comments. In their defense, Bill and Beverly Young have donated much of their personal time to helping wounded soldiers. That is well-documented. The question is why they didn't do more? A powerful Congressman like Young could hold press conferences and get on talk shows to create pressure to improve conditions at Walter Reed. He didn't.

Republicans go against their best judgement to keep the White House from having to deal with controversy. Party discipline outweighs all other considerations. Salon documented in 2005 that wounded soldiers had to pay for their own meals. One soldier said, "You know they treat us like shit up here."

Young could have held a press conference with wounded soldiers and have them tell their stories of horrible treatment. Instead, he refused to publicly speak out. His loyalty to the White House outweighed his disgust about walter Reed. This explains everything that is wrong with the Republican Party.

Susan S deserves a lot of credit for bringing this story forward.