Bush Apologizes for Poor Conditions at Army Medical Center
By VOA News
30 March 2007
President Bush, right, shakes hands with the 1st Lt. Scott Quilty during a visit to Walter Reed Army Center in Washington, 30 Mar 2007
President Bush has apologized for poor conditions in an outpatient facility at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Washington, D.C., where newspaper reports recently revealed the plight of many wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr. Bush said the administration has failed its service members, and he vowed to fix the hospital＇s problems. Mr. Bush strolled through an exercise room at the hospital Friday, shaking hands with soldiers, observing their rehabilitation exercises and examining their prosthetic limbs. He also awarded Purple Heart medals to several wounded veterans.
The Washington Post reported last month that wounded war veterans are living in substandard outpatient housing and enduring long struggles with Army bureaucracy to get the care and benefits they need.
The president has appointed an independent commission to investigate veterans health care. Three high-level military officials have stepped down since the poor conditions came to light.
Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Patty Murray, long a critic of the Iraq war, told reporters Thursday that she is amazed the administration still is not equipped for the large numbers of soldiers returning and needing care in the fifth year of the war.
She also said conditions at some other U.S. military hospitals are, in her words, "equally troubling."
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