Way back in the 1960s, "new left" radicals liked to say, "The issue is not the issue."
Today, regarding the scandal swirling around the treatment of wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Medical Center (WRMC) in Washington, D.C., perhaps it could be said that the scandal is not the scandal.
Three weeks ago, the Washington Post ran a series of stories on how wounded soldiers at Walter Reed were living in a former hotel that featured rats, cockroaches, falling walls, filth, and general disrepair. Similar stories about conditions at other Army posts had been circulating for years. But this was the Beltway, and Walter Reed a facility that serves a lot of VIPs.
Within two days after the series ran, General Richard Cody, the Army's vice chief of staff, announced how "disappointed" he was to learn of the situation via the media. He promised that an "independent review committee" would soon be named to study the situation and that he would personally "monitor" repairs at WRMC.
The committee was named. Then, amidst howls that it would do nothing, it was tasked to report within 45 days.
Meanwhile, the Army invited the media to view some of the repainting and repairs, prompting one reporter to note that this was the first time she'd ever been formally invited to a "white wash."
Over the next two weeks, it became apparent that a lot of folks in and out of the chain of command had known about the situation for years (including congressmen and Mrs. Donald Rumsfeld), but done nothing.
A few low-level types were quickly relieved. Then the Army Times ran a story on how the patients were now being forced to rise at 0600 every morning and submit to daily inspection at 0700, and were forbidden to speak to the media. The Army countered that such punitive harassment had never been ordered, and was also being stopped.
Then the sacrificial frenzy began.
The commanding general of the post was relieved. Then Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired the secretary of the Army, Francis Harvey. More heads are expected to roll.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Congress, sensing yet another self-aggrandizement opportunity, went into full "We are outraged" mode. Hearings began on Monday; up to half a dozen committees and subcommittees may ultimately hold their own, no doubt including inquiries into which congressmen knew about it months ago and did nothing.
Some legislators are calling for an independent congressional commission, while the irrepressible Barack Obama and others are introducing legislation to guarantee that it never happens again.
Historian and defense expert Philip Gold notes: "Way back in the 80s, we had the scandal of $5,000 coffee pots. So Congress passed enough laws and the Pentagon came up with enough rules to make sure that we would never again have a $5,000 coffee pot.
"The next crisis would involve a $10,000 tea kettle. Looks like the tea kettles are coming home to roost."
Gold favors and we strongly support establishing a large "resort [like] hospital" on some base with a good climate, preferably near a large urban area, where wounded soldiers could recuperate in comfort and dignity with a staff that would have only one mission: them. But he believes that without a fundamental overhaul of the Army's medical and personnel systems, improvements will be sporadic and the next scandal is only a matter of time.
"And that's the scandal," he concludes.
It takes a national scandal to get the government to move on this, or on any number of other issues, from border control, unarmed take-over of hospitals and medical facilities by those here illegally, gangs, energy independence to fixing up a single building at Walter Reed.
Gold notes, "The government seems more and more incapable of dealing with problems until they become photo-op/sound bite opportunities for posturing politicians."
And there is an even greater scandal. The American people have come to accept this as either the normal and natural way of doing business, or else they shrug it off with, So what else did you expect?
In this sense, the Walter Reed situation is symbolic of a much deeper dilemma. Governance no longer even tries to solve problems. It has become, instead, a self-referent, self-sustaining monster that consumes more and more of the nation's wealth and future while giving back less and less. And the American people put up with it and refuse to consider alternatives.
As for President Bush, he has pronounced the scandal "unacceptable" and promised to appoint an independent bipartisan commission.
To study it.
Editor's Note: Michael Arnold Glueck, M.D., wrote this week's commentary.
