Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Keep it quiet

Apparently, conditions in Afganistan's national military hospital were atrocious in 2010 and may still be.  Military men told a Congressional hearing earlier this week, "There were open vats of blood draining out of soldiers' wounds, there was feces on the floor. There were many family members taking care of their loved ones. The family members were emptying these vats of blood to help their patients out."  This is not new.  Last year the Wall Street Journal reported that at the same hospital Afghan soldiers often died from neglect or lack of food as some Afghan doctors and nurses demanded bribes for food.

For some reason, Lieutenant General William Caldwell, who headed the training mission in Afghanistan which oversaw the hospital, did not seem interested although he was aware of the conditions.  One of his subordinates, Col. Mark Fassl, asked for an investigation by the inspector general. Caldwell told him to withdraw the request.  Fassl said that Caldwell asked,  "How could we do this or make this request with an election coming? He calls me Bill." There is speculation that "he" in the last sentence was President Barack Obama.

Did people continue to suffer because of an election?

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