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The Hotel Aftermath (WaPo Jihad on Walter Reed; Monday's Target: Mologne House)
The Washington Post ^ | Monday, February 19, 2007 | Anne Hull and Dana Priest

Posted on 02/18/2007 8:15:31 PM PST by kristinn

The guests of Mologne House have been blown up, shot, crushed and shaken, and now their convalescence takes place among the chandeliers and wingback chairs of the 200-room hotel on the grounds of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Oil paintings hang in the lobby of this strange outpost in the war on terrorism, where combat's urgency has been replaced by a trickling fountain in the garden courtyard. The maimed and the newly legless sit in wheelchairs next to a pond, watching goldfish turn lazily through the water.

But the wounded of Mologne House are still soldiers -- Hooah! -- so their lives are ruled by platoon sergeants. Each morning they must rise at dawn for formation, though many are half-snowed on pain meds and sleeping pills.

SNIP

Mostly what the soldiers do together is wait: for appointments, evaluations, signatures and lost paperwork to be found. It's like another wife told Annette McLeod: "If Iraq don't kill you, Walter Reed will."

SNIP

Two Washington Post reporters spent hundreds of hours in Mologne House documenting the intimate struggles of the wounded who live there. The reporting was done without the knowledge or permission of Walter Reed officials, but all those directly quoted in this article agreed to be interviewed.

SNIP

After a while, the bizarre becomes routine. On Friday nights, antiwar protesters stand outside the gates of Walter Reed holding signs that say "Love Troops, Hate War, Bring them Home Now." Inside the gates, doctors in white coats wait at the hospital entrance for the incoming bus full of newly wounded soldiers who've just landed at Andrews Air Force Base.

And set back from the gate, up on a hill, Mologne House, with a bowl of red apples on the front desk.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: walterreed
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To: Just A Nobody

Yes, these demons have been trying to change American society since the 60s. Everything they do is plotted, scheduled and organized.

Just the fact that these *spit* writers can boldly write about the antiwar protests without mentioning our Support the Troops and Their Mission demonstrations every Friday is proof that they willingly lie to their readers. They want any Washingtonians who might happen to have driven on Georgia Avenue on any Friday evening to think that we are an anti-war group!!! They are co-opting our presence and blatantly lying about the motivation for all the hard work everyone who flies the flags and carries the signs does every Friday.

And they want anyone who has not seen the Freeper signs and flags to believe that we do not exist.


61 posted on 02/19/2007 10:56:59 AM PST by maica (America will be a hyperpower that's all hype and no power -- if we do not prevail in Iraq)
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To: kristinn

I go to Walter Reed often. The WaPo isn't really overblowing the situation (a rarity for them). The medical staff at Walter Reed is topnotch - unfortunately the support staff leaves a lot to be desired. These kids (and most of them are) deserve a LOT better treatment and their families do as well. The conditions at Walter Reed must be improved. To do so Army b.s. red tape needs to be smashed.


62 posted on 02/19/2007 11:10:44 AM PST by Romanov (Golytsinites = "Lenin's Useful Idiots denying Reagan's Legacy")
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To: maica
They want any Washingtonians who might happen to have driven on Georgia Avenue on any Friday evening to think that we are an anti-war group!!! They are co-opting our presence and blatantly lying .....

WOW - I never thought of it that way!

We all need to write letters/e-mails to the scum.

63 posted on 02/19/2007 11:27:20 AM PST by Just A Nobody (I - LOVE - my attitude problem! NEVER AGAIN...Support our Troops! Beware the ENEMEDIA)
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To: Romanov

I agree, it would be a mistake not to take a close look at the post-trauma health care and rehabilitation provided to our troops. My cousin tells me that amputees are being denied needed durable medical equipment: limbs, braces and related equipment. I would like to know if this is so.

It is not accurate to not report on the whole scene around Walter Reed -- including the Freepers.


64 posted on 02/19/2007 12:00:17 PM PST by achingtobe
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To: kristinn
"But the wounded of Mologne House are still soldiers -- Hooah!"

Effete little 60's/Woodstein wannabe pussies, in the guise of journalists.

65 posted on 02/19/2007 12:53:23 PM PST by unspun (What do you think? Please think, before you answer.)
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To: Just A Nobody; kristinn

Is it possible that the entire thing was fabricated, that no soldiers actually participated in this soft porn article?


66 posted on 02/19/2007 2:23:46 PM PST by HonestConservative (Time for FR to drive the fight to the right! ( http://gohunter08.com ))
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To: kristinn; All
If you know anyone in the active or reserve military, please let them know about the following site.

If you are on any lists that the military read or frequent any such blogs, please let them know about this site:


www.appealforcourage.org

Please spread the word.

67 posted on 02/19/2007 3:00:49 PM PST by bnelson44 (Proud parent of a tanker! (Elections have repercussions, you reap what you sow.))
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To: achingtobe

What is the source of your cousin's information?


68 posted on 02/19/2007 3:14:45 PM PST by maica (America will be a hyperpower that's all hype and no power -- if we do not prevail in Iraq)
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To: kristinn
Oh, Lord! You mean they have to get up early in the morning for military formations, at a military hospital!!!??? I bet they have to do medical rehab too. HORRORS! And they have to stand (sit) around and wait? HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN? You never have to wait anywhere else in the military! Never have to make morning formations!! And for the love of God what rehabilitation center expects patients to do rehabilitation?!? THIS IS TRULY AMERICA'S ABU GRAIHB! THE HORROR, THE HORROR!

(do i really need sarcasm tags?)

69 posted on 02/19/2007 3:16:28 PM PST by Stultis (I don't worry about the war turning into "Vietnam" in Iraq; I worry about it doing so in Congress.)
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To: maica
They want any Washingtonians who might happen to have driven on Georgia Avenue on any Friday evening to think that we are an anti-war group!!!

Don't worry; our signs are unmistakeable and easy to read. They are only helping us show what liars they are.

70 posted on 02/19/2007 3:22:23 PM PST by Albion Wilde (...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. -2 Cor 3:17)
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To: Romanov
These kids (and most of them are) deserve a LOT better treatment

The average age of today's Army is 35. Most of the patients I see, and I am there every week, are not kids. Many have their own kids there visiting.

71 posted on 02/19/2007 3:23:52 PM PST by Albion Wilde (...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. -2 Cor 3:17)
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To: Romanov
I'm wrong. The article linked here says the average age of the soldiers is 32: With More Older Troops on Battlefield, Army Sees Rise in Noncombat Ailments

There are other myths in circulation that do not agree with the actual facts of today's forces. A recent comprehensive study by economics scholar Tim Kane, PhD (Who Are the Recruits? The Demographic Characteristics of U.S. Military Enlistment, 2003–2005), shows that the average reading level of new recruits is about a full grade level higher than those of their civilian peers, that enlistees' high school graduation rate of 97% is 17 percentage points higher than civilians', that 45.6 percent of 2005 enlistees are from the top 40 percent of American neighborhoods, and that the troops' ethnic characteristics are comparable to those of the population as a whole, among other findings.

72 posted on 02/19/2007 3:29:51 PM PST by Albion Wilde (...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. -2 Cor 3:17)
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To: Albion Wilde

That is true. It is also true that they do not care if they reveal themselves to be liars, because somehow the ends justify the means always to a leftie/communist.


73 posted on 02/19/2007 3:35:13 PM PST by maica (America will be a hyperpower that's all hype and no power -- if we do not prevail in Iraq)
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To: kristinn

Funny how right before the last election, the very same rag was raising a stink about BRAC slating Walter Reed for closure and consolidation into a newly revamped Dewitt...


74 posted on 02/19/2007 4:23:28 PM PST by manapua
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To: Just A Nobody

Hey Just a Nobody. That was the same comment I made to a reporter back in January at the anti-war rally when she came over to talk to us freepers. She told me that she was with the New York Times, and I asked her why she was even there. I told her the Times would NEVER report that we were even there. Was I wrong? : )


75 posted on 02/19/2007 4:28:12 PM PST by YourAdHere (America's Freepers: The DC Chapter Needs You on Saturday March 17th!)
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To: rangerwife
The system is overwhelmed there

This is exactly what my cousin said. He had nothing but praise for those working there, and said it was a horrible place to be, not because of the people working there, but because of the problems in the original article plus what you mentioned about your husband.

The problem, as such, is not Walter Reed itself, or the people working there, it's the military. People don't like to acknowledge it, but the fact is, we can click a button on a computer monitor and send a missile into a car thousands of miles away, or we can have platoon-level commanders talking to people in Washington, either by voice or through online chatting (yes, the military uses it), but we have problems getting wounded soldiers the right paperwork, or getting them hooked up with the boards, etc.

We can solve it, but it takes some money and paperwork, and I doubt this is something that would be given a high priority.
76 posted on 02/19/2007 4:34:23 PM PST by af_vet_rr
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To: maica
They want any Washingtonians who might happen to have driven on Georgia Avenue on any Friday evening to think that we are an anti-war group!!!

The very designation of Code-Pink, Sheehag, etc as "anti-war" is extremely irritating. All these groups are PRO-WAR, they're just on the other side is all. Code-Pink, at least senior representatives thereof, for instance have formally recognized the legality of the (mosque/market/school bombing) Iraqi insurgency and their "right" to violently resist "occupation". Hell they support insurgent/terrorist fighters and movements the world over!

The counter protesters and FReepers are, comparatively FAR more "anti-war" than code pink. After all we want the insurgency and the secular militias to be defeated or to give up and lay down their arms. If that happens the war really will end. Code-Pink wants the coalition forces and the Iraqi government to lay down their arms or be defeated. If that happens it will only be the beginning of war. If Code-Pink's side wins the predictable result will be a real civil war between Baathists and Islamist, sectarian groups, a war that could last decades as in Afghanistan during the 80's and 90's, possibly even a regional war including players like Iran, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, etc.

Who's the more "anti-war"?

77 posted on 02/19/2007 5:01:52 PM PST by Stultis (I don't worry about the war turning into "Vietnam" in Iraq; I worry about it doing so in Congress.)
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To: kristinn
Dana Priest is continuing her concentrated Walter Reed jihad on The pbs news hour with Jim Lerher tonite.
78 posted on 02/19/2007 5:11:24 PM PST by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life ;o)
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To: Albion Wilde

Most of the kids I served with were/are in their twenties.


79 posted on 02/19/2007 5:30:57 PM PST by Romanov (Golytsinites = "Lenin's Useful Idiots denying Reagan's Legacy")
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To: YourAdHere
I told her the Times would NEVER report that we were even there. Was I wrong? : )

Absolutely not! The ENEMEDIA has been there several times. Once we outnumbered the commies 140ish to 50ish. Was that reported? Did we get 3 times the coverage the commies did? We all know the answer.

80 posted on 02/19/2007 5:32:37 PM PST by Just A Nobody (I - LOVE - my attitude problem! NEVER AGAIN...Support our Troops! Beware the ENEMEDIA)
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