Privatized Walter Reed Workforce Gets Scrutiny
Army Facility Lost Dozens Of Maintenance Workers
By Steve Vogel and Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, March 10, 2007; Page A03
The scandal over treatment of outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has focused attention on the Army's decision to privatize the facilities support workforce at the hospital, a move commanders say left the building maintenance staff undermanned.
Some Democratic lawmakers have questioned the decision to hire IAP Worldwide Services, a contractor with connections to the Bush administration and to KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary...
I am sure the whole story is more complicated, but it sure does look bad for the proponents of the "privatization is always better" gang.
It also looks bad for the Cheney-Halliburton-KBR gang. Some patriots they turn out to be. Support the troops. Rah rah.
Comments
Yours is the first publication I've seen that names the culprits of Walter Reed.
Contractors are taking over governmental functions, and already control most of what our governments do, and they are, by and large, criminal syndicates, deeply in need of draconian prison sentences.
Posted by: Roy | March 10, 2007 10:17 AM
Well, one thing to remember about Walter Reed is that they intended to close it, only they made that decision (stupidly in the middle of a war) with no actual plans for where current wounded should go and where the continual influx of wounded would go as they arrived weekly from the interim hospitals in Germany.
So maintenance dropped like a rock 'cause nobody was supposed to be there.
That ALL of these decisions were wrong is more important, though I agree that using cronyism to pretend to maintain the upkeep of the facility while at the same time not giving them a budget capable of achieving the intention (gee, another trend?) is certainly also worth exposing.
Posted by: Joe Shelby | March 10, 2007 10:50 AM