Monday, February 19, 2007

Re: Wounded Warriors   [Jonah Goldberg]

From a Marine I know and first met at Walter Reed:

Dear Jonah....


Having served at Bethesda and Walter Reed, I was not a big fan of the
WaPo articles. Would you believe that about 5% of the Marines we had
complained endlessly about their treatment? Well I think the WaPo found
almost all of them. One of the Marines interviewed in the article was
given almost everything possible. He and his family were given
thousands of dollars from NGOs and non-profits, free furniture by a
famous rock star, letters of recommendation by senior USMC generals to a
top 10 US university, and so many other things that I cannot possibly
catalogue them. And you know what??? He deserved all that stuff, but to
give the impression that you were treated poorly or unfairly when you
were treated like a king is just wrong. However, I think he's right
about the paperwork issues; but considering that many of these injured
soldiers and Marines have such complex trauma case, lots of paperwork is
hard to avoid. I used to grapple with it every day.

I feel sorry b/c the Marine in question has had some obviously difficult
times. I know him and he's a good man but the trauma he's been through
has been terrible.

From Iraq, [Name withheld]

Me: This is, of course, good to hear. Though that doesn't mean the press shouldn't paying more attention. Meanwhile, I'm sure Glenn Greenwald thinks this Marine who served at Walter Reed should be ashamed for questioning Dana Priest's reporting.

02/19 01:34 PMShare