Posted on 04/10/2005 8:50:22 AM PDT by tgslTakoma
Every Friday, 8-10 P.M. Shed Light On US War Casualties: Vigil Contacts: Ann Wilcox 202-xxx-xxxx; Ellen Taylor: 202-xxx-xxxx, dc@codepinkalert.org
CODEPINK recently held a nightly vigil at Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Friday, March 25 to Friday, April 1, at the North Gate (7200 Georgia Ave. at Elder Street, NW- see below for directions). It was a very successful action bringing together peace activists, soldiers, military families and neighbors. We will continue the vigil every Friday as a reminder that physically and psychologically wounded soldiers are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan every night. Late at night several nights per week gravely and seriously wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan arrive at Walter Reed, and Bethesda Naval Medical Center, for treatment under the cover of darkness. These soldiers are the most seriously-wounded, with shattered limbs requiring prostheses and physical therapy, brain injuries and mental disorders. Soldiers are flown from US military hospitals in Germany arriving at Andrews AFB and Walter Reed under the cover of night. We believe the nighttime arrivals are scheduled on purpose so as to prevent the public from knowing about the numbers of soldiers wounded and the severity of their injuries. The hiding of the severely-wounded is in keeping administration policy of prohibiting photographs of coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base. (For investigative reporting of the Walter Reed arrivals, see Mark Benjamins articles, The Invisible Wounded, at www.salon.com on March 8, 2005. For Benjamins reporting on the psychiatric ward at Walter Reed, see Behind the Walls of Ward 54, Feb. 18, 2005.) Even after their stealth arrival at Walter Reed, soldiers must begin a bureaucratic battle to obtain sufficient disability benefits to provide an adequate quality of life. Initial determinations of military pension amounts (10-20% of salary, for example), made by the Armys Medical Review Board, are often inadequate, and must be appealed to the Veterans Administration (which, to its credit, often increases the lifetime disability payment). We also vigil to protest ongoing cuts in the Veterans Administration budget made by the very same administration that sends these soldiers to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. For example, the FY05 budget institutes a new health care enrollment fee and increases prescription drug co-pays for middle-income veterans. The VA budget is not fully funded, failing by more than $2.6 billion to fully fund quality veterans health care. Despite strongly lobbying by veterans organizations, the Bush administration fails to recognize veterans as an extension of the costs of war. Other FY05 budget cuts in educational, vocational and adult education, and family support programs also directly impact veterans and their families. VIGIL WITH US to honor the sacrifice of the troops and bring to light the seriousness of their injuries. We refuse to allow the government to conceal the true face of war and the true cost of war under a blanket of darkness.
As they are taken from the FRONT LINE to the BACK DOOR
Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 7200 Georgia Ave., at Elder St., NW
OK, you get a pass.
:-)
If I don't have enough manpower to hold my MOAB on Friday night, I'll just re-engineer it so I can hold it by myself.
P.S. Tell your family that I love them for what they so willingly do for us, and thank them for me, too.
See you Friday, bmwcyle!
When will a show like 60 Minutes do an expose on the treasonous actions of groups like these?
Hannity and the likes of Stars and Stripes. The media only lets them mouth off for the controversy and ratings. The only person that I have seen that nailed this and other groups on Fox was Liz Trotta.
DC Chapter ping.
I don't like pink,either. It's also the color of the (not nearly a) Million Mom March.
If flights from Landstuhl left in the morning hours, they would be getting to the US at night wouldn't they?
These idiots claiming that the are coming in under the cover of darkness really ticks me off.
Late at night several nights per week gravely and seriously wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan arrive at Walter Reed, and Bethesda Naval Medical Center, for treatment under the cover of darkness.
Initial determinations of military pension amounts (10-20% of salary, for example), made by the Armys Medical Review Board, are often inadequate, and must be appealed to the Veterans Administration (which, to its credit, often increases the lifetime disability payment).
Hmm
What time is the meet?
I'll check with She Who Must Be Obeyed ;-).
Who's that? ;D
Yes. But what we SHOULD be doing, apparently, is rousting injured soldiers out of bed in the middle of the night, so that they can arrive in time for a mid-afternoon photo op with Medea & Co.
Code Pink is just faded old reds.
CP = Communist Party
free dixie,sw
i heartily agree!
free dixie,sw
free dixie,sw
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=7200+Georgia+Ave,Washington+DC&ll=38.979248,-77.026660&spn=0.121094,0.196483&hl=en
Here is a link to the protest site.
At least one of us (maybe both) will be there.
Can one of you FReepmail me about the parking situation?
Thx,
'Pod.
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