David Hackworth, Vietnam vet and military analyst, dies at 74

Newsday.com ^ | May 5, 2005 | MATT APUZZO

[AgentEcho]

Retired Army Col. David Hackworth, a decorated Vietnam veteran who spoke out against the war and later became a journalist and an advocate for military reform, died Wednesday in Mexico, where he was receiving treatment for bladder cancer, his wife said. He was 74.

"He died in my arms yesterday morning," his wife, Eilhys England, said Thursday.

Hackworth, a syndicated columnist for King Features, advocated a streamlined military and improved conditions for troops.

[fso301]

Wonder why he was in Mexico for treatment?

Lot's of alternative medicine shops there.

[Texas Mom]

I think Steve McQueen was down in Mexico prior to his death for the same reasons--experimental cancer therapy.

So did ( can't remember his name) Little Joe Cartwright, Little house on the prairie.

[Vote 4 Nixon]

Yeah, Steve Mcqueen did the same thing.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

"What is their motivation?"

Money.

I am not asking you to believe me. If you care, check it out for yourself. The data is there.

Also, read this report:"Death by Medicine", By Gary Null, PhD; Carolyn Dean MD, ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; and Dorothy Smith, PhD http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2004/mar2004_awsi_death_01.htm

"Natural medicine is under siege, as pharmaceutical company lobbyists urge lawmakers to deprive Americans of the benefits of dietary supplements. Drug-company front groups have launched slanderous media campaigns to discredit the value of healthy lifestyles. The FDA continues to interfere with those who offer natural products that compete with prescription drugs.

"These attacks against natural medicine obscure a lethal problem that until now was buried in thousands of pages of scientific text. In response to these baseless challenges to natural medicine, the Nutrition Institute of America commissioned an independent review of the quality of “government-approved” medicine. The startling findings from this meticulous study indicate that conventional medicine is “the leading cause of death” in the United States.

"The Nutrition Institute of America is a nonprofit organization that has sponsored independent research for the past 30 years. To support its bold claim that conventional medicine is America 's number-one killer, the Nutritional Institute of America mandated that every “count” in this “indictment” of US medicine be validated by published, peer-reviewed scientific studies.

"What you are about to read is a stunning compilation of facts that documents that those who seek to abolish consumer access to natural therapies are misleading the public. Over 700,000 Americans die each year at the hands of government-sanctioned medicine, while the FDA and other government agencies pretend to protect the public by harassing those who offer safe alternatives.

"A definitive review of medical peer-reviewed journals and government health statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good.

"Each year approximately 2.2 million US hospital patients experience adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to prescribed medications.(1) In 1995, Dr. Richard Besser of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated the number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections to be 20 million; in 2003, Dr. Besser spoke in terms of tens of millions of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually.(2, 2a) Approximately 7.5 million unnecessary medical and surgical procedures are performed annually in the US,(3) while approximately 8.9 million Americans are hospitalized unnecessarily.(4)

"As shown in the following table, the estimated total number of iatrogenic deaths—that is, deaths induced inadvertently by a physician or surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures— in the US annually is 783,936. It is evident that the American medical system is itself the leading cause of death and injury in the US . By comparison, approximately 699,697 Americans died of heart in 2001, while 553,251 died of cancer.(5)

"Using Leape's 1997 medical and drug error rate of 3 million(14) multiplied by the 14% fatality rate he used in 1994(16) produces an annual death rate of 420,000 for drug errors and medical errors combined. Using this number instead of Lazorou's 106,000 drug errors and the Institute of Medicine 's (IOM) estimated 98,000 annual medical errors would add another 216,000 deaths, for a total of 999,936 deaths annually.

Is American Medicine Working?

"US health care spending reached $1.6 trillion in 2003, representing 14% of the nation's gross national product.(15) Considering this enormous expenditure, we should have the best medicine in the world. We should be preventing and reversing disease, and doing minimal harm. Careful and objective review, however, shows we are doing the opposite. Because of the extraordinarily narrow, technologically driven context in which contemporary medicine examines the human condition, we are completely missing the larger picture.

"Medicine is not taking into consideration the following critically important aspects of a healthy human organism: (a) stress and how it adversely affects the immune system and life processes; (b) insufficient exercise; (c) excessive caloric intake; (d) highly processed and denatured foods grown in denatured and chemically damaged soil; and (e) exposure to tens of thousands of environmental toxins. Instead of minimizing these disease-causing factors, we cause more illness through medical technology, diagnostic testing, overuse of medical and surgical procedures, and overuse of pharmaceutical drugs. The huge disservice of this therapeutic strategy is the result of little effort or money being spent on preventing disease.

Specific Drug Iatrogenesis: Cancer Chemotherapy

"In 1989, German biostatistician Ulrich Abel, PhD, wrote a monograph entitled “Chemotherapy of Advanced Epithelial Cancer.” It was later published in shorter form in a peer-reviewed medical journal.(70) Abel presented a comprehensive analysis of clinical trials and publications representing over 3,000 articles examining the value of cytotoxic chemotherapy on advanced epithelial cancer. Epithelial cancer is the type of cancer with which we are most familiar, arising from epithelium found in the lining of body organs such as the breast, prostate, lung, stomach, and bowel. From these sites, cancer usually infiltrates adjacent tissue and spreads to the bone, liver, lung, or brain. With his exhaustive review, Abel concluded there is no direct evidence that chemotherapy prolongs survival in patients with advanced carcinoma; in small-cell lung cancer and perhaps ovarian cancer, the therapeutic benefit is only slight. According to Abel, “Many oncologists take it for granted that response to therapy prolongs survival, an opinion which is based on a fallacy and which is not supported by clinical studies.”

"Over a decade after Abel's exhaustive review of chemotherapy, there seems no decrease in its use for advanced carcinoma. For example, when conventional chemotherapy and radiation have not worked to prevent metastases in breast cancer, high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) along with stem-cell transplant (SCT) is the treatment of choice. In March 2000, however, results from the largest multi-center randomized controlled trial conducted thus far showed that, compared to a prolonged course of monthly conventional-dose chemotherapy, HDC and SCT were of no benefit, (71) with even a slightly lower survival rate for the HDC/SCT group. Serious adverse effects occurred more often in the HDC group than the standard-dose group. One treatment-related death (within 100 days of therapy) was recorded in the HDC group, but none was recorded in the conventional chemotherapy group. The women in this trial were highly selected as having the best chance to respond.

"Unfortunately, no all-encompassing follow-up study such as Dr. Abel's exists to indicate whether there has been any improvement in cancer-survival statistics since 1989. In fact, research should be conducted to determine whether chemotherapy itself is responsible for secondary cancers instead of progression of the original disease. We continue to question why well-researched alternative cancer treatments are not used."

Go to the URL shown above to read the full report. Then tell me more about "...the world leader in medical treatment of all diseases...".

[ExSoldier]

He took his death like a man, without whining to us all about it. I'll give him that much.

Travis, I hope that as the end neared he was visited by those other fallen heros telling him they had laid him a warm bedroll and bade him to come and rest with his brothers around the campfires....

[CurlyBill]

Prayers going out for Colonel Hackworth... I also didn't agree with his politics, but he was a hero.


** Bladder cancer is usually tied to smoking.... was he a smoker?

[Travis McGee]

Thanks for that reference, I'm glad you remembered.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Well, I didn't like his latest comments, here is one:

Hackworth ignited a national debate last year when he reported that, rather than personally signing condolence letters to the families of fallen soldiers, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used a machine.

However, he was a war hero.

Rest in peace, Col. Hackworth, and may the Lord give you eternal life.

[unbalanced but fair]

Bladder cancer is usually tied to smoking...

It's also been linked to Agent Blue, used in Vietnam. Could be a contributing factor.

Rest in peace Colonel Hackworth. We honor your service to our country, no matter what your beliefs and politics. 3 medal of Honor nominations.

[tiredoflaundry]

If you heard Col. Hunt's voice you know what we mean. It's a really raspy voice.

[Teplukin]

He said about the Iraq war "the folks in power are too prone to look at our troops as toy soldiers".

Honesty, it is hard to believe anyone with a military background could say such a thing. I don't think statement was at ALL respectful of President Bush.

[Radix]

I think so. I just posted that on another thread. Gosh I am way behind on today's news events.

[mickie]

Is he the one with the raspy voice that was always on Fox?

NO....

[Radix]

The events at Abu Ghraib were over reported.

Fanatics were cutting off the heads of Americans even as the media hyped that story.

Even Alan Dershowitz has acknowledged that certain treatments of prisoners in order to obtain information is acceptable. The Media rarely reports that sort of thing. I am not advocating torture here, but what happened at Abu Ghraib was more BS than anything else.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/dershowitz_torture_could_be_justified.htm

[Paradox]

Although I think in his later years he got too cozy with the media, and thus began to think like them (peer groups can do that to you, whether you want them to or not), he is a genuine American Hero who fought for his country. I often disagreed with him lately, but he more than earned the right to do so.

RIP Hackworth. My sincerest condolences to his family and friends. We shall not see the likes of him again.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

Friend of HACKWORTH =


HAL G. MOORE: The Lessons and Legacy of an American Warrior

http://war-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14752&page=1

.

[Axenolith]

We disagreed on many things, but I know where he would have stood if the enemy were at the gates.

When you can say that about a fellow American, you don't need any other flowery rhetoric. Well stated JB.

RIP Col. Hackworth...

[winker]

An employee in Texas had two wisdom teeth to be extracted. Average costs in the U.S. was $2400 in mexico the same proceedure was $40.00. Guess where the teeth got pulled.

Like everything in our world it all comes down to money. Guess it hits all of us now and then. The shame is it does not have to be so.

[Old Sarge]

I agree with you.