MSM and Kos Are Overlooking Important Issues in Lieu of Personalities & $$

On Sunday, EENR blogger Edgery wrote about the Vets and how our country isn't doing its job to look after them and their families once they get back. John Edwards had a plan in taking more steps to ensure they and their families receive the care they need, and the plan was the centerpiece of Edgery's post. When this diary was posted at the Daily Kos, it was received in a lukewarm fashion or considered disingenuous. Thus, when David Mizner wrote about Kos, I empathized with him and that's why I posted his comments from HuffPo yesterday.

Apparently, John Edwards wasn't through speaking out for the vets. In a letter to the Editor at the NYT (which also isn't as focused on the issues between the remaining candidates at the moment), he penned:

In “For Wounded Veterans and Their Families, a Journey Without Maps” (Editorial Observer, March 24), Lawrence Downes missed an important opportunity to explain why both the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs are unprepared to care for the service members who have been hurt in the Iraq war.

The reason is that the frequently reported number of the wounded in action (29,320 as of March 1) does not include everyone who’s been hurt.

The complete number of nonfatal casualties in Iraq is 60,645. Most assume the wounded number includes all, but it does not. It leaves out another 8,273 injured and 23,052 who became ill and required medical air transport from the war zone. The Department of Defense releases two reports: one with the weekly numbers of those wounded and killed, and then another monthly report with the complete numbers. After five years, it is time for respected news organizations to use the complete number.

The public needs this information so that we can better prepare for the care of all of our veterans from this war and others. The struggle for them and their families your article addressed is happening all across this country. Nearly 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have already sought care from the V.A.

The system is broken. That is why so many veterans are still fighting for the care they earned. That is why their families struggle with paperwork and months of delay. And that is why 154,000 veterans sleep on grates or under bridges every night.

We have tens of thousands set to come home, and we aren’t prepared. Every day we should honor the more than 4,000 lives lost: every suicide, bullet or serious accident.

And every day we should honor those who have been hurt. That number is 60,645 and rising.

John Edwards
Chapel Hill, N.C., March 31, 2008

John's letter proves my point about Daily Kos or MSM: it took over a week to get this printed. Obviously, they aren't taking the situation very seriously.