Wife Of Iraq Veteran: ‘My Life Was Ripped Apart’
Wife Of Iraq Veteran: ‘My Life Was Ripped Apart’
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s national security panel is holding hearings this morning on the neglect at Walter Reed military hospital.
They heard from Anne McLeod, wife of wounded Iraq veteran Cpl. Dell McLeod, who was profiled by the Washington Post. Dell “takes 23 pills a day, prescribed by various doctors at Walter Reed. Crowds frighten him. He is too anxious to drive,” and he can’t be left alone. “I don’t even know this man anymore,” his wife says. Yet Army doctors disputed that Dell’s head injury was the cause of his mental impairment, claiming he was slow in high school, and ended up giving him only a 50 percent disability rating (meaning he will receive only half of his base pay).
Today, Anne McLeod wept as she told the committee about her experience. “All I’m just trying to do is have my life, the life that I had and that I know. My life was ripped apart the day my husband was injured, and having to live through the mess that we lived through at Walter Reed has been worse than anything I have ever sacrificed in my life.” Watch it:
UPDATE: Jeffrey Feldman has more on McLeod’s testimony.
Transcript:
DAVIS: Mrs. McLeod, let me, let me start with you. You went up the chain many times, didn’t you?
McLEOD: Yes, sir.
DAVIS: You finally called this committee you were so upset.
McLEOD: Sir, I would talk to anybody that would listen, and it took the aid of another soldier who actually heard me crying, saw me crying one day, and he says, “This is the number. Make a call.” And that’s when I called Ms. Washborn, and then you know my story because you’ve dealt with me. Had I not had any other recourse, I wouldn’t be here today. The thing of the matter is, Mr. Harvey made a statement the other day that really bothers me. He said he hopes the Washington Post was satisfied because they ruined careers. First, let me come on record by saying, I don’t care about your career as far as anybody that’s in danger. That doesn’t bother me. All I’m just trying to do is have my life, the life that I had and that I know. My life was ripped apart the day my husband was injured, and having to live through the mess that we lived through at Walter Reed has been worse than anything I have ever sacrificed in my life.
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62 Responses to “Wife Of Iraq Veteran: ‘My Life Was Ripped Apart’”
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March 5th, 2007 at 11:55 amWe must stop this from happening to all Americans, today I denounce the liberal idea of Reed Care for all Americans!
March 5th, 2007 at 11:57 amMore couragous family members to come....
March 5th, 2007 at 11:59 amHello? Yoo-Hoo? Didn't they sign up, voluntary?
March 5th, 2007 at 11:59 amWe must stop this from happening to all Americans, today I denounce the liberal idea of Reed Care for all Americans!
Comment by Patrick1
I agree we should never have inept people appointed by other inept people to run important services.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:01 pmThis is sad. Now imagine an Iraqi widow.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:01 pmThis is shocking to me because it's the first time I've seen a "common folk" American on CSPAN at an oversight hearing in over 6 years. Can anyone tell me the last time you saw something like this since Bush and the Republicans took over?
March 5th, 2007 at 12:02 pmYet another casualty of Chimpy's War on Terror (TM)
It's clear that enough will never be enough for these sick neocons. If we want this to end, we have to be the ones to end it.
(P.S.: Shut up, Patrick. We stopped listening to you a long time ago.)
March 5th, 2007 at 12:02 pmRed Neck
They signed up for it. Did they sing up for being misled by recruiters? Did they sign up for abuse/neglect back home?
March 5th, 2007 at 12:04 pmThe thing of the matter is, Mr. Harvey made a statement the other day that really bothers me. He said he hopes the Washington Post was satisfied because they ruined careers.
You ruined your own damn career, Harvey. If you condone the mistreatment of wounded troops and veterans and hope for everyone in your command to keep sweeping it under the carpet, not only should your career be over, but you should start a new one cleaning latrines at a Vets hospital.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:04 pmWhat's important here is that everyone who says they support the troops have a magnetic yellow ribbon on their vehicle, preferably an SUV.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:04 pm#2 Patrick1
We must stop this from happening to all Americans, today I denounce the liberal idea of Reed Care for all Americans!
Good one, moron. It was privatization that caused this mess in the first place. The highly skilled and experienced federal employees left and were replaced by contractors. Would it kill you to find out what you're talking about instead of spouting your retarded "socialized medicine" rant?
March 5th, 2007 at 12:06 pmWhat's your point, old Red Neck? Just because they signed up voluntarily doesn't mean that they don't deserve the best care possible.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:07 pmHey, Patrick and old Red Neck
Isn't "pre-existing condition" a private insurance concept? And Yoo-Hoo? Didn't the military sign him up despite his alleged "mental slowness" exhibited in high school. Didn't Kerry get into some hot water for having a joke misinterpreted about soldiers' intelligence? I guess that's worse than actually calling a specific wounded soldier mentally impaired to save money.
I denounce the neocon "I Don't Care Medical Plan" for American troops who have served.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:07 pmWait till the right wheels out the former patient/soldiers who claim Walter Reed is a five star hotel. (I've already seen one on my local ClearChannel station)
March 5th, 2007 at 12:10 pmWe must stop this from happening to all Americans, today I denounce the liberal idea of Reed Care for all Americans!
Comment by Patrick1
The mess at Walter Reed happened because of the same privatizing scheme you are advocating, moron.
Hello? Yoo-Hoo? Didn’t they sign up, voluntary?
Comment by old Red Neck
And them signing up for the military voluntarily means they deserve the treatment they have been getting, how?
You right winged Bush supporters make me sick.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:10 pmI denounce the neocon “I Don’t Care Medical Plan†for American troops who have served.
Comment by PatrioticLiberalChristian(PLC)
I second that denouncement.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:12 pmHere's a liberal web resource for supporting the troops and their families.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:13 pmHey, she and her husband knew what they were getting into when he signed up. She needs to shut her pie hole go home and get a job so she can help take care of her husband. This is America damn it!!!!!
Of course an joking. This is what you get when republicans are in charge. Do you think we would even be having these hearing if Rummy and the republicans lead congress were still in charge?? Thanks for supporting the troop Bush and Cheney. If you a**holes had went to war you probably would treat the troops this way.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:14 pmI've heard this suggested on other sites...why not issue veterans an insurance card that allows them to go to any facility and scrap the veterans hospital system?
March 5th, 2007 at 12:15 pmHello? Yoo-Hoo? We are at WAR! Times are tough all around. Money that could be spent has to be used to fight the WOT! This is why our government is trying to save money by using a little out sourcing. Imagine if the governement was running healthcare!
March 5th, 2007 at 12:17 pmReed Care is what happens when you allow the government to be involved in something they know nothing about, healthcare.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:18 pmActually, Reed Care is what happens when you let Halliburton get involved in something they know nothing about...like supplying the troops, etc.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:22 pmRed: Times are tough all around. Money that could be spent has to be used to fight the WOT! - - Say, wot?
March 5th, 2007 at 12:22 pmComment by old Red Neck — March 5, 2007 @ 12:17 pm
I suspect that you are neither old nor a redneck, presuming you have a neck, of course.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:22 pmYou may not see the Iraq war ending in the near term, but thank goodness the Democrats took over both branches of Congress last November. Otherwise, under continued Republican control, there would be no hearings, the reporters posting the original story would probably be in Gitmo as terrorists, and wounded solders, the men and women this nation depends upon, would still be sleeping in their own piss.
Keep pulling back that curtain on these little men of Oz, just pull it back a bit more and show us all who they really are and how small and selfish they all are.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:25 pmWOT = WAR ON TERROR for all you ignorant fools!
March 5th, 2007 at 12:25 pmMaybe private vs. public medical care isn't the issue.
Maybe just genuinely helping others and delivering quality care is the issue. Caring more about people than some bottom line, or political appearance.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:26 pmPrivatized Combat Support Hospitals, privatized battalion aid stations?
Another money making scheme for haliburton. Brilliant!
March 5th, 2007 at 12:26 pm'It Is Just Not Walter Reed'
Ray Oliva went into the spare bedroom in his home in Kelseyville, Calif., to wrestle with his feelings. He didn't know a single soldier at Walter Reed, but he felt he knew them all. He worried about the wounded who were entering the world of military health care, which he knew all too well. His own VA hospital in Livermore was a mess. The gown he wore was torn. The wheelchairs were old and broken
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/04/AR2007030401394.html
March 5th, 2007 at 12:27 pmAs Brit Hume would say: Stop crying, you just make The President look bad, lady!
March 5th, 2007 at 12:28 pmRed Neck...
There are NO words that I can say to you to express my disgust and anger. However, I would caution you to NEVER get caught in my cross-hairs!!! COWARD!!!!
I am in D.C. and I am seeing first hand the horrors that are going on...
Walter Reed has been turned into a boot camp, and they are attempting to stifle the press by organizing daily regiments of activities so the soldiers DO NOT have ANY free time!!!
This is sickening!!!
March 5th, 2007 at 12:29 pmWOT= White Old Trash= old Red Neck
March 5th, 2007 at 12:29 pm#21 , no accountability on any level during this administration is a huge root cause....War for profit and power, palletts of cash dumped in Iraq and now supplying fund's to terrorest groups to further more war, money syphoned early on my rummy and others to Israel, on and on....Genocide and disimation of entire group's of people and countries seem's to be the present republican plan...It was the reason to get themselves installed.....Stop the war's, bring the troop's home now and then impeach all involved...Blessings
March 5th, 2007 at 12:30 pmUS Citizenry Has A Right To Know How Many Soldiers Maimed In Iraq?
Monday 5th of March 2007
by Jay Randal
In recent news article on US soldiers wounded in Iraq, and in Afghanistan, a doctor in Germany mentioned that he removed the genitals of 2 male soldiers daily.
The press never asked him how many in total he had done so far, nor how many had genitals removed by other doctors, so nobody knows how many castrated.
So unknown number of soldiers have lost their sexual organ, but the Bush Regime does not want that fact to be known by the US Public, nor the Congress to know.
No tally has been given out on how many soldiers have lost an arm, or a leg, or both, or an eye, or both eyes, or an ear, or both ears, or their faces torn off as well.
Nobody knows how many have been burned severely, nor how many suffered brain-damage, nor how many have mental problems that require psychiatric care.
The Congress and American Public have right to know!
( Jay Randal, political activist and writer in Georgia, USA.)
March 5th, 2007 at 12:38 pm"Hello? Yoo-Hoo? We are at WAR! Times are tough all around."
and yet there wasn't a single military recruiter at CPAC...
March 5th, 2007 at 12:49 pm"The thing of the matter is, Mr. Harvey made a statement the other day that really bothers me. He said he hopes the Washington Post was satisfied because they ruined careers." - Annette McLeod
Who is this turd, Harvey, to whom Mrs. McLeod refers?
March 5th, 2007 at 12:59 pmReed Care is what happens when you allow the government to be involved in something they know nothing about, healthcare.
Comment by Patrick1
Or waging a war on an ideology like Terror.
March 5th, 2007 at 1:06 pm#37 - Francis Harvey, Secretary of the Army, now EX-Secretary, forced to resign because of this scandalous treatment of soldiers
March 5th, 2007 at 1:23 pmComment by Thinking Person — March 5, 2007 @ 1:23 pm
Thanks, Thinking Person.
How sad for him. Perhaps, without a career, he now has the time to help Cpl. and Mrs. McLeod with their ruined lives.
March 5th, 2007 at 1:29 pmThis war reminds me of those old Hollywood western sets. You know the ones I mean; the ones with the neat little fronts of buildings with nothing behind them; the places where the camera never goes.
March 5th, 2007 at 2:22 pmYes, a real endorsement for joining or staying in the National Guard or Reserves....run, run, run for the discharge doors at the earliest opportunity. Not only do these people (BushChaneyJunta) want to have you killed for their sake but if you manage to survive (an if you don't get physically wounded you will carry the scars of PTSD the rest of your life)then you and your family will get more of their callous mistreatment and disrespect.
March 5th, 2007 at 2:24 pmBring them all home NOW.
#4 old Red Neck
Hello? Yoo-Hoo? Didn’t they sign up, voluntary?
Good point. They signed the papers, right under the line that reads "I understand that any promise made to me by the government of the United States in return for my service can, and most likely will, be broken at any time. And I further understand that I don't deserve anything in return for defending my country, because I'm lower than dirt. Should I become injured in the line of duty, I fully expect to be treated like shit or not treated at all."
Yeah, I remember that was on the contract that I signed.
March 5th, 2007 at 3:03 pmThe DISGRACEFUL treatment of Cpl. McLeod and his wife as well as other veterans MUST BE CORRECTED and THE MISERABLE CREEPS like Kiley and Nicholson RESPONSIBLE for this UTTER FAILURE PUNISHED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALONG WITH THEIR ENABLES CHIMPya, Torticola Cheney and Bushland Uber Allies!!!!!
March 5th, 2007 at 3:06 pmUS Citizenry Has A Right To Know How Many Soldiers Maimed In Iraq?
Monday 5th of March 2007
by Jay Randal
Now why would an ordinary everday citizen be interested in these numbers? What purpose could they possibly serve you?
The government and the military has their reasons for not divulging classified information. And the reason is to keep your nosy eyes off of it and out of it.
If you have a loved one serving, they do have a courtesy call person come to your door and announce a death. That is all that should be important to you.
If you don't have anyone serving, or wait, even if you do, what could these numbers possibly mean for you?
Why so interested? Do you have a loved one serving over their? People like you need to mind their own business and let our brave professional young men and women take care of things over there, and while they are doing that, they are taking care of and protecting us.
March 5th, 2007 at 3:06 pm#21 old Red Neck
Hello? Yoo-Hoo? We are at WAR! Times are tough all around. Money that could be spent has to be used to fight the WOT! This is why our government is trying to save money by using a little out sourcing. Imagine if the governement was running healthcare!
If you weren't so ill informed, you'd know that the government WAS running healthcare for the troops until the administration decided to 'outsource' it and thoroughly f*ck it up!
Do you think that privatization is about saving money? Show us some figures to support that. How much do you think the government saved by turning over support services at Walter Reed to contractors?
It's just wonderful for the Grover Norquists of this country that they have so many dumbasses like you that they can rely on to buy their BS about privatization. They've actually got you thinking that it has something to do with efficiency and saving money. It doesn't. It's about making people rich, specifically the people who give campaign contributions to the politicians who send those contracts their way.
What an idiot. You give rednecks a bad name.
March 5th, 2007 at 3:11 pmWhy so interested? Do you have a loved one serving over their? People like you need to mind their own business and let our brave professional young men and women take care of things over there, and while they are doing that, they are taking care of and protecting us.
Comment by corpus christi
This is the United States of America, in case you forgot. We're supposed to have a free society. Knowing accurate casualty figures does not affect national security, so what's the problem? Since my tax dollars are paying for this war and the care of veterans, if I want to know, I'm going to know.
Gotta problem with that, sheep?
March 5th, 2007 at 3:20 pmSend Cheney to Walter Reed!
March 5th, 2007 at 3:24 pmCheney experiencing"calf discomfort" due to bloodclots in his legs today.
#1 - swiftboating of the serviceman’s wife in 4, 3, 2, …
Comment by RUCerious — March 5, 2007 @ 11:55 am
Good call, sad to say...
March 5th, 2007 at 3:34 pmIt is criminal the way Bldg 18 has been allowed to deteriorate in the last 6 years. It is deplorable that once Walter Reed was slated for base closing, the facility was still utilized in such horrendous conditions.
March 5th, 2007 at 4:23 pmIt is criminal the way Bldg 18 has been allowed to deteriorate in the last 6 years. It is deplorable that once Walter Reed was slated for base closing, the facility was still utilized in such horrendous conditions.
Comment by valiant venus
Yeah, poor Bldg 18. You're right, it's terrible.
What about the VETERANS living in that building? Got any sympathy for them, Hagette?
March 5th, 2007 at 4:48 pmNow why would an ordinary everday citizen be interested in these numbers? What purpose could they possibly serve you?
We don't have to ask why you don't care.
March 5th, 2007 at 8:12 pmHello? Yoo-Hoo? Didn’t they sign up, voluntary?
Comment by old Red Neck #4
I hope we get to study your remains...
...the calcification in your cranium must really be dense...
...I believe that by studying inbreds like yourself...
...science will ultimately discover that "missing link"...
...what prehistoric homonids could possibly have mated...
...to produce such an intellectually inferior life form?
March 5th, 2007 at 8:52 pm#53 Prominent brow ridge. Small forehead. I think we know where this is going.
March 5th, 2007 at 9:01 pm...and somewhere in the world tonight, George W. Bush is smirking.
March 5th, 2007 at 9:32 pmReed Care is what happens when you allow the government to be involved in something they know nothing about, healthcare.
Comment by Patrick1
How many times does it have to be pointed out to you that Reed care was outsourced under Bush before it sinks into your head--that is, if you have one? In the past (before the Bush/Cheney) regime, Waler Reed had a fine reputation. Shows what happens when we allow Patrick 1 to post something about which he knows nothing--which seems to be just about every subject possible.
March 6th, 2007 at 12:30 am#56 Don't bother, Lora. Your post will be ignored because that doesn't jive with their Milton Friedman view on economy. They are a fragile bunch.
March 6th, 2007 at 12:32 amThere are bloggers linking to posts eviscerating this sordid "administration" every day. They even had to change the law so that military personnel protesting gross negligence and incompetence could be put in Leavenworth. Keep it up. The population is not asleep or the November election would not have gone the way of tossing Republicans.
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