Revolting conditions cited in vets retirement home.

The Pentagon has begun investigating conditions for veterans at the Armed Forces Retirement Home after Defense Secretary Robert Gates received a letter from the Government Accountability Office. “The letter reported that the GAO had heard allegations from medical personnel who treat residents at the facility, including a rising number of resident deaths, resident rooms spattered with blood, urine and feces, and veterans suffering from bed sores and, in one case, maggots in a wound.”

UPDATE: The AP reports on problems at a VA clinic in White City, Ore., including “large colonies of bats” which “sometimes flew into the attics and interior parts of the building.” Officials said the bats weren’t removed in part because they “keep the insect pollution to a minimum which is beneficial.”