Top Stories
Bush Visited Wounded Troops
 |
| In this photo released by the White House President George W. Bush shakes the hand of U.S. Army PFC Lukas Shook of Strafford, Mo., after presenting him with a Purple Heart Monday, Dec. 22, 2008, during a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where the soldier is recovering from injuries received in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Looking on his PFC Shook's mother, Cynthia Shook. (AP Photo/The White House/Eric Draper) |
Mainstream Media Reports Largely Inaccurate
By Michael P. Tremoglie, The Bulletin
For years, the largely left of center and anti-war media have criticized President George W. Bush for not visiting wounded troops or attending funerals of those killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. But the facts contradict these assertions. A recent report details how frequently he has personally provided comfort to those wounded and the families of those killed in action.
Web sites such as Alternet and Commondreams.org have run stories asserting the president has not visited troops who were wounded or attended the funerals of those killed in action.
These articles said things like, “President Bush visited returning soldiers, but bypassed the wounded next door” or “Why does the U.S. commander in chief refuse to visit his wounded soldiers in their hospital beds?”
A Washington Post columnist wrote that the president did not only not attend the funeral of a soldier killed in action, but he did not send “his condolences either.”
This claim was circulated despite reports as early as April 11, 2003 that Mr. Bush visited wounded troops at Bethesda Medical Center and Walter Reed Hospital. After his April 11, 2003 visit, Mr. Bush held a press conference. He was asked if anything about the visit stood out.
He said, “Well, I think the thing that stood out the most to me was seeing two wounded soldiers swear-in as citizens of the United States: one man from Mexico, one man from the Philippines.”
Now it is being reported that he his reaching out to casualties and families of casualties were extensive.
Yesterday, the Washington Times reported that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have visited wounded troops and have personally contacted the families of those who were killed in action. The magnitude of this effort was not revealed publicly.
The paper said the president “sent personal letters to the families of every one of the more than 4,000 troops who have died in the two wars.”
The Times also reported that Mr. Bush, “met privately with more than 500 families of troops killed in action and with more than 950 wounded veterans, according to White House spokesman Carlton Carroll. Many of those meetings were outside the presence of the news media at the White House or at private sessions during official travel stops, he said.
Mr. Bush’s preference to not make these visits media events was confirmed by Maj. Gen Wesley E. Craig Jr. (Ret.), who serves as the interim president of the Liberty USO.
However in 2005, he was the commanding general of the 28th Division of the Pennsylvania National Guard. He personally witnessed such a visit by the president that year, while he was at Walter Reed Hospital visiting some of his troops who were wounded in Iraq.
He described a big commotion that happened as he was getting ready to meet some of the wounded from the 28th Division. A limousine drove up to the entrance of the hospital and out of the limousine came President Bush.
Mr. Craig asked one of the Medical Service Corps officers, a Lt. Col., how often the president visited the troops at Walter Reed.
“They see him a lot,” Mr. Craig said he was told by the Lt. Col. “He never brings any press with him. Sometimes he’ll bring Mrs. Bush. It has been this way for the past year.”
Michael P. Tremoglie can be contacted at mtremoglie@thebulletin.us.
Web sites such as Alternet and Commondreams.org have run stories asserting the president has not visited troops who were wounded or attended the funerals of those killed in action.
These articles said things like, “President Bush visited returning soldiers, but bypassed the wounded next door” or “Why does the U.S. commander in chief refuse to visit his wounded soldiers in their hospital beds?”
A Washington Post columnist wrote that the president did not only not attend the funeral of a soldier killed in action, but he did not send “his condolences either.”
This claim was circulated despite reports as early as April 11, 2003 that Mr. Bush visited wounded troops at Bethesda Medical Center and Walter Reed Hospital. After his April 11, 2003 visit, Mr. Bush held a press conference. He was asked if anything about the visit stood out.
He said, “Well, I think the thing that stood out the most to me was seeing two wounded soldiers swear-in as citizens of the United States: one man from Mexico, one man from the Philippines.”
Now it is being reported that he his reaching out to casualties and families of casualties were extensive.
Yesterday, the Washington Times reported that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have visited wounded troops and have personally contacted the families of those who were killed in action. The magnitude of this effort was not revealed publicly.
The paper said the president “sent personal letters to the families of every one of the more than 4,000 troops who have died in the two wars.”
The Times also reported that Mr. Bush, “met privately with more than 500 families of troops killed in action and with more than 950 wounded veterans, according to White House spokesman Carlton Carroll. Many of those meetings were outside the presence of the news media at the White House or at private sessions during official travel stops, he said.
Mr. Bush’s preference to not make these visits media events was confirmed by Maj. Gen Wesley E. Craig Jr. (Ret.), who serves as the interim president of the Liberty USO.
However in 2005, he was the commanding general of the 28th Division of the Pennsylvania National Guard. He personally witnessed such a visit by the president that year, while he was at Walter Reed Hospital visiting some of his troops who were wounded in Iraq.
He described a big commotion that happened as he was getting ready to meet some of the wounded from the 28th Division. A limousine drove up to the entrance of the hospital and out of the limousine came President Bush.
Mr. Craig asked one of the Medical Service Corps officers, a Lt. Col., how often the president visited the troops at Walter Reed.
“They see him a lot,” Mr. Craig said he was told by the Lt. Col. “He never brings any press with him. Sometimes he’ll bring Mrs. Bush. It has been this way for the past year.”
Michael P. Tremoglie can be contacted at mtremoglie@thebulletin.us.
Copyright © 2010 - The Bulletin