We Need Action to Go With That Outrage

This is a continuing series of posts that follow up the lawsuit against the Veterans Administration and highlights what happened yesterday before a Congressional Committee.

That's all well and good--now follow it up with something that forces these people to act and that holds them accountable for their massive fuck-up:

...Committee Chairman Bob Filner lashed out at the man in charge, Secretary James Peake, accusing the V.A. of "criminal negligence," reports CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian.
"What we see is a pattern -- deny, deny, cover up, cover up," Filner said.

Filner's colleagues quickly followed, piling anger on top of disbelief.

With his embattled Director of Mental Health Dr. Ira Katz at his side, Secretary Peake presented a detailed series of charts and graphs generally backing CBS News suicide data.

"I've never had a concern with their overall numbers," Katz told the committee.

"We're as far from hiding information from the public as anyone I know," Peake said.

But several lawmakers weren't buying it, citing a Feb. 13 e-mail titled "Not for CBS News" where Katz appears to be trying to keep attempted suicide numbers quiet.

These bastards have to go. Replace them with people who care and who will work hard to fix this problem.

A Dark Week For the Department of Veterans Affairs

We expect resignations this week. Lots of them. Barring that, hopefully, these officials will have the decency to at least start owning up to their colossal lies and outrageous mistakes.

A top-ranking official at the Department of Veterans Affairs defends the agency's treatment of disabled veterans and denies the agency has tried to cover up the number of veterans committing suicide. Dr. Michael Kussman, a department undersecretary for health, testified during a trial in San Francisco federal court that will determine whether the VA is shirking its duty to provide adequate mental health care and other medical services to millions of veterans.

The two veterans groups suing the VA want U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti to order the agency to dramatically improve how fast it processes applications and how it delivers mental health care, especially when it comes to preventing suicides and treating post-traumatic stress disorder.

This trial actually features some lawyers who are willing to put the VA under some scrutiny and challenge their methods. For other agencies and for other issues like public safety, public health and public housing, hopefully this trial will serve as the framework for beginning the process of unravelling the incompetence and the outrageous behavior of the Bush Administration:

The groups contend that veteran suicides are rising at alarming rates in large part because of VA failures. In court, plaintiffs' lawyer Arturo Gonzalez clashed Thursday with Kussman over how to compile and report the suicide rates.

For instance, VA Secretary James Peake told Congress in a Feb. 5 letter that 144 combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed suicide between October 2001 and December 2005.

But Gonzalez produced internal VA e-mails that contended that 18 veterans a day were committing suicide. Kussman countered that the figure, provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, included all 26 million veterans in the country, including aging Vietnam veterans who are reporting an increased number of health problems.

You know, lying is a good way to get your ass in a sling, especially if you're in a position of public trust:

Gonzalez also asked Kussman to explain several e-mail chains among agency officials that discussed an unwillingness to share suicide statistics with CBS News, which was preparing a story on the subject.

"I don't want to give CBS any more numbers on veterans suicides or attempts than they already have - it will only lead to more questions," wrote Everett A. Chasen, chief communications officer in a March 10 e-mail to several VA officials.

On Monday, the first day of trial, an e-mail message written in December by Dr. Ira Katz, the agency's mental health director, was given as evidence. It alerted Kussman and others that 12,000 veterans under VA care were attempting suicide a year.

"Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?" the e-mail asks.

Katz also reported that of the average of 18 military veterans who kill themselves each day, four to five of them are under VA care when it happens.

Three Democratic senators, including Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, called for Katz's dismissal this week.

"I disagree with the premise that there was some effort to cover something up," Kussman testified Thursday. "We don't obfuscate."

Well, the E-mail chain says otherwise. Hopefully, these men will do the right thing and leave public life. This wasn't their thing, apparently, and they've done a great disservice to Veterans. Now that Doug Feith is out of work, maybe they can all get together and start a company that gives people bad advice and then covers it up--that might get some play. My advice is, give that service to retiring Republican Congressmen who face indictment or disgrace and quit playing with the lives of people who have actually served this country.

Veteran's Administration HID Suicides - a Follow-up

We're following this story, and we are picking our jaws up off the floor over THIS revelation:

In San Francisco federal court Monday, attorneys for veterans' rights groups accused the VA of nothing less than a cover-up - deliberately concealing the real risk of suicide among veterans.

"The system is in crisis and unfortunately the VA is in denial," said Veterans Rights Attorney Gordon Erspamer.

The charges were backed by internal emails written by Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's head of Mental Health.

In the past, Katz has repeatedly insisted while the risk of suicide among veterans is serious, it's not outside the norm.

"There is no epidemic in suicide in VA," Katz told Keteyian in November.

But in this e-mail to his top media advisor, written two months ago, Katz appears to be saying something very different, stating: "Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our metical facilities."

Katz's email was written shortly after the VA provided CBS News data showing there were only 790 attempted suicides in all 2007 - a fraction of Katz's estimate.

"This 12,000 attempted suicides per year shows clearly, without a doubt, that there is an epidemic of suicide among veterans," said Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense.

And it appears that Katz went out of his way to conceal these numbers.

First, he titled his e-mail: "Not for the CBS News Interview Request."

He opened it with "Shh!" - as in keep it quiet - before ending with
"Is this something we should (carefully) address … before someone stumbles on it?"

Today we showed the e-mail to Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., who chairs the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.

"This is disgraceful. This is a crime against our nation, our nation's veterans," Filner told CBS News. "They do not want to come to grips with the reality, with the truth."

And that's not all.

Last November when CBS Newsexposed an epidemic of more than 6,200 suicides in 2005 among those who had served in the military, Katz attacked our report.

"Their number is not, in fact, an accurate reflection of the rate," he said last November.

But it turns out they were, as Katz admitted in this e-mail, just three days later.

He wrote: there "are about 18 suicides per day among America's 25 million veterans."

CLICK the link and go to the original CBS News story--it's full of evidence that shows possible malfeasance and outright lying by the VA. It's worth the read, and they're doing a great job keeping us informed--show them some love. I think we'll be reading about the departure of Dr. Katz before too long...

Critical Mass

It's a critical mass of factors. The length of this war, the nature of the fight, the lack of adequate protective gear, the lack of medical care while on active duty, the shortage of available care when people get out of the military--ALL of these things are contributing to the destruction of a generation of military members:

According to Army statistics, the incidence of U.S. Army soldiers attempting suicide or inflicting injuries on themselves has skyrocketed in the nearly five years since the start of the Iraq war.

Last year's 2,100 attempted suicides -- an average of more than 5 per day -- compares with about 350 suicide attempts in 2002, the year before the war in Iraq began, according to the Army.

The figures also show the number of suicides by active-duty troops in 2007 may reach an all-time high when the statistics are finalized in March, Army officials said.

The Army lists 89 soldier deaths in 2007 as suicides and is investigating 32 more as possible suicides. Suicide rates already were up in 2006 with 102 deaths, compared with 87 in 2005.

More later...but Senator Jim Webb is sponsoring legislation that will start to address these issues. We'll have more this week.

UPDATE I - PALE RIDER

Here's the info from Senator Webb's website:

Webb Calls for Stronger Suicide Prevention Programs in Defense Department

"Armed Forces Suicide Prevention Act" One of Many Webb-Supported Measures to Address Troop Welfare

Washington, DC- With new reports this week showing a steady rise in U.S. Army suicides among its active-duty personnel since the invasion of Iraq, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) and several of his colleagues introduced a bill that would direct the Department of Defense to enhance its suicide-prevention programs. The legislation, Webb said, “places greater emphasis on the well-being and welfare of our troops.”

The “Armed Forces Suicide Prevention Act” mandates an evaluation and enhancement of the military’s suicide prevention programs to ensure that they address the combat stress faced by troops today. The bill also establishes an outreach campaign to soldiers and families to reduce the stigma associated with mental health problems and to encourage those needing help to seek it.