DJP Update 11-20-2010 America, we are are war! Time for Congress to shape up
This Thanksgiving, as we give thanks for our many blessings in this great land of opportunity, this EXCEPTIONAL Nation that has shed blood and treasure fighting for freedom around the world since the beginning of the USA, let us also reflect and ponder the current war. Americans are dying in a far-away land.
There hardly was a mention of this war in the November mid-term elections.
Consider what is happening right now in Task Force Dustoff.
The following excerpt is from an article by Jerome Starkey published today in London in the London Sunday Times and the scene is a US soldier in a Blackhawk helicopter en route to Kandahar airfield.
The soldier’s face was grey with dust, grass poked out of the stumps where his legs should have been and his skin was charred black where the blast had shredded his forearm.
His Friends thought he was dead by the time the medics flew in… Barely 20 minutes after the foot patrol in southern Afghanistan was hit by the roadside blast, the soldier and an Afghan colleague, both critically injured, were on their way to Kandahar airfield’s military hospital.
The Afghan soldier lay unconscious, gurgling blood, next to the American amputee. His lips were missing and his eyes were caked shut with gore.
…
These are the catastrophic injuries that the men and women of Task Force Dustoff deal with almost every day. With record numbers of US and NATO troops suffering unprecedented levels of violence, it is the medics charged with flying into enemy fire to save them who endure the horrors and the hazards of war, far more than ever before. …At the height of the summer fighting season some flew ten rescue missions a day. …
In a single day in July, five helicopters flew home with homes in the fuselage from enemy fire. In June the Taleban (as spelled in article) shot down a US Air Force rescue helicopter, from a different unit, over Sangin, killing all four on board. The Taleban lay mines where they think helicopters might land and offer bounties to anyone who can shoot them out of the sky.
… Advances in battlefield medicine and the speed with which patients are transferred from the point of injury to a place of surgery have seen survival rates soar. Unfortunately, this amputee was not so lucky. The Afghan soldier survived but suffered brain damage.
He may also lose his sight.
—————
DJP Comment: read the entire article. It is 980 words long but these excerpts give the essence of what the brave soldiers fighting against terrorism face. It is located at: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/
Why mention this article? Because we must reflect on our role in the world and our approach to fighting terrorism. In my opinion, there is more attention to the debate about airport security scanners and enhanced pat-downs than the overall approach to the war, a war that is America’s “longest-ever”.
It is a war on terror. It is not an “Overseas Contingency Operation”. Let us stop the Humpty-Dumpty changing of the meanings of words or using euphemisms like “Reception Centers”, one of the terms used after President Roosevelt ordered the internment camps where individuals of “foreign enemy ancestry” (Japanese-Americans of the West were affected the most) were placed after the attack on Pearl Harbor via Executive Order 1066 issued February 19, 1942. And today we have the Fed speaking of “Quantitative easing”. Does that mean print more paper money and devaluate our savings? History might suggest that is a road to disaster. Let Congress and the Administration call things for what they are. Use Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style” as a guide.
And so I ask these questions as I make my personal reflection for this Thanksgiving Day holiday.
1- Is not the purpose of war to win? Do we not have examples from previous wars that America fought? Was WWII fought differently from the Korean War and the Vietnam War?
My study indicates that whatever it took, that is what was done in WWII. In the Korean War and the Vietnam War, I see political considerations affecting and impeding the action of brave military men and women. And the results were different!
Consider President Harry Truman in 1945 in WWII. He decided that more people would die on both sides by continuing the status quo of war as the invasion of Japan was imminent after the bloodiest battle of the war, namely the Battle of Okinawa in the Pacific, was won by America. So he made a decision and lived by it. He demanded surrender of Japan. They refused. He dropped an Atomic Bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima on August 6,1945. They did not surrender. He dropped a second one, “Fat Man”, this time on Nakasaki on August 9. Then unconditional surrender by Japan occurred. Think about that. A Democratic President ordered the dropping of TWO Atomic Bombs.
Do not think I am suggesting we drop Atomic Bombs! What I am suggesting is President Truman gathered the facts, made a decision, and acted on it. No “political correctness”. No checking of the polls.
2- Why did not Congress immediately evaluate the loss of life from IEDs or roadside bombs (Improvised Explosive Devices) in the Middle East battles and get the equipment to protect our soldiers? A primitive but effective weapon is killing and maiming our troops. When at war, focus on the war! A government report of 2006 can be found at: http://www.usembassy.it/pdf/other/RS22330.pdf
Immediate retrofitting of vehicles with armor as soon as the first IED detonated would be a logical approach. This at least protects those in vehicles.
It offends me to think of what Congress has done with the disaster of a law know as PPACA. The Speaker said we would have to pass so we could find out what was in it. That is an assault on our intelligence. Every week more bad effects of the law are being exposed. And more are asking and getting special dispensation. And the way it was passed is insulting to Americans. But I digress again. Sorry.
Why not focus on the war. Find out who is corrupt over there. Stop funding corrupt people. Teach but let the folks who live in those countries with terrorists take the lead in the local terrain. Remember, the enemy can move from country to country. Are we going to be at war in all of these countries that the terrorists move to?
3- If the goal is democracy, liberty, and freedom in the countries we are trying to help, does that become the reason we are there? If so, what about North Korea, Iran, and on and on. Do we go to war there? Money, treasure, and blood does not grow on trees as we all know. If we resort to bloodletting of our citizens by war, spending money we don’t have, increasing taxes and suppressing the economic engine of our Country, soon America will stop being the Land of the Brave and the Home of the Free. We will suffer the fate depicted in the poem Ozymandias by Shelley.
If the goal of the war is to stop terrorism, then notify the countries who harbor the terrorists that it is necessary for them to deliver the terrorists or we will be at war with them. Be strong. The enemy does not respect weakness. Stop the “political correctness.” Negotiate from strength. Give a consistent message that American is not going to genuflect. We are going to protect our citizens.
4- Consider the following idea that continues to occur to me: Every time we go to war, let’s pick at random a certain number of U.S. Senators, perhaps 4, to go to the front lines of battle as embedded folks from Congress. Just like brave reporters who volunteer to embed with the troops. But for those in Congress, it will not be voluntary. Consider it a mandate or condition to serve in Congress. Congress understands the health insurance mandate so the idea should not be foreign to them. As for U.S. House of Representatives, let’s pick perhaps 16, and do the same with them. These individuals will spend 6 weeks in battle, not in some far-back command post, but riding on patrols, etc.
After 6 weeks, pick 4 substitute Senators and 16 replacement Representatives. Continue that until the war is ended.
What would that do? Number one, it would allow the members of Congress to experience the risk. The failure to get protective armor on all vehicles would be fixed immediately. Great bullet-proof vest would be available to all. Whatever the soldiers wear, the Congress folks would wear. All will be equal. No different health plan for the Congress folks. Same problems for them with the SGR as for Medicare, Medicaid, and Military individuals. Same rules for all. No sightseeing tours behind protective well-fortified shelters. Engage in the battlefield. I suspect our time at war would come to a close much sooner. It certainly would eliminate the statement by a senator to the brave General Petraeus at a senate hearing on the war, “I think that the reports that you provide to us really require a willing suspension of disbelief.”
With my recommendation, the senators could form their own opinion and not suspend anything. They might want to SUSPEND their presence in the war as well as America’s or get whatever is needed for the troops to get the job done.
5- Finally, let’s consider a constitutional amendment to limit service in the U.S. Senate to two 6-year terms and in the House of Representatives, three 2-year terms. Forget the arguments that we need the experience of people in office for decades. That approach has brought us to near bankruptcy. When folks are in power too long, there is the risk of arrogance. Perhaps you have noted that from time to time. Remember, the President of the United States is limited to two terms. There is no reason not to limit the terms of those in Congress.
LAGNIAPPE: The SGR. Send a message that doctors are taking off the chains. Allow balance-billing. Allow private-contracting without penalty. Only a minority of folks in Congress are doctors so there are not enough people in Congress to handle the patient care. Eloquence is great but does nothing for a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. Takes more than words to fix that problem! Patients need their doctors.
And AMA, the doctors of America need strong leadership manifest by action in the days ahead. The profession of Medicine depends on it. This is your chance. Don’t fail!
Happy Thanksgiving! May you have a joyful and healthy celebration. And if you are traveling and see soldiers in uniform in the airport, go up to those brave men and women and thank them for their service. I always do and I feel better for having done it. Those of us who have had the privilege to serve in the military have witnessed bravery on the part of these loyal Americans.
Stay well,
Donald
P.S. Stop by http://twitter.com/DJPNEWS and sign up for DJPNEWS to get tweet alerts that may not make it into DJP Updates. Twitter is free and takes minutes to join. Put email in and pick password. Great source of breaking news and you don’t flood your email with it. You can get free app for BlackBerry or IPhone etc and you check on tweets when you want.
Also, recent selected DJP Updates can be found at: http://donaldpalmisano.com/djp_update/
Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD
Intrepid Resources® / The Medical Risk Manager Company
5000 West Esplanade Ave., #432
Metairie, Louisiana USA 70006
504-455-5895 office
504-455-9392 fax
This DJP Update goes to 2317 leaders in Medicine representing all of the State Medical Associations and over 100 Specialty Societies plus some other friends.
You can share it with your members and it has the potential to reach 800,000 physicians.
To join the list, send me an email stating “Join DJP Update”
To get off the list, state ” Remove DJP Update” in subject line.