Thu, 08 Mar 2007 21:29

The Army is harassing patient soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Center in an attempt to suppress leaks to the media about conditions regarding hospital conditions reports the Army Times.

According to the Times some patients in the Medical Hold Unit have been ordered to wake up at 6 a.m. and have their rooms ready for inspection by 7 a.m. and not talk to the media.

“Some soldiers believe this a form of punishment for the trouble soldiers caused by talking to the media” one patient told the Times in reference to the recent expose by the Washington Post of poor conditions at Walter Reed hospital.

The soldiers told the Times that that “their first sergeant has been relieved of duy, and that all of the platoon sergeants have been moved to other positions at Walter Reed.”

The Defense Department has gone into a “circle the wagons” mode with regard to news coverage of military hospital systems including suspending cooperation with previously planned projects by CNN and the Discovery Channel, saying in an email “It will be in most cases not appropriate to engage the media while this review takes place,” a reference to the investigations concerning problems with Walter Reed.