The Counter-deception Blog

Warner: Defense Closures 'Rigged'
Va. senator says Rumsfeld improperly manipulated base realignment to move jobs out of D.C. area.
(By Spencer S. Hsu, The Washington Post)

http://letters.washingtonpost.com/W7RH04973E996C261C47F3D5BEA460

Most of the BRAC opposition has been based on the logic and wisdom of the closures. For examples, governors have been unhappy about losing their militias (Guard bases and units). This is the first major Republican politician to claim that the process was manipulated for political purposes. Warner has been a stalwart defender of all things military but is no particular friend of the District of Columbia.

I only know what I read in the funny papers, but as a frequent visitor to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, I’ve witnessed 10s of millions of dollars of new construction and enhancements in the last decade, which would have to be rebuilt elsewhere. Walter Reed is the center for the rehabilitation of hundreds of wounded Afghanistan and Iraq soldiers, and continues to be a center of research on tropical diseases and HIV. The DoD claim that Walter Reed’s functions can be served by Bethesda Naval Medical Center are, frankly, absurd. Bethesda is even more space-constrained than Walter Reed and would required millions of dollars of new construction. However, Walter Reed is in the District of Columbia, while Bethesda is in the much more conservative Bethesda Maryland suburbs.