NO WHISTLEBLOWERS, NO MISCONDUCT, NO “SHREDDERGATE”
60 MINUTES DISAPPOINTS VETS
By Gordon Duff/STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor
Veterans around the country waited for validation last night. 60 minutes was going to run an expose on their years, sometimes decades of suffering at that hand of a governmental bureaucracy gone mad now know as the Department of Veterans Affairs. Little was mentioned about Vietnam veterans who have waited, some for decades, most dying, not only without “disability compensation” but many for lack of medical treatment, often for service connected illnesses.
Senior VA employees were ready to speak of millions of destroyed documents, daily mail shreddings and the lives it has destroyed. Not one word was said. This is a key part of the failed process that was central to the CBS story, something reported thru other media but missed by 60 minutes thru carelessness. The illegal prosecution and imprisonment of “Shreddergate” whisleblower Keith Roberts was never heard nor the endless number of veterans whose cases show histories of criminal misconduct by the VA, made it to the screen.
Talking about one area of what CBS continually channeled the program to, “management problems” and then offsetting reports of the mildest VA errors the continual bleating of our new VA claims manager who believes “everything is fixed” is an insult to the living and the dead.
It would have been better to see nothing at all than to have a few minutes of edit and watered down superficial treatment of a problem that has destroyed the lives of generations of veterans.
With tens of thousands of Vietnam veterans to choose from, many of whom have had cases pending for 20 years and who have long and well established records of combat in Vietnam, CBS chose a vet who has no records at all, other than his personal recollections.
Even if the vet is honest, he was an extremely poor choice by CBS as was everyone but Paul Sullivan.
CBS had a chance to do it right, deal with an American tragedy and scandal of massive proportions and they turned it into a minor segment, a third rate PR piece for the VA and a few short and highly edited quotes from interested parties.
Every day I am contacted with veterans whose cases are far beyond anything CBS claims to have been able to find. The human cost of the massive fraud and abuse that was presented in a half hearted manner by 60 minutes has been eliminated. People got to see a minor problem, nobody killing themselves, nobody homeless, no children dying for lack of health care, something children of disabled veterans do in the real world, in fact, nothing “real world” at all.
I congratulate CBS for trivializing Americas veterans.
VT Senior Editor Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran and regular contributor on political and social issues.
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
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