Related articles:

Carmona draws support, criticism White House muzzled me, Carmona says

Education
Assessment Technology, Inc
Social Studies Content Writer General
CORT
Warehouse Supervisor Construction
Komatsu Equipment Co
Mechanic General
CORT
WAREHOUSE/DRIVER Health Care
Rio Salado College
PA's/Online Instructors

The testimony of Tucson trauma surgeon Richard Carmona, one of three former surgeons general who appeared before a House committee Tuesday, demonstrated the extent to which President Bush and his operatives manipulate science to serve their political agenda.

The information was not new. It basically reaffirmed much of what we've been hearing for several years from the Union of Concerned Scientists and other organizations. That didn't make it any less disturbing.

The bottom line is this, as Carmona learned: In the Bush White House, if scientific facts do not serve the president's ideological or philosophical agenda, the facts are either ignored or manipulated to serve his political purpose.

This is an example of mismanagement. There is absolutely no value in hiring a surgeon general like Carmona and then ignoring the expertise he brings to the office.

Carmona, known literally and figuratively as a straight shooter, evidently waited until other surgeons general agreed to join him in publicly discussing the degree to which the Bush White House has manipulated information for political purposes.

Testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Carmona said he was forbidden to speak out on such timely issues as stem-cell research, abstinence, sexual health, abortion and emergency contraception when the science didn't support the president's political views.

When Carmona returned to Tucson — his term as surgeon general was not renewed — we were baffled by his silence. He'd obviously stepped on the wrong toes in Washington or he would still be there with his fancy admiral's uniform.

"I wasn't asked to stay, largely for not being a team player. . . . Yes, I think that contributed to their decision," he said in Wednesday's Star. "But by then, I wasn't sure I was going to stay. I was tired of the political battles day after day, of being so often at odds with the political agenda."

Perhaps the White House was dazzled by Carmona's action-figure image of a high school dropout who helped save a life in a helicopter rescue and killed an armed suspect in a shootout. Gone unnoticed must have been Carmona's outspoken style, the breach-of-contract suit and public apology in the form of a full-page ad in the Star he won against Tucson Medical Center, and his conflicts with the Pima County Health Commission while he was head of the county health system.

Carmona is anything but politically expedient.

Speaking on behalf of himself and former surgeons general Dr. C. Everett Koop, appointed by President Reagan, and Dr. David Satcher, appointed by President Clinton, he declared, "We all feel the American public should be outraged that we cannot communicate with them on the merits of the science of these vital health issues."

The White House blamed Carmona. "It's disappointing to us if he failed to use his position to the fullest extent in advocating for policies he thought were in the best interests of the nation," Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto said in the Star.

But Carmona said he kept his mouth shut when his four-year term was not renewed because he feared that if he spoke his mind publicly he would be regarded as "just a disgruntled person, an unhappy camper."

So he waited until he had Koop and Satcher on board. "We are all saying essentially the same thing — that we have a dysfunctional system."

White House policymakers should have been listening most closely to Carmona. Instead, they circled the wagons, silenced the messenger and jeopardized public health.