The Walter Reed Affair

A colleague pointed out this quote from Dances with the Blue-Faced Picts, er, Braveheart:

Longshanks: Not the archers. My scouts tell me their archers are miles away and no threat to us. Arrows cost money. Use up the Irish. Their dead cost nothing.

Longshanks, of course, was reincarnated as Donald Rumsfeld. Or maybe Dick Cheney. Or Bush. Or all three.

So it was no great surprise to learn of the scandalous conditions our wounded soldiers suffered in Walter Reed Hospital. Dana Priest and Anne Hull dug up the story for the Washington Post - Dana Priest in particular is a shining light for the often crappy WP. When the Republicans still ruled Congress they might have been able to hush this up, but that's tougher now.

A general and the Secretary of the Army have already been canned. I would say that at least one more general looks severely endangered, but of course the blame doesn't stop there.

YESTERDAY THE Post reported that Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley heard years ago from a veterans advocate and even a member of Congress that outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was distressingly squalid and disorganized. That commander proceeded to do little, even though he lives across the street from the outpatient facilities in a spacious Georgian house. Also yesterday, the Army announced that Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, the head of Walter Reed since August, had been relieved of his command. His temporary replacement? None other than Gen. Kiley.

Here's where the story stops making sense. Much of The Post's article detailed the abuse by omission that Gen. Kiley, not Gen. Weightman, committed, first as head of Walter Reed, then in his current post as Army surgeon general. Gen. Weightman, who very well might deserve his disgrace, has commanded Walter Reed for only half a year, while Gen. Kiley, now back in charge of Walter Reed, headed the hospital and its outpatient facilities for two years and has led the Army's medical command since. Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and his wife say they repeatedly told Gen. Kiley about unhealthful conditions in outpatient facilities.

While Gen. Kiley was ignoring Walter Reed's outpatients, he was assuring Congress that he was doing just the opposite...

The blame doesn't stop with Kiley, either. Bush and Rumsfeld, in particular, were always cavalier about the soldiers. Providing the soldiers with adequate body armor, or vehicles suited to the Iraq war, were never priorities for them. Evidently, caring for the wounded wasn't either.