-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 2, 2007 6:36:10 PM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Why Did Walter Reed Become a Hell-Hole? One Word:
HALLIBURTON!
Army secretary quits in Walter Reed scandal
By Aamer Madhani and John Biemer
Tribune staff reporters
Published March 2, 2007, 7:26 PM CST
WASHINGTON -- Mired in controversy over the deplorable conditions
at one of the Army's pre-eminent facilities for treating battle-
scarred troops, Army Secretary Francis Harvey abruptly resigned
Friday as the White House announced it would conduct a
comprehensive review of the military's care of wounded soldiers.
Harvey's resignation came just a day after he ousted the two-star
general who was commander of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center
here after revelations that soldiers recovering from wounds
suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan were being housed in moldy
quarters, infested by mice and cockroaches.
Harvey had replaced the fired Maj. George Weightman as the head of
Walter Reed with Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, a temporary replacement
whose role in the scandal is still in question. Harvey's move
angered Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who announced late Friday
that he had accepted Harvey's resignation and that under-secretary
Peter Geren would serve as acting secretary of the Army until a
permanent replacement could be found. The Army also announced that
Kiley would be replaced by Maj. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the
commanding general of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel
Command at Ft. Detrick, Md.
The Washington Post, which uncovered the decrepit conditions at
Walter Reed, reported that Kiley had received complaints as early
as 2003 but had done nothing to rectify the situation. After the
newspaper's initial reports about the conditions late last month,
Kiley derided the coverage as "one-sided."
Gates did not take questions from reporters, but made it clear that
Harvey's ouster was related to his handling of the controversy.
"I am disappointed that some in of the Army have not adequately
appreciated the seriousness of the situation pertaining to
outpatient care at Walter Reed," Gates said. "Some have shown too
much defensiveness and have not shown enough focus on digging into
and addressing the problems."
The White House also announced on Friday that a presidential
commission would review conditions at Walter Reed. President Bush
expressed disappointment over the handling of the revelations and
said that he has directed Gates to assess the situation, according
to a White House transcript of the president's weekly radio address
that is scheduled to air Saturday morning.
"These servicemen and women deserve the thanks of our country, and
they deserve the best care our nation can provide," Bush said
according to the transcript. "Yet some of our troops at Walter Reed
have experienced bureaucratic delays and living conditions that are
less than they deserve. This is unacceptable to me, it is
unacceptable to our country, and it's not going to continue."
Veterans Affairs Secretary James Nicholson toured the Marionjoy
Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton, Ill., west of Chicago on
Friday. He said that the VA is doing its own inquiry into the care
provided at its 155 medical centers throughout the country, which
serve a million veterans a week, "to make sure that things are
getting done the way they're supposed to be done."
Nicholson said that overall the VA is doing a good job in providing
care for wounded veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan
wars.
"But these injuries are so serious that if there is just one that
falls through the crack, it's unacceptable and it's painful to know
about and so we have to get it perfect and that's the goal of the
VA and I'm sure that's the goal of the Army," said Nicholson, who
was also in town for a DuPage County Republican fundraiser.
Both the Senate and House armed services committees are planning
hearings on the Walter Reed scandal, which has been compounded by
recent news reports that many wounded Iraq veterans are receiving
inadequate treatment from a beleaguered veterans health care system.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform announced it
had issued a subpoena to compel Weightman, the ousted head of
Walter Reed, to appear at a hearing on Monday to testify about an
effort to privatize support services at Walter Reed.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the House Armed Services committee
chairman, and Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.), chairman of the national
security and foreign affairs subcommittee, told Weightman in a
letter that privatization efforts at Walter Reed may have led to
the management staff being cut [80%] from 300 to under 60 earlier
this year.
Walter Reed awarded a five-year, $120 million contract to IAP
Worldwide Services for base operation support services, according
to the letter. That company is tied to a former senior official of
Halliburton, which has won millions of dollars in U.S. contracts
for providing support services in Iraq and Afghanistan. Vice
President Dick Cheney served as Halliburton's chief executive from
1995 to 2000.
"It would be reprehensible if the deplorable conditions were caused
or aggravated by an ideological commitment to privatize services
regardless of the costs to taxpayers and the consequences for
wounded soldiers," Waxman and Tierney wrote.
Aamer Madhani reported from Washington and John Biemer from Wheaton.
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