Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, Walter Reed's commander from 2002 to 2004, responded when asked about the squalid conditions there: "I don't do barracks inspections at Walter Reed."
The Washington Post
Tuesday, March 6, 2007; A01
Kevin Kiley, the three-star general in charge of all Army medical facilities, seemed stumped as he testified yesterday about his responsibility for the Walter Reed scandal.
"I'm trying not to say that I'm not accountable," he told members of the House oversight committee.
But try as he might, he couldn't fix blame on himself.
How could he not have known that wounded soldiers were living in squalid conditions across the street from his own home? "I don't do barracks inspections at Walter Reed," he said.
Why did he assure Congress in 2005 that the Walter Reed bureaucracy was improving, even though many soldiers were languishing in neglect at the facility? "In my role as the MedCom commander," he said, "Walter Reed was not my only command."
What did he do when a government report in 2006 found numerous problems at the now-infamous Building 18? "My staff informed me that the Walter Reed staff was working it."
Lawmakers on the committee, who were visiting Walter Reed Army Medical Center for a field hearing yesterday, quickly tired of the general's I-don't-do-windows routine. Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) accused him of spouting "hogwash." Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) called his position "dishonest."
"I want you to know that I think this is a massive failure of competence in management and command," said Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.), pointing his finger at Kiley.
After Hodes's harangue, Kiley replied, "I command by commanding through my commanders and trusting them to execute the mission."
Sitting shoulder to shoulder with Kiley was one such commander, Gen. George Weightman, who last week was fired as chief of Walter Reed after just six months on the job. Weightman and Kiley, who ran Walter Reed from 2002 to 2004, wore matching Army dress uniforms, but their responses could not have been more divergent. While Kiley deflected blame, Weightman freely admitted failure -- even though the victims of Walter Reed's neglect testified, and the House committee members agreed, that he was not to blame.
"He was, in my perspective, being punished because he caught the tail end of it," testified Annette McLeod, whose ordeal with her wounded soldier-husband, Dell, was one of those chronicled in a Washington Post series on Walter Reed. "Because somebody had to be the fall guy, he was there."
After Annette McLeod's testimony, the couple sat in the first row of the audience, just three feet from Weightman and Kiley as the two generals testified. "The McLeods are right behind you," pointed out Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va). "Do you have anything you want to say to them?"
"I feel terrible for them," said Kiley, keeping his back to the McLeods. "We have got to double our efforts, redouble our efforts, to make these kind of cases disappear in the system."
Weightman, by contrast, turned around to the McLeods and spoke warmly, addressing Annette directly. "I'd just like to apologize for not meeting their expectations, not only in the care provided, but also in having so many bureaucratic processes that just took your fortitude to be an advocate for your husband that you shouldn't have to do," Weightman said, as Kiley finally turned to face the McLeods. "I promise we will do better."
When the two generals were eventually excused, Weightman again turned to the McLeods and shook hands with them; though he spoke quietly, the words "I'm sorry" were clear. Kiley left the room without a glance backward.
Members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee shook their heads in amazement as Annette McLeod testified tearfully that she didn't know her husband had been hurt in Iraq "until he called me himself from a hospital in New Jersey."
They reacted similarly when another Walter Reed patient profiled by The Post, Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon, spoke about how, while recovering from being shot in the head in Iraq, he was left "extremely disoriented" to wander the Walter Reed campus alone in search of an outpatient facility. The third member of the panel, Spec. Jeremy Duncan, who had two studs where his left ear used to be, described the "unforgivable" squalor of his room at Walter Reed.
But nobody blamed Weightman. "I don't think he should have been fired," said Shannon, wearing a patch over his missing eye.
The lawmakers seemed to agree. "There appears to be a pattern developing here that we've seen before," said Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) "First deny, then try to cover up, then designate a fall guy." Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) advised Weightman that "you probably have a little more blame being laid at your doorstep than I think is probably appropriate." And Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.) shared the view of a colleague's wife that Kiley "skirted this stuff for five years and blamed everyone else."
Weightman was not so easy on himself; he pleaded guilty repeatedly to a "failure of leadership," and said lawmakers were "absolutely right" to question what was "obviously a failure."
Kiley started off in similar fashion, saying he was "personally and professionally sorry" and acknowledging: "I share these failures." But the further he got from his prepared testimony, the less contrite he became. He was blameless after Walter Reed shifted maintenance to a private contractor in 2004. "I was not the commander then."
Shouldn't top officers make sure proper care is being given at every level? "I don't get involved at my level . . . at an individual issue."
Will he find a way to break down privacy obstacles that hampered proper care? "I'm not in charge of it, but I'll take care of it."
Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), like his colleagues, was skeptical about Weightman's guilt and Kiley's self-exoneration; he wondered if Kiley thought the problems at Walter Reed "have been in existence for over six months."
Kiley responded with something about "two 15-6 investigations" and something else about the "MEB/PEB process."
"The information we have to date is that General Weightman in fact was trying to work through these problems; he's been fired," Welch continued. "Is that an appropriate response to the situation?"
"That is a decision for the civilian leadership," Kiley answered.
Whatever the merits of Weightman's dismissal, the problems at Walter Reed have not disappeared with him. Before yesterday's hearing, a patient with a prosthetic arm tried to get in but was stopped by a guard, who asked if the young man was supposed to be in the hearing. "I'd like to be," the soldier said.
"It's preselected, unfortunately," the guard replied. The young amputee walked away. Inside, three rows of seats had been reserved for the Army; almost all were empty.
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