Hard to imagine any high-level heads rolling over the Walter Reed scandal if Don Rumsfeld were still secretary of defense. So give Bob Gates at least some credit, but he’s still got his work cut out for him if the Pentagon is littered with Rumsfeld hires like Army Secretary Francis Harvey:
Pentagon officials said Gates was angry that as the scandal unfolded, the Army relieved the commander of Walter Reed, Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who had been in that job for only about half a year, and replaced him with Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, the Army surgeon general, who had previously commanded Walter Reed and was said by soldiers, their families and veterans’ advocates to have long been aware of problems at the medical complex.
Harvey defended his decision to temporarily appoint Kiley as Walter Reed’s commander. He said Kiley called him a few days ago and lambasted The Washington Post’s series on the medical center. “He called me and said, ‘I’m willing to defend myself. . . . I want to have an opportunity to defend myself, and it was wrong and it was yellow journalism at its worst, and I plan on doing it. Trust me.’ ” Harvey said. “I said, ‘Okay, Kevin.’ ” Harvey added that Kiley was to be in the job only about a week until they could make a “thoughtful decision on who should replace him.”
Okay, Kevin? Now that’s leadership.
