Pentagon fired the wrong General...

From American Progress:

MILITARY -- KILEY'S APPOINTMENT TO HEAD WALTER REED 'DEMORALIZING':

Yesterday, the Army fired Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, the commander of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, who had been on the job just six months. The Army said "it had lost trust and confidence in his leadership in the wake of a scandal over outpatient treatment."

In Weightman's place, the Army temporarily reappointed Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, despite Kiley's history of ignoring the veterans' problems at the hospital. As the former commander of Walter Reed, Kiley knew about the outpatient neglect for several years. Beverly Young, wife of Rep. Bill Young (R-FL), said she complained to Kiley about a soldier who was sleeping in his own urine, but Kiley ignored her and "blamed everyone else."

Even now, "Kiley believes the problems at Walter Reed's famous building 18 'weren't serious,' and he has attacked the media's coverage of the issue as 'one-sided.'" The Washington Post reports that while Kiley was ignoring Walter Reed's outpatients, he misled Congress by painting rosy pictures of veterans' care at the hospital. In 2005, Kiley told a congressional hearing that Building 18 was a "good-news story" and said the Army officials made care at the medical facilities "a top priority."

Kiley even sat in on a congressional hearing in 2005 as one injured veteran called Walter Reed a "dysfunctional system" in which "soldiers go months without pay, nowhere to live, and their medical appointments canceled." Again, Kiley ignored the issue. Kiley's appointment is bound to be unpopular among both veterans and employees of Walter Reed. A defense official today said the appointment of Kiley will likely be "demoralizing to the staff at the medical center."

Wrap...