Washington – Senior U.S. Army commanders offered profuse apologies Monday for the poor treatment accorded many soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, but lawmakers expressed skepticism that the generals had been unaware of the problems until they were spotlighted by the media two weeks ago.
Congress opened a round of investigative hearings into the scandal only days after a major Army shakeup that followed Washington Post reports on squalid living conditions and bureaucratic tangles for soldiers receiving outpatient care. Walter Reed’s commander, Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, and Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey lost their jobs, and the Bush administration has established several panels to investigate the care being provided to wounded soldiers.
The subcommittee members heard first on Monday from two soldiers badly hurt in the war in Iraq, and from the spouse of another injured soldier, about their experiences at Walter Reed. Together, the trio’s stories set the emotional tenor for the testimony from military officials that followed.
Senior commanders sounded more contrite Monday than they did when the scandal first broke. At one point during several hours of hearings in the auditorium at Walter Reed, Weightman turned to the soldiers and families behind him and apologized “for not meeting their expectations, not only in the care provided, but also in having so many bureaucratic processes.”
“I promise we will do better,” Weightman said.
Lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans alike, seemed receptive to the candor voiced at the hearing of a panel of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, but they also cited earlier warnings from internal memos, government audits and media reports.
“I have to tell you, the first thing that pops into my mind is: Where’ve you been? Where has all the brass been?” said Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., who convened the hearing as chairman of the national security and foreign affairs subcommittee.
Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, the Army surgeon general, came in for tough criticism Monday for his role as commander of Walter Reed from 2002 until 2004, when problems were developing at the facility, and as surgeon general since 2004, with responsibility for the Army medical command.
Kiley accepted responsibility but defended his motives. “I’ve spent my entire life taking care of patients, training doctors to take care of patients. And I’m committed to Army medicine and committed to taking care of soldiers and their families.”
Soldiers add emotion
Monday’s emotional impact was provided by the three witnesses speaking on behalf of patients at Walter Reed.
Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon was shot in the head during a firefight near Ramadi in November 2004 and has languished at Walter Reed ever since, awaiting surgery so he can be fitted with a prosthetic eye, while paperwork for his retirement from the Army has been on hold.
But his ire was less about his own treatment than about the sense of betrayal he feels for the younger, wounded soldiers he has tried to shepherd through the bureaucracy at Walter Reed.
“I will not see young men and women who have had their lives shattered in service to their country receive anything less than dignity and respect,” said Shannon, who at times said he was having difficulty controlling his anger.
Red tape
He said some injured troops encounter so much bureaucracy that they give up and forgo benefits to which they are entitled.
Spec. Jeremy Duncan spoke out when he could not get the mold in his room removed. “It wasn’t fit for anybody to live in a room like that,” he said.
Annette McLeod, whose husband suffered a brain injury near the Iraqi border, described her frustration at getting help from the chain of command at Walter Reed. She scoffed at suggestions that higher-ups did not know of the problems.
“I have one question: Were they deaf?” she said. “Because I worked the chain. I went anywhere they would listen. So if you don’t want to hear it, you don’t want to hear it.”
Before Monday’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.
The New York Times contributed to this report.
