1. authority
  2. Heck of a job.

Heck of a job.

By tqa on March 6, 2007.

Two generals sat next to each other at yesterday's Congressional hearings on the Walter Reed problems. Both are physicians. Both have experience commanding Walter Reed since the beginning of combat in Iraq. There, the similarities end. One of them stood tall and accepted responsibility, even though the committee gave him every opportunity to blame others. The other blamed the situation on the failures of subordinates. One of them talked only to the Congressional subcommittee. The other, when given the opportunity, turned away from the committee, looked the troops who had suffered as a result of the failures in the eye, and apologized. One of the two, in short, acted exactly as a general officer is expected to behave, while the other acted exactly as we have come to expect from Bush Administration officials.

One of the two has been relieved of command. The other, at least for the moment, is still in a position of authority. Guess which one.

Attaboy, Kiley, you're doing a heck of a job.

Tags
Uncategorized

More like this

Hindsight and Foresight in Iraq
Much has been written about the incompetence with which the Bush administration has pursued the war and post-war occupation in Iraq. I'd like to add to our understanding of that situation by looking, in hindsight, at what was predicted with foresight before the war. Many of the people who were…
An Overdue Retirement
According to AP reports, Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley has announced his resignation as Surgeon General and his retirement from the military. Kiley joins Army Secretary Francis Harvey and Walter Reed commander Maj. Gen. George Weightman in the growing pool of individuals who have lost…
The MoveOn ad
I'm tired of hearing people with usually progressive views (like Mark Shields or John Kerry) complain the latest MoveOn ad in the New York Times asking if General Petraeus has Betrayed Us is counter-productive, "alienating those who would otherwise agree with us." It's the same bogus argument we…
Bonehead political play for today.
Today, I'd like to single out two Congresscritters (and their staffs) for special recognition - Representative Henry Waxman (D-Ca), Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Representative John Tierney (D-Ma), who chairs that committee's national security subcommittee…

As a veteran, a daughter of veterans, and a US citizen, I was appalled when I read the other day that Weightman had been relieved of duty to be replaced by Kiley -- the very person under whose command the problems at Walter Reed festered until Weightman replaced him just last year.
"I am not accountable"!?!?!? Did this guy bunk with GWB or something?