Kiley Blames ‘Junior Level’ Leadership For Walter Reed Scandal

[babylonsister]

Pretty typical; blame anyone but himself.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/05/kiley-junior/


Kiley Blames ‘Junior Level’ Leadership For Walter Reed Scandal «

At today’s Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, who oversaw Walter Reed until 2004 and remains Army surgeon general, admitted that the condition in Building 18 was “clearly unacceptable,” but again denied responsibility for it. He blamed the neglect on “a failure of leadership at the junior level in that building.” Watch it at link:

Kiley’s attempts to shift blame contrasts with the statements of other senior military officials:

From what I have learned, the problems at Walter Reed appear to be problems of leadership. The Walter Reed doctors, nurses and other staff are among the best and the most caring in the world.

The senior Army leadership takes full responsibility for the lack of quality of life at Building 18, and we’re going to fix it.

We failed here, we failed in having a facility like this. Unfortunately, it’s a leadership problem.

Transcript:

CNN HOST: Those Washington Post articles, by the way, that first shed light on the problems, were the issue of some tough questioning for Lt. Gen. Kiley, who’s the Army surgeon general and a former commander at Walter Reed, accused of perhaps minimizing the problems by complaining about the stories. He said today, that he wasn’t talking about the original articles, but some of the articles that suggested that he might be responsible because he commanded Walter Reed back in 2002 to 2004.

: My concern that the issues in Building 18 — which were clearly unacceptable, clearly unacceptable, and were a failure of leadership at the junior level in that building.

[gratuitous]

1. When did Salon first report on this?

I think it was in 2005, based on research and interviews reaching back to the Kiley era. The conditions described then were pretty deplorable, too. But for some obscure reason (*coughRepublicancontrolofCongresscough*) the problems remained unaddressed until the Washington Post ran its story last month.

Of course, as we now know from Gen. Kiley and Sen. Lott, the blame attaches to the junior leadership and naturally all those sick and wounded people hospitals just seem to attract. The answer, as we should have all guessed, is to close the military hospitals, and then we won't have to worry our beautiful little minds about those people who had the bad taste to get themselves shot up and then not die.

[Monkeyman]

2. Ya they did in Feb. 2005

[diane in sf]

3. They would blame the lower level people.

This stinks just like Abu Gahraib (sp?)--the orders came from Rumsfeld and Cheney there and the budget cuts and Halliburton takeover at Walter Reid came from the same people.

[elfin]

4. "Juniors" merely obeying orders from above

to cut costs and future obligations and to privatize.

Let's hope the "juniors" break ranks and squeal on the directives issued from on high.

[leftofthedial]

5. find some corporal

like Abu Ghraib