For people who wanted a change to occur at Walter Reed (and other VA facilities) things looked to be moving in the right direction. President Bush went into full Sonny Corleone Panic Mode and had Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson hire 100 new patient advocates, as well pull the "I'll put one old Republican and one old Democrat on a committee to cover my ass" move.
Almost lost in the reaction of selecting Donna Shalala and former Sen. Bob Dole (who actually said, "Obviously somebody dropped the ball" as if that was some revelation) was the fact that the Neglector in Chief has also decided to make a task force to take care of that messy red tape.
"Who's running this task force," you ask?
Why, no other than Secretary Jim Nicholson himself. And if that's not scary enough, the task force is called the "Task Force on Returning Global War on Terror Heroes." The title of this diary already lets you know what Larry Scott thinks.
Then, of course, there is Nicholson's now-infamous "dental remark":
WOODRUFF: You have mental disorders — 73,000; diseases of nervous system — 61,000; symtpoms, signs of ill-defined conditions — 7,000; diseases of musculoskeletal system — 87,000. These are numbers beyond the 23,000 [the offical number given by the Department of Defense at the time].
NICHOLSON: A lot of them come in for dental problems, others come in for a lot of the normal things that people have. We’re providing their healthcare. Some I suppose are because of their service over there. But they weren’t evacuated for that.
If protocol/tradition dictates that an employeed White House member must lead such initiatives, then so be it. If not, Nicholson should not be running this show.
[RELATED DIARIES: Fred in Santa Cruz writes about how Walter Reed is just the beginning. Also, lebkuchen mentions the Stars & Stripes request to have Nicholson replaced. Lastly, clammyc explains why Nicholson should be considered the the "Brownie" of the VA.]