Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates pulled the plug on Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey over his handling of the Army’s medical care fiasco stating:

"I am disappointed that some in the Army have not adequately appreciated the seriousness of the situation pertaining to outpatient care at Walter Reed," he said in a brief statement at the Pentagon. "Some have shown too much defensiveness and have not shown enough focus on digging into and addressing the problems."

Gates statement was right on the mark. Earlier this week, the former Secretary of the Army removed Major General George W. Weightman, M.D. as commander of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and Walter Reed Army Medical Center after the WAPO exposed deplorable conditions at a Walter Reed halfway house for wounded soldiers. Harvey put Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley, commanding General of U.S. Army Medical Command in as a temporary replacement.

Major General George W. Weightman assumed command of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and Walter Reed Army Medical Center on August 25, 2006.

But check this out from Lt Gen Kevin Kiley’s bio:

“Immediately before his current assignment, LTG Kiley was commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and Lead Agent for Region I.”

So the General replacing Weightman was himself the previous commander at Walter Reed. Are we to believe conditions at Walter Reed went to hell only during the six months Weightman was in charge? Hardly.

Former Secretary Harvey, feeling the heat over the scandal, did nothing more than toss Weightman like a virgin sacrifice into the media volcano and put Kiley back in charge with a “Nothing to see here, move along” attitude. That had to be a bit demoralizing for the staff at Walter Reed. Harvey failed the character test and Gates called him on it. Good.

As an aside, former Secretary Harvey was a second choice for the post of Army Secretary. President Bush first nominated James G. Roche, who at the time was serving as Air Force Secretary (an outstanding one). Senator John McCain, in one of his grandstanding episodes, put a hold on this nomination in a dispute with the administration about executive privilege. McCain's trantrum deprived the Army of a person who would have taken names and kicked butt to transform the leadership. One has to wonder if the Walter Reed scandal would have been an issue if it weren't for McCain.