Salon: VA Knew Of Walter Reed Problems in 2004!

Salon's incredible Mark Benjamin, who broke the story about wounded veterans being sent back to Iraq, has done it again!

From today's edition:

Bush administration officials have claimed that they were unaware of problems with veterans' care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center until a flurry of media reports earlier this year brought the hospital's shortcomings to their attention. But Salon has obtained written proof -- a report prepared for a Department of Veterans Affairs task force -- that officials should have been aware of the situation as long ago as August 2004. President Bush, meanwhile, having promised to improve care at the hospital, has just announce plans to nominate the co-chair of that task force to run all of the VA's health services.

You would think he'd also be nominated for a Medal of Freedom, but I guess they want him to inflict as much damage as possible before he earns that singular form of recognition.

In August 2004, VA researchers conducted focus group interviews with Walter Reed patients and their families. The report based on those interviews, and obtained by Salon, says that the patients -- seriously wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan -- told the VA that they were "frustrated, confused, sometimes angry" about their experiences at the hospital. Documents provided to Salon show the focus group report was delivered to top VA officials in November 2004.

Of course, after the scandal first broke, Bush pretended to have only found out about it through the media reports.

From the February 21 Washington Post:

At the White House, press secretary Tony Snow said that he spoke with President Bush yesterday about Walter Reed and that the president told him: "Find out what the problem is and fix it."

Snow said Bush "first learned of the troubling allegations regarding Walter Reed from the stories this weekend in The Washington Post. He is deeply concerned and wants any problems identified and fixed." The spokesman said he did not know why the president, who has visited the facility many times in the past five years, had not heard about these problems before.

Then, Bush did a cynical photo-op tour of Walter Reed, to deflect blame and pretend to care.

From the AP, on March 30:

President Bush apologized to troops face to face on Friday for shoddy conditions they have endured at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He shook the artificial hand of a lieutenant and cradled a newborn whose daddy is nursing his remaining, severely injured leg back to health.

"The problems at Walter Reed were caused by bureaucratic and administrative failures," Bush said during a nearly three-hour visit to the medical center — his first since reports surfaced of shabby conditions for veterans in outpatient housing. "The system failed you and it failed our troops, and we're going to fix it."

Right: "bureaucratic and administrative failures." The buck stops anywhere but at 1600 Pennsylvania. This wasn't an administrative failure, it was an Administrative failure. So, how's he going to fix it?

Benjamin:

The report shows that top VA officials were involved in the focus group process back in 2004. Michael Kussman, then the acting deputy undersecretary for health, was co-chair of the VA's Seamless Transition Task Force, which produced the final report. The task force was supposed to make sure veterans had access to healthcare and got their benefits in a fair and timely fashion. Not only is Kussman still at the VA, but he is also in line to be promoted. On April 4, the White House announced that the president intends to nominate Kussman to be undersecretary for health at the VA.

That's right. Heckuva job, Kussman. It's hard work. Keep it up.

On February 25, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin pointed out that the Republican Congress had, as usual, protected Bush by refusing to investigate. So, the new Congress has yet another Bush scandal to deal with; but it now has yet another crtiical responsibility: stop the promotion of Michael Kussman!