Editorial: More accountability

Sunday, March 4, 2007 | 7:33 a.m.

It is beyond belief that for more than three years top officials at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center apparently ignored complaints and reports about the deplorable conditions in the hospital's outpatient program for veterans.

But in the wake of stories by The Washington Post that revealed startlingly filthy conditions at the facility's now-infamous Building 18 and disorganized record-keeping that went on for years, Army Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman was fired as commander of Walter Reed on Thursday.

Then, on Friday, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey submitted his resignation to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has said more firings could come as he continues to seek "accountability up the chain of command." Late Friday afternoon, the Army named Maj. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker as Walter Reed's new commander.

Walter Reed patients and their family members told the Post that the rotting walls of Building 18 - a dilapidated former hotel where soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were housed as they sought outpatient treatment - are infested with rats, mice, cockroaches and mold.

But while the newspaper accounts have only recently brought these tragic conditions into the public's view, members of Congress and top military officials - including Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who had initially been named Walter Reed's temporary commander on Thursday - knew of the conditions as far back as 2003, yet failed to act. Schoomaker was appointed to the hospital commander's post amid the immediate and widespread criticism of Kiley's temporary assignment.

We also were disturbed that Kiley was ever made the interim commander, as he was commander at Walter Reed from 2002 to 2004 - a period during which some of the neglect occurred. Kiley, the Post reports, lives across the street from Building 18 and could easily see the maimed soldiers who struggle to scramble across busy Georgia Avenue to attend appointments at the main hospital. But he routinely ignored complaints from patients, his staff and members of Congress. Two weeks ago, the Post reports, Kiley said that the problems at Building 18 "weren't serious, and there weren't a lot of them."

But there are plenty of serious problems. They not only were described directly to Walter Reed's top officials but also were detailed in staff town hall-style meetings, at meetings between commanders and soldiers and in inspector general's reports, the Post says. So Harvey and Weightman, who was the facility's commander for only six months, are not the only ones who should be held accountable.

It is disgusting that these conditions were allowed to exist at all, let alone for more than three years. More than 25,000 soldiers have been wounded physically and psychologically while fighting for their country, and this is how they are treated when they return home? President Bush announced Friday the creation of an independent commission that will investigate the situation. But Congress also must fully investigate how this revolting situation occurred and, astonishingly, was allowed to persist.