Too Much, Too Late

When this town responds to scandal, nothing succeeds like excess.

Here's Gen. Kevin Kiley, the man at the center of the Walter Reed imbroglio, appearing before the House Appropriations defense subcommittee yesterday afternoon: "I'm both personally and professionally sorry that this has happened. And I've offered my apologies."

Here's Kiley a few hours earlier, before the Senate Appropriations Committee: "I am personally and professionally sorry. And I apologize."

Here's Kiley on Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee: "I'm both personally and professionally sorry. I offer my apologies."

Finally -- at least for now -- here's Kiley before the House oversight committee on Monday: "I am personally and professionally sorry, and I offer my apologies."

If that sounds a bit redundant, consider what the White House and the Pentagon have done after learning of substandard care for injured veterans at Walter Reed: They've created no fewer than eight overlapping investigations, commissions, task forces and study groups to respond.

President Bush stood in the Oval Office yesterday morning with Bob Dole and Donna Shalala, the new co-chairs of the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors. "I can't think of two better people to analyze the situation," Bush said.

But he can think of plenty of other people to analyze the situation. Only days before Bush named the Dole-Shalala commission, he tapped Jim Nicholson, the secretary of veterans affairs, to lead a Cabinet-level Task Force on Returning Global War on Terror Heroes. Then there's Defense Secretary Robert Gates's Independent Review Group (IRG), led by former Veterans Affairs chief Togo West and former Army secretary Jack Marsh. Rounding out the cornucopia of commissions: a military "Tiger Team" to examine outpatient medical care (it has only 30 days), two military probes called "15-6 investigations," something called a "Lean Six Sigma" examination, and a Criminal Investigation Command (CID) probe.

When it comes to creating Walter Reed commissions, nobody can tag Bush with the sin of omission. The Washington Post's Walter Reed series showed how overlapping layers of bureaucracy have compromised medical care for wounded soldiers. And the government has responded -- by creating overlapping layers of investigations.

"There's plenty of people putting together commissions," Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker observed before the House Appropriations defense subcommittee yesterday. Indeed, with all the studies underway, it's a wonder anybody is paying attention to the Iraq war.

But even this level of attention didn't satisfy Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who drew up a "comprehensive plan" titled Honoring and Ensuring Respect for Our Extraordinary Servicemembers (HEROES).

The overlapping probes have had the effect of turning Kiley, the general in charge of Army medical facilities, into a human piñata. Though officials above and below him have lost their jobs, Kiley remains in place -- to the evident delight of lawmakers, who are finding him a convenient target.