Too Much, Too Late

"General Kiley, should you resign?" Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked him Tuesday.

"Well, sir, that's a difficult question to answer," he replied.

Kiley, who first reacted by denying the scope of the problem, then by denying his role in it, opted yesterday for extravagant shows of contrition. In a single round of questioning by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Kiley melted with remorse: "It's not acceptable. . . . I apologize for that. . . . It's clear I need to have much closer, more intense supervision of this process."

Matters only worsened for Kiley at the House hearing in the afternoon. Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.) glared at the general and described how his wife, a frequent visitor to Walter Reed, once found a wounded soldier lying without a sheet or blanket in a pool of his own urine.

"Totally unacceptable," Kiley acknowledged.

Young then told the story of Cpl. Joshua Dunlop, who had a brain injury and fell out of his bed three times while in intensive care at Walter Reed. Kiley had been alerted at the time.

"Totally unacceptable," Kiley said again. Later, he added: "I don't remember. I would take Congressman Young's word that I was told about it."

"Actually, General, you were told about it three times, and two of those were in your office. I asked Mrs. Dunlop how she felt about the way she was treated. She said, 'He really sucks.' "

Young's last story was about Staff Sgt. William Latham, who died after a respiratory therapist at Walter Reed pounded on his back -- even though he had a tube coming out of his head because of a leaking brain aneurysm.

Kiley promised to "investigate it and report back to you," an answer that didn't satisfy Rep. David Hobson (R-Ohio). "There's a command failure here, sir, and usually it starts with the guy who's in charge," Hobson informed Kiley. "You're the only one still standing after all the people are gone. You've got an angel somewhere, sir."