Army's Kiley Ousted in Walter Reed Furor

Army Surgeon General, Lt Gen. Kevin Kiley, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington in this Tuesday, March 6, 2007 file photo, before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The Army announced the retirement Monday, March 12, 2007, of Kiley in the latest fallout from the controversy over outpatient care of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, FILE) (Susan Walsh - AP)

WASHINGTON -- Army Surgeon General Kevin C. Kiley abruptly stepped down under pressure from military superiors, the third top Army official forced out in the fallout from revelations of shabby treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The Army said Monday that Lt. Gen. Kiley had submitted a request to retire over the weekend. Acting Army Secretary Pete Geren had asked Kiley for his retirement, said a senior defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the events.

Kiley's removal underscored how the controversy, which began with reports of dilapidated outpatient housing and a nightmarish bureaucracy at the Army's flagship hospital, has snowballed into a far broader problem for the Bush administration.

Congressional committees and a slew of investigative boards are scrutinizing the treatment of wounded troops and veterans by the military's entire medical system, as well as by the Department of Veterans Affairs, headed by Jim Nicholson. The probes come with the administration already struggling to defend its widely unpopular war policies in Iraq, and the Democratic-led Congress citing poor care for troops as the latest instance of incompetent administration planning for the conflict.

Kiley, 56, who headed Walter Reed from 2002 to 2004, has been a lightning rod for criticism over conditions there and has been a frequent target of hostile questions at congressional hearings.

"The events of late _ failures by some, failures in our system _ have tarnished the reputation of us all," Geren told 280 Walter Reed workers Monday. "The American people expect us to fulfill our obligation to those who have borne the battle" and are angry and disappointed when they see failure.

Geren has had his position for less than two weeks, having replaced Army Secretary Francis Harvey, who was dismissed March 2. Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who had been in charge of Walter Reed since August 2006, was ousted from his post the day before.

In a statement released by the Army, Kiley said, "I submitted my retirement because I think it is in the best interest of the Army." He said he wanted to allow officials to "focus completely on the way ahead."

"We have failed to meet our own standards at Walter Reed. For that, I'm both personally and professionally sorry," he said last week.

He has said he had been aware of some issues, but he told the Senate Armed Services Committee he was not aware of specific problems including a backlog of maintenance orders and a lack of staff to conduct room inspections.

A specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, he has had numerous medical posts in his Army career including service in South Korea and then in Saudi Arabia during the 1991 war with Iraq.

Soldiers and their families have complained that some outpatient living quarters at Walter Reed had mice, mold and other shoddy conditions and that there were bureaucratic delays at the hospital overwhelmed with wounded from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.