WASHINGTON (AP) - The flagship U.S. hospital for injured soldiers is in need of serious reforms, lawmakers said Monday as they began to delve into charges of poor living conditions and bureaucratic delays in treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. "This is absolutely the wrong way to treat our troops, and serious reforms need to happen... immediately," said Rep. John Tierney, D- Mass.
He questioned whether problems at the facility are "just another horrific consequence" of inadequate planning that went into war in Iraq; a problem created by contracting out work there to private business, or some other cause.
Tierney chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's national security panel, which held a hearing Monday in the hospital's auditorium. The list of Army officials, hospital staff and patients invited to speak includes the medical center's previous commander, Maj. Gen. George Weightman.
The defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee also scheduled a hearing on Walter Reed for later in the day.
Outraged lawmakers on Sunday vowed quick action and called for an independent commission to examine poor conditions for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a letter Sunday to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., asked for an independent commission, possibly headed by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, to investigate all post- combat medical facilities and recommend changes.
"To think that men and women are serving their country in the most honorable and courageous way possible and all we give them is a dilapidated, rat-infested, run-down building to recover is a disgrace," Schumer wrote. "My fear is that Walter Reed is just the tip of the iceberg, and merely highlights the pervasive and systemic mistreatment of our service members."
President Bush last week ordered a comprehensive review of conditions at the nation's network of military and veteran hospitals. They have been overwhelmed by injured troops from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The White House said the president would name a bipartisan commission to assess whether the problems at Walter Reed exist at other facilities. Last week, Gates created an outside panel to review the situation at Walter Reed and the other major military hospital in the Washington area, the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md.
Gates also dismissed Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey, who had fired Weightman and replaced him with Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, the Army's surgeon general and a former commander of Walter Reed. Gates said Harvey's response was not aggressive enough.
The Army announced that Maj. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker will be the new commander of Walter Reed, which is in Washington. In addition, the Army took disciplinary action against several lower-level soldiers at Walter Reed.
The moves came in response to a series of Washington Post reports about substandard conditions and bureaucratic problems affecting the care of injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan to Walter Reed, one of the military's highest-profile and busiest medical facilities, and its outpatient facilities.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Sunday the scandal is emblematic of the Bush administration's "lack of accountability" and "overoptimism" about the war in Iraq.
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said he probably would support a commission such as what Schumer proposes. "Investigations are not always the best way to go, but I think we ought to do whatever's necessary," he said.
Schumer and Lott spoke on ABC's "This Week." Levin was interviewed on CBS' "Face the Nation."
