My friend Ted is Retired Air Force Lt. Col. and he has proven to me to be informed – here are his words:
It saddens me that a man of Gen. Erik Shinseki’s caliber should be thrown under the bus by the likes of BHO.
Given the size and scope of VA’s responsibilities, there is no way Shinseki should have known of the mismanagement problems at clinic level unless he was told about them. I guarantee you that he was constantly assured that everything in the medical department was working well and did not need his attention. The medicos were covering their own asses and sending up reports to Shinseki that said everything was okay. They kept covering up their shit until they ran out of sand.
I will venture the opinion that there is no one better to correct the problems than Shinseki. He has been head of VA since 09, so he knows how it works. He knows who lied to him. He knows who to fire and who to put in their place. And now that the administration is in the spotlight, he might have gotten some organizational changes that would result in real improvements. That will not happen, but we will never hear of it.
The media have their kill and have satisfied their bloodlust for the moment. They will move away in search of other victims and we will hear no more about the problems in the VA medical departments. It is old news. A new chief will be appointed and will say all the requisite things about how he is going to ensure that something like this never happens again. After that little dog and pony show, the problem will disappear from the American consciousness.
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