Congress Investigates Walter Reed Problems
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. Whatever you think of drugs, it's a safe bet you wouldn't want your toddler using them. Yet, that is exactly what was caught on tape: a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old smoking pot -- not on their own of course. Two-year-olds don't just light up. In a moment, we will show you how this came to be and what happened next. First, though, our top story: outrage over substandard conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.</s>SPECIALIST JEREMY DUNCAN, U.S. ARMY: The conditions in the room in my mind were just -- it was unforgivable for anybody to live -- it wasn't fit for anybody to live in a room like that.</s>ANNETTE MCLEOD, WIFE OF SPECIALIST WENDELL MCLEOD: My life was ripped apart the day that my husband was injured. But, then, having to live through the mess that we lived through at Walter Reed has been worse than anything I have ever sacrificed in my life.</s>COOPER: That sentiment is being echoed across the country -- vets and those who love them calling attention to problems at other military and VA hospitals, demanding action. And, today, at congressional hearings on the grounds of Walter Reed, generals and congressmen promised to do better. CNN's Joe Johns tonight is "Keeping Them Honest."</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the campus of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, an indictment of the outpatient system from soldiers who sacrificed. Staff sergeant Daniel Shannon was shot in the head and lost an eye.</s>STAFF SERGEANT JOHN DANIEL SHANNON, U.S. ARMY: The system can't be trusted. And soldiers get less than they deserve from a system seemingly designed to run -- and run to cut the costs associated with fighting this war.</s>JOHNS: And, from the top brass, apologies, including a mea culpa from a commanding officer who was canned, even though he was only there for six months.</s>MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE W.  WEIGHTMAN, FORMER COMMANDER, WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER: Our soldiers deserve better.</s>JOHNS: And another apology from Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley.</s>LIEUTENANT GENERAL KEVIN C. KILEY, U.S. ARMY SURGEON GENERAL: I am personally and professionally sorry, and I offer my apologies to the soldiers, the families, the civilian and military leadership of the Army and the Department of Defense and to the nation.</s>JOHNS: But, of all the witnesses, Kiley was in perhaps the toughest position of all, because some of the most serious problems seemingly happened in a building right under his nose, when he was in charge at Walter Reed.</s>REP. MICHAEL R. TURNER (R), OHIO: So, what went wrong?</s>KILEY: Sir, I don't -- can't explain that. It's been pointed out, I live across the street. But I don't do barracks inspections at Walter Reed in my role as MEDCOM commander.</s>JOHNS: Hard to swallow for some, because news reports and audits by the Government Accountability Office going back years have documented the failures frustrating injured vets. One GAO report a year ago zeroed in on the process for determining which injured soldiers are eligible for temporary or permanent disability, and recommended improved oversight by the Defense Department. But it was much more than just that. What happened at Walter Reed was the perfect storm. As floods of injured were returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the hospital was going through a dramatic transition: outpatient care privatized; people started looking for new jobs; a yearlong battle over whether Walter Reed employees or an outside company could save the most money; and then the announcement that Walter Reed would close in 2011, further destabilizing the hospital, and making the task of recruiting a nightmare.</s>GENERAL RICHARD CODY, U.S. ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: And you're trying to get the best people to come here to work. And they know, in three years, that this place will close down. And they're not sure whether they will be afforded the opportunity to move to the new Walter Reed National Military Center eight miles away. That causes some issues.</s>JOHNS: Now some are saying the decision to close Walter Reed in the middle of a war should be reconsidered, though they admit that the hospital's future plans are no excuse for what happened there.</s>COOPER: Joe, why were they talking about closing Walter Reed to begin with?</s>JOHNS: Well, obviously, there's an issue of cost savings there. This is all part of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission study that's done every so often. This was back in 2005. They decided that Walter Reed had to go, along with a number of other bases. They were basically going to fold all of its responsibilities into Bethesda Naval Hospital, which is a few miles down the road -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: Is anybody talking about now about legislation to -- to keep it open?</s>JOHNS: Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.'s delegate in the House, said she is planning to introduce legislation to repeal the closure of Walter Reed. She said in a statement tonight that the bill is needed to help stabilize base personnel, who, of course, as you see, tend to scatter once they believe a base is about to close. There does appear to be at least some talk of that over on the Senate side, too. Senator Joe Lieberman said on CBS yesterday, he thinks Congress needs to take a second look at the decision -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: Joe, I want to bring in another guest who testified today who knows first-hand the problems at Walter Reed. You heard a bit from Annette McLeod at the top of the program. Her husband was treated at Walter Reed for a head injury, after being sent to the wrong place, I should first point out, when he came back from Iraq. We spoke earlier tonight.</s>COOPER: Annette, your husband served for 16 years in the National Guard. He was in Iraq for 10 months, before he got injured in the head. You described it as -- as going through a nightmare with the Army medical system. What was the -- the most difficult part for you?</s>MCLEOD: Actually, I think the most difficult part was the fact that they were so eager to prove that everything was so preexisting, and that they were not as eager to treat his injuries as they were to get rid of him and turn him off onto the</s>VA. COOPER: At the hearing today, you talked about how frustrating it was when you tried to help your husband. I want to play, for our viewers, some of what you said.</s>MCLEOD: I was tired of fighting the system. I was tired of trying to help him get well. At the same time, they didn't seem to really care. They wanted him out of here.</s>COOPER: At the time, who did you complain to? And did they hear your complaints at all?</s>MCLEOD: I went to the case manager, every case manager that he had. I told social workers. I would talk to the platoon sergeants. I would talk to whoever would listen at that point. I was grasping at straws. I went to command, anybody that would listen. And, finally, I got to the point where I just couldn't take it anymore. Our command sergeant major saw me when I was crying on day, and he gave me a telephone number. And he told me -- he says, call this number. And I did and got ahold of Ms. Grace Washbourne (ph) with the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. And she works for Representative Tom Davis. And that's where everything started for me.</s>COOPER: You know, what do you think is -- is going on here? Because, I mean, every politician, for years, has said, our men and women who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve nothing but the best. We're giving them nothing but the best. When you hear that now, what do you think?</s>MCLEOD: As long as your injuries are visible, I do believe you get the best optimal care. Their thinking, to my perspective is, if it's visible, we can treat it. But, if it's not visible, if you don't see it, then it must not exist.</s>COOPER: Do you think they're -- they're making the changes? Last week, they fired the major general, George Weightman, as the -- he was fired as the facility's commander. Do you think that's enough? Do you think he's really to blame?</s>MCLEOD: I think he was the scapegoat, because our situation was way before he ever come in, because he didn't come in until August. And we were getting ready -- already in the med board and getting ready to leave. I think they just used him to cover up their own stupidity.</s>COOPER: Who do you think is to blame? I mean, does this go all the way to the top?</s>MCLEOD: They can't say they didn't know. That's the thing that really bothers me. General Kiley said today: I didn't know. Where has he been all this time? Somebody had to know.</s>COOPER: How is your husband doing now?</s>MCLEOD: We take each day one day at a time. He has good days. He has really -- when we have bad days, they're really bad. And, then, you just pray the next day that it will be a better day.</s>COOPER: Well, he's lucky to have someone as strong as you by his side. And you have made a difference today. And, Annette, I appreciate you -- you talking to us. Thank you.</s>MCLEOD: Thank you.</s>COOPER: I wish you and your husband the best.</s>MCLEOD: Thank you.</s>COOPER: So, Joe, with the spotlight getting wider and hotter, I guess the question is -- is, what comes next?</s>JOHNS: That is the question. And, you know, there is the suspicion up on Capitol Hill that this is really just the tip of the iceberg, that, if you look across medicine in the military, you're going to find other examples of this. So, a lot of people right now are getting e-mails, telephone calls, what have you, on Capitol Hill and elsewhere, saying, take a look at this place. Take a look at that place. And there's also that bipartisan presidential commission that's tasked to look not just at Walter Reed, but across the system, to see whether there are other problems like this that haven't come to the fore.</s>COOPER: It's so fascinating, because, I mean, all these politicians, you know, visiting Walter Reed, and President Bush visiting Walter Reed, everyone saying, our soldiers deserve the very best -- and I think everyone in America agrees with that. And, yet, this seemed to be happening right under their noses. And -- and none of them seem to be saying that they knew about it.</s>JOHNS: Yes. And it's also stunning, when you think about it, because there are those reports out there. The GAO has been looking at this for a long time. There have been some news reports out there as well. Salon.com, I think, did a little bit on this. And you have sort of this drumbeat over the years of issues in military medicine that are going unaddressed. And now everybody is shocked and surprised. But it's really not a surprise at all.</s>COOPER: Shocked. Joe, appreciate it. Thanks, "Keeping Them Honest" tonight. A few more facts about the VA's health care system -- here's the "Raw Data." It is the largest in the country, with more than 200,000 employees, more than 1,400 hospitals, clinics and nursing homes, last year, had a budget of more than $34 billion, and served 5.5 million vets. The battle for the White House is next. And what a weekend it was. Ann Coulter uses a slur, and the conservative crowd she was talking to ate it up. We will also look at the Selma showdown between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And outrage, plain and simple, over this -- take a look.</s>COOPER (voice-over): Four years old. Two years old. And it's not cigarettes they're smoking.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pass the weed. Now he wants it.</s>COOPER: Drug abuse and child abuse caught on tape. So, where was mom? And what happened to these poor kids? Also: He terrorized a nation and taunted police.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like killing people because it is so much fun.</s>COOPER: The Zodiac killer.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm feeling, not the knife blade. I'm feeling the hilt. I'm feeling his hand on my back.</s>COOPER: Now a survivor speaks out about the case never solved and the killer never caught -- only on 360.