New Defense Chief Shows Who The Boss Is

(CBS)  The scandal over the substandard care and poor living conditions for veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center continues to shake the Bush administration and the military establishment.

But, as CBS News correspondent Joie Chen reports, swift, sure reaction by the new defense secretary has signaled new and different leadership at the Pentagon.

If anyone had somehow missed the point, the new Pentagon boss ended the week with a sharp jab at his own team.

"I am disappointed that some in the army have not adequately appreciated the seriousness of the situation," Robert Gates said told reporters Friday.

In an unusually blunt and swift – by Washington standards – reaction Gates ousted army chief Francis Harvey over Harvey's handling of a spiraling scandal at the nation's premier military hospital.

News reports last month exposed filthy conditions facing Iraq war veterans at Walter Reed hospital.

Harvey had fired the general in charge but replaced him with the former commander who many veterans blame for allowing things to deteriorate in the first place.

Fed up Gates forced both men out and signaled his limited patience for the way things used to be.

"He wanted to send a message early that this was a different leadership, and a different kind of accountability," said Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution.

In the short time he has been on the job, Gates' hands-on, no-holds-barred, Texan-style has quickly come into play – jetting off to see the troops in Iraq as soon as he was sworn in.

And, in contrast to the distance reporters had with former Pentagon boss Donald Rumsfeld, he is setting up a new relationship with the press, telling one group of reporters that he would "prefer a more informal setting."

"He has basically said to the press, 'you're right you did me a favor, you did a good story'," O'Hanlon said.

Gates' actions may also be important for George W. Bush as the president tries to sure up the relationship with an important part of his constituency: military families and veterans.

[energyecon]

liars008 you show your true colors when you try to turn this forum on the need to improve treatment for our veterans into an incoherent screed against Islam or score points on other issues - another CON artist showing what they really think of the troops!

[lars008-2009]

on the contrary.....
i think the vets deserve way better treatment than socialize medicine......

What Thomas Jefferson learned
from the Muslim book of jihad

Thomas Jefferson knew about fascist nazi islam..... he killed plenty of them....

In 1786 Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). They asked him by what right he extorted money and took slaves. Jefferson reported to Secretary of State John Jay, and to the Congress:

The ambassador answered us that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet (Mohammed), that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to heaven.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War
http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan07/jeff_quran.htm
http://www.khouse.org/articles/2007/691/
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2002_winter_spring/terrorism.htm
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=+Thomas Jefferson barbary
http://http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q= Thomas Jefferson islam
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q= Thomas Jefferson muslim

[energyecon]

liars008 excuses the matreatment of our vets and suggests that is acceptable:
"it is well known to both political parties and all news media that the va/military hospitals have been c r a p..... they always have been c r a p...... "

then goes on to try and score partisan talking points while continuing to present the maltreatment of our veterans as acceptable:
"but then what do you expect from socialized medicine and that is what you will get when the demonic-rats try to force socialized medicine on the usa..... all the hospitals will be c r a p like the va/military hospitals...."

liars008 you MUST be already working in the Bush administration!

[lars008-2009]

I'm shocked, shocked to find such conditions.....
yeahhhhhh rightttttttttt

it is well known to both political parties and all news media that the va/military hospitals have been c r a p..... they always have been c r a p...... but then what do you expect from socialized medicine...... and that is what you will get when the demonic-rats try to force socialized medicine on the usa..... all the hospitals will be c r a p like the va/military hospitals....

reminds me of casablanca.......
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.
[aloud]
Captain Renault: Everybody out at once!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/quotes

[trchase4]

Gates is rolling heads all for show. Gates needs
to explain to our troops why the Bush Administration
will be cutting funding for veterans health care in
2009 coming from Bush himself.

[david1737]

lars...I looked up the definition of Fascism. This is what I got:

Fascism (also Fas.cism)
Noun
An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.
(In general use) extreme right-wing authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice

[sclaires]

I just hope that what Gates is doing is not just for show so that when things quiet down, as they will unless kept on top of, everything will go back to the way it was. Have seen too much of that happening to hope that the changes now being made will continue.

[lars008-2009]

nope...... it is the fascist nazi islamic nations that are......

ISLAM / PERFECT EXAMPLE OF FASCISM!!!
islam is intent on killing or enslaving all nonmuslims......

The most notable characteristic of a fascist country is the separation and persecution or denial of equality to a specific segment of the population based upon superficial qualities or belief systems.

Simply stated, a fascist government always has one class of citizens that is considered superior (good) to another (bad) based upon race, creed or origin. It is possible to be both a republic and a fascist state. The preferred class lives in a republic while the oppressed class lives in a fascist state.
http://www.couplescompany.com/Fe
atures/Politics/Structure3.htm

[david1737]

lars

I got it. Let's get Hillary and GENGHIS KHAN to clean up Walter Reed.

[david1737]

lars..."Momma-say, momma-saw, mom-ma-cu-saw!"

-Michael Jackson