Not really all that surprised by this story . . . General Is Fired Over Conditions at Walter Reed . . . conditions have been getting worse and brass have known this . . . only after negative publicity was anything done, and so far that has been cosmetic. Note, there are a lot of good folks at Walter Reed trying to do a good job in as professional manner as they can . . . however, there are just too many wounded pouring in from Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere for them to keep up. Other facilities are also over-taxed. While I am very much anti-Iraq-war as far as my political stance has been, I really think it’s a shame that the soldiers who have served are getting a short end on care . . . albeit, I am also an advocate of more stringent policing of the ones in active duty . . . it sometimes seems that My Lai is being repeated several times over in Iraq and Afghanistan . . . actions that should be drawing universal outrage have almost become S.O.P. for some. Certainly the US policies toward torture (er, “stress positioning in interrogations” are very different from the values we formerly espoused as a nation) . . . of course, that’s all a different debate . . . the situation at Walter Reed and similar institutions needs cleaning up and firing one general is not going to be enough.