KEN HERMAN
c. 2007 Cox News Service

President Bush on Friday apologized to patients who suffered through squalid conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the focal point in a military health-care system now caught up in high-stakes political brinkmanship over the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Bush's comments came as he made his first visit to the famed facility since the Washington Post six weeks ago detailed mold and rodent problems at a now-closed outpatient facility.

"I apologize for what they went through and we're going to fix the problem," Bush said after a three-hour visit that included meetings with patients who had been in the infamous Building 18. "That's exactly what this government is going to do."

Three panels, including one appointed by Bush, are reviewing military health care.

"The system failed you and it failed our troops, and we're going to fix it," Bush promised, blaming the Walter Reed problems on "bureaucratic and administrative failures," not medical care.

Some of the improvements are to be funded by money in an emergency spending bill headed for his desk. The House and Senate have approved differing versions of the measure, which would pay the ongoing costs of the war in Iraq, as well as funding domestic programs.

Bush says the military money is crucial, but he has promised to veto any bill that includes troop withdrawal deadlines.

The Senate, in a 51-47 vote, approved a $122 billion supplemental spending bill on Thursday for the war and a variety of local-interest domestic projects. The measure calls for withdrawing most U.S. forces from Iraq within a year.

The House previously approved a spending bill that includes a mandatory Aug. 31, 2008, deadline for removing all U.S. troops from Iraq.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Friday it will take much more than "a presidential photo op" to remedy the problems in military health care.

"The supplemental bill passed (Thursday) by the Senate includes $4.3 billion to make sure that returning troops have the health care they deserve," Reid said. "But President Bush is threatening to veto that legislation and most Senate Republicans voted against it."

Bush made no mention of the supplemental funding bill during his visit to the military hospital, opting instead to acknowledge the problems and praise what is going right at Walter Reed.

He noted that an accreditation commission, after a recent surprise inspection, gave the hospital "a gold seal of approval."

At Walter Reed, Bush awarded 10 Purple Heart medals and chatted with patients. In a physical therapy exercise room, he shook Lt. Scott Quilty's prosthetic right hand, hopped onto an elliptical exercise machine next to Staff Sgt. Gregory Robinson (who lost a leg) and admired a naked woman tattoo on Sgt. Mark Ecker's left shoulder.

"Make sure you get a picture of the tattoo. The man's proud of it," Bush said of Ecker, who lost both legs.

And he met Sgt. David Gardner of Fort Bragg, N.C., his wife Beverly and their 8-week-old daughter, Hailey, born three days before Gardner regained consciousness after being run over by an earth-moving machine while his unit was under sniper fire in Iraq. Gardner lost his right leg and suffered severe damage to his left leg.

"How you doing, buddy?" Bush asked Gardner, who asked the president to sign a quilt.

Gardner said he was in some pain, and showed off his ROIA cap.

"Ran Over In Action," he explained.

Hospital officials did not allow reporters to interview patients.

It was Bush's 12th visit to Walter Reed since he took office in 2001.

Earlier Friday, critics of his Iraq war strategy cautioned Bush against talking about the battle over the war funding measure during his visit.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, on a conference call organized by the National Security Network - which is critical of Bush's Iraq strategy - said Bush would do more to honor soldiers by talking about their health care rather than "using soldiers as props, as political theater."

Bobby Muller, president of Veterans for America, which has had long-standing concerns about military health care, warned Bush that Walter Reed "is not a photo op."

"If the president uses this trip as an opportunity to justify a veto of the supplemental, then shame on him," Muller said. "Walter Reed is still broken. The Department of Defense health care system is still broken. The social contract between our country and those it sends to war is broken."
Published April 4, 2007