It is just possible that Robert Gates understands what kind of trouble the Department of Defense is in because of the Rumsfeld years.

The rumors are that he fired the Secretary of the Army because Harvey went on the defense in reaction the problems at Walter Reed. First the wounded were pulled on base and told not to talk to the media to prevent any bad news leaking out, with the daily inspections thrown in as a threat. Then Maj. General Weightman was fired, despite only being in the job for about six-months, and Lt. General Kiley was put in charge, even though Kiley was the commander when the problems were first reported years ago and did nothing about it. This was a standard stall tactic. Harvey was planning to form a committee to study the issue until it faded from public notice, the standard Rumsfeld/Republican response to problems.

The Shrubbery has announced he is forming a panel to study the issue, so he can avoid responsibility for what he has done for the last six years. The Snowman will be telling reporters how the White House can’t comment on ongoing investigations, the standard dodge.

I think Gates has figured out that this isn’t going away, because Congress and the Washington Post [they love the smell of that Pulitzer] won’t let it go away. This isn’t going to swept under the rug, like Abu Ghraib, to fester, as Gates understands that he is going to have budget problems if progress isn’t made. The Democrats are investigating the problem, and Gates has to know by now that the entire military medical system is screwed up because of the lack of planning by Rumsfeld. Gates is dealing with a lot of political flag officers and he is going to have fire them before the remainder understand that they are going to have to do their jobs and not just brown nose.

CNN reports Army secretary quits in wake of hospital scandal:

Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey resigned Friday in the wake of recent reports of substandard conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a key facility treating troops wounded in Iraq.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Harvey’s resignation at the Pentagon, just a day after Harvey removed the hospital’s commander, Maj. Gen. George Weightman, from his post.

A statement from the Army said it had “lost trust and confidence in the commander’s leadership.”

Harvey had been the Army’s top civilian official since November 2004. Before President Bush appointed him to the position, he spent much of his career working for defense contractors, according his Army biography.

Rumor has it that Gates fired Harvey when Harvey said Lt. General Kiley would be in charge of Walter Reed. Kiley is in line to be axed according to “reliable sources.”

Everyone is trying to get into world domination. According to an Associated Press report Swiss Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein:

According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers wandered just over a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.

A spokesman for the Swiss army confirmed the story but said that there were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken invasion.

“We’ve spoken to the authorities in Liechtenstein and it’s not a problem,” Daniel Reist told The Associated Press.

I think they are going to need to do a little more work on map reading, and someone needs to bring along a GPS receiver. It’s really embarrassing when you accidentally invade another country…especially if the country doesn’t notice.

On Day to Day Mike Pesca has a report ‘Times’ Gets Faked Out on ‘Diary’ Entry : “The New York Times unwittingly put a phony story in their “Metropolitan Diary” feature recently.” This details the reaction by the Times to being conned into running a fake anecdote, not news, but a fake fluff piece.

After you listen, consider the reaction of the Times to Judith Miller and her reporting.

Laptop Cases II

It’s big enough, really.

[Editor: If Ringo does it, Sox will try, even if his butt hangs off the end.]

Friday Ark