In a classic case of blame deflection, and after a week’s worth of controversy stirred by the Washington Post’s expose of the treatment of wounded soldiers, the Army axed the commander of Walter Reed Army Hospital today:

The Army said Thursday that the two-star general in charge of Walter Reed Army Medical Center has been relieved of command following disclosures about inadequate treatment of wounded soldiers.

Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who was commanding general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command as well as Walter Reed hospital, was relieved of command by Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey.

In a brief announcement, the Army said service leaders had “lost trust and confidence” in Weightman’s leadership abilities “to address needed solutions for soldier outpatient care” at Walter Reed.

Some will say that Weightman’s firing was justified. Others will opine that the bloodletting was simply an ass covering move by the Army medical establishment in order to cover for a broken system, and that Weightman was simply a fall guy for failed policy and inadequate planning. The latter is probably closer to the truth. Janis Karpinski could teach George Weightman a thing or two about the Army’s need for finding a convenient scapegoat.

Weightman’s firing has nothing at all to do soldier-patient care at Walter Reed, and everything to do with the bad publicity that the Army (and by extension, the Pentagon and Bush regime in general) received.

The bottom line is that the recovering soldiers in Building 18 at Walter Reed probably don’t much care. Most of them wonder what the heck they’re doing there in the first place, and just want to go home. It’s like that when you’re in the hospital for a long period of time, recovering from a serious injury.