Veterans Affairs Chief Nicholson Resigns

Source: AP

Veterans Affairs Chief Nicholson Resigns

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Veterans Affairs chief Jim Nicholson, who was forced to defend the Bush administration's handling of people injured in battle after revelations of shoddy health care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, announced Tuesday he is resigning.

Nicholson, who is returning to the private sector, has been head of the VA since February, 2005. Before that, he was U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and chairman of the Republican National Committee.

He is the latest in a lengthening line of senior officials heading for the exits in the final 1 1/2 years of President Bush's administration.

~snip~

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VETERANS_NICHOLSON?SITE=WSPATV&SECTION=NATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-07-17-12-17-28



Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VETERANS_NICHOLSON?SITE=WSPATV&SECTION=NATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-07-17-12-17-28

Of course being a U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and chairman of the Republican National Committee, really gave the VA the ability to fulfill their intended mission didn't it W?

experts at everything? :sarcasm:

:sarcasm:

3 for 3, afghanistan, iraq and usofa. :(

bastards :argh:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/17/AR2007071700701.html?hpid=moreheadlines



Maybe he left to go help a candidate's campaign "Nicholson was National Republican chairman from 1997 through the 2000 elections."

I remember him now from the tube--he's a vicious son of a bitch with no loyalty to anything but money and power (surprise).

Shake the administration and their RNC roaches fall out - experience and expertise having nothing to do with any of their appointments.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/WoodruffReports/
To Iraq and Back and other videos

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/arts/television/27watc.html?ex=1188190800&en=65dc02b9fb64c844&ei=5087&excamp=GGHEbobwoodruff
One Man’s Survival Story Becomes a Rallying Cry
The TV Watch | 'To Iraq and Back'

The film notes that the Department of Defense puts the number of men and women wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan at about 23,000, while the Department of Veterans Affairs has recorded treating more than 200,000 veterans of those two wars. Paul Sullivan, the director of programs at the advocacy group Veterans for America, says, “What you have are two sets of books.”

Mr. Woodruff politely asks the secretary of veterans affairs, R. James Nicholson, to explain the discrepancy. Citing department reports that list 73,000 mental disorders, 61,000 diseases of the nervous system and others, Mr. Woodruff says, “These are huge numbers beyond the 23,000.”

Mr. Nicholson, a Vietnam veteran and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, replies, “A lot of them come in for, for dental problems.”

Mr. Woodruff illustrates quite graphically that some veterans are sent home to recuperate in smaller cities that do not have veterans’ hospitals equipped to handle the growing number of those returning with severe traumatic injuries. He interviews a young soldier who is slowly but steadily recovering at a state-of-the-art veterans’ polytrauma rehabilitation center in Tampa, Fla., then checks in on him weeks later in his hometown in Texas, where he has noticeably regressed.



http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2910973
An Unforeseen Cost of War
Thousands of Veterans Are Returning From War With Traumatic Brain Injuries


"The Department Of Defense saying that there's 23,000 wounded from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the Department Of Veterans Affairs is actually treating 205,000 veterans from these two wars," Sullivan said.

snip

Jim Nicholson, a spokesman for the Department of Veterans Affairs, acknowledges that there are delays in the system, but says the department is struggling to overcome a lack of knowledge about TBIs.

"This is a relatively new phenomenon. We are all doing intense research on it," Nicholson told "GMA's" Robin Roberts.

After six years of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, veterans' affairs advocates are asking why the VA did not take action sooner.

Snip
<"It has been an honor and privilege to lead the VA during this historic time for our men and women who have worn the uniform," said Nicholson, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. "This coming February, I turn 70 years old, and I feel it is time for me to get back into business while I still can." >

Does he really mean he needs to get into lobbying while all of his contacts still have value to the lobbying whores??

:shrug:

x(

Good riddance to another a**kisser supreme. Maybe we'll get lucky this time and a good man who does care about vets, Max Cleland, will get the nod. He is what we need to get back on the right track at the VA.