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UPDATE: PRESIDENT NAMES COMMISSION LEADERS --

Bipartisan military / VA healthcare panel to be led by former

Sen. Bob Dole and former Sec. Donna Shalala.

 

  
Sen. Bob Dole                             Sec. Donna Shalala

 

Story here... http://www.krqe.com/expanded.asp?ID=20233

Story below:

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Military hospitals get bipartisan probe

Source: AP

WASHINGTON -- President Bush is calling on two well-known names in Washington to head a probe of problems at the nation's military and veterans' hospitals.

Former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., is one. Dole is a wounded World War Two veteran who underwent years of treatment before moving into his long career in politics.

Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala is the other appointee.

She served in the Clinton administration and is now president of the University of Miami.

Bush announced the appointments today in a speech to the American Legion.

The move comes amid reports of substandard conditions for soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

It's considered one of the country's finest facilities.

Also in Washington today, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson promised to cut through the red tape for soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He announced new measures to speed the processing of military benefit claims.

This morning on CBS "The Early Show," Nicholson called the horror stories emerging from recent Washington hearings "unacceptable."

"It breaks my heart," he said.

But he drew a distinction between the benefit claims backlog and the delivery of needed medical care.

"If they come to us for health care, they are admitted immediately," Nicholson said.

A Senate panel today will quiz Army officials about Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where wounded soldiers have said they experienced neglect and substandard living conditions.

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Larry Scott  --