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Inspector generals may have covered up abuses by VA

Inspectors general can be godsends for people who have to rely on the government, as well as for taxpayers. But they can be a curse, too, and that may be the case at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Far from leading the crackdown on VA officials who fail veterans in need of health care, the agency’s inspector general department may have helped cover up some abuses.

A group of VA whistleblowers told members of Congress recently that the IG department is “a joke.” Situations in which some IG officials helped retaliate against VA whistleblowers were recounted.

The IG department helped “create a culture of fear among the staff” at one VA hospital, it was alleged.

It has been a year and a half since VA officials promised to clean up abuses such as long waitlists.

That has not happened, members of Congress have been told.

And now, we learn that the very bureaucrats veterans should have been able to rely on as watchdogs are corrupt, too.

This has to end immediately. Why can’t – or won’t – President Barack Obama make that happen?

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