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Last month I began to tell the story of Leon Cooper, a World War II veteran who took part in the bloody battle of Tarawa. A California resident, in 2008 he paid a visit to the Pacific island and said he could not believe his eyes. The sunny beach that in 1943 had been turned into a battlefield had deteriorated into something else again — a combination junkyard and burial ground.

Hospitals and clinics operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have come under immense scrutiny in recent years. Some facilities have been found to be deficient in treatment of veterans, and politicians from both sides of the aisle have taken officials to task.