Retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki has been chosen by Barack Obama to be the next Veterans Affairs secretary, as the president-elect turned to a former Army chief of staff once vilified by the Bush administration for questioning its Iraq War strategy.

Obama will announce the selection of Shinseki, the first Army four-star general of Japanese-American ancestry, at a news conference today in Chicago. He will be the first Asian American to hold the post of Veterans Affairs secretary, adding to the growing diversity of Obama's Cabinet.

"I think that General Shinseki is exactly the right person who is going to be able to make sure that we honor our troops when they come home," Obama said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" to be broadcast today.

Like Obama, who graduated from Punahou School, Shinseki grew up in Hawai'i. He graduated from Kaua'i High School in 1960 and attended West Point. He was the first Hawai'i native and first Asian-American to attain the rank of four-star general.

Shinseki, who now lives in northern Virginia with his wife, Patty, had parents who, he has said, "were very much caught up trying to establish themselves professionally." He grew up with his grandparents in the Japanese section of a plantation community on Kaua'i.

His selection to head the VA drew praise yesterday from members of Hawai'i's congressional delegation.

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawai'i, chairman of the Veterans Affairs committee, said:

"President-elect Obama made an excellent choice. I've worked with Eric Shinseki when he was Army chief (of staff) and he worked real well. I will tell you that I respect his judgment and I know he made good judgments when he was chief, and he will make good judgments as secretary of Veterans Affairs."

Akaka knew Shinseki, 66, before he was Army chief of staff, and in fact "pinned" Shinseki with the rank of colonel at the Pentagon.

"I think everything's happening for the best interests of the country. Anybody from Hawai'i, and in this case, Gen. Shinseki, will really add to the diversity and reflect our country," Akaka said.

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, said:

"President-elect Obama has selected the perfect candidate for the position of Veterans secretary. He (Shinseki) was an extremely dedicated soldier who I had the honor of nominating to West Point so many years ago.

"He served with distinction and was seriously wounded. Shinseki, like many other veterans, will carry his scars to his grave.

"He understands the military and the needs of our veterans. I am honored to support one of Hawai'i's greatest heroes."

CHALLENGED RUMSFELD

Shinseki's tenure as Army chief of staff from 1999 to 2003 was marked by constant tensions with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, which boiled over in 2003 when Shinseki testified to Congress that it might take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to control Iraq after the invasion.

Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, belittled the estimate as "wildly off the mark" and the army general was ousted within months. But Shinseki's words proved prophetic after President Bush in early 2007 announced a "surge" of additional troops to Iraq after miscalculating the numbers needed to stem sectarian violence.

Shinseki retired in 2003, and his replacement was named 14 months before his term would end. In his farewell speech, he sternly warned against arrogance in leadership.

"You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader," he said. "You can certainly command without that sense of commitment, but you cannot lead without it. And without leadership, command is a hollow experience, a vacuum often filled with mistrust and arrogance."

Obama said he chose Shinseki for the VA post because he "was right" in predicting that the U.S. will need more troops in Iraq than Rumsfeld believed at the time.

"When I reflect on the sacrifices that have been made by our veterans and I think about how so many veterans around the country are struggling even more than those who have not served — higher unemployment rates, higher homeless rates, higher substance abuse rates, medical care that is inadequate — it breaks my heart," Obama told NBC.

Obama's choice of Shinseki is the latest indication that the president-elect is making good on his pledge to have a diverse Cabinet. In eight Cabinet announcements so far, white men are the minority with two nominations — Timothy Geithner at Treasury and Robert Gates at Defense. Three are women — Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security, Susan Rice as United Nations ambassador and Hillary Rodham Clinton at State. Eric Holder at the Justice Department is black, while Bill Richardson at Commerce is Latino.

Another person with Hawai'i ties, Tammy Duckworth, a McKinley High School and University of Hawai'i-Manoa graduate who earned the Purple Heart for her service in Iraq, had been mentioned as a potential VA secretary under Obama.

She also has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Obama in the U.S. Senate.

AGENCY UNDER FIRE

Shinseki is slated to take the helm of the government's second largest agency, which was roundly criticized during the Bush administration for underestimating the amount of funding needed to treat thousands of injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thousands of veterans currently endure six-month waits for disability benefits, despite promises by current VA Secretary James Peake and his predecessor, Jim Nicholson, to reduce delays. The department also is scrambling to upgrade government technology systems before new legislation providing for millions of dollars in new GI benefits takes effect next August.

A member of the West Point class of 1965, Shinseki was wounded three times in Vietnam, and those experiences are expected to assist him in understanding and meeting the needs of fellow veterans.

More than 33,000 U.S. service members have been injured or wounded in Iraq and Afghanis-tan.

In April 1966, shrapnel from a mortar round hit Shinseki in the shoulder and chest along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Five months later, he broke an arm and his jaw in a helicopter crash. In April 1970, while on his second tour, then-Capt. Shinseki lost his right forefoot when he stepped on a mine in tall grass.

In July 2006, several years after his retirement, Shinseki attended the opening of a new gallery at the U.S. Army Museum of Hawai'i at Fort DeRussy dedicated to his 38-year Army career.

He said at the time he felt no vindication of his pre-war troop strength assessment for Iraq, which many now view as an accurate reflection of what was needed.

"There's no vindication — not when young soldiers are in harm's way," the general said. "I don't think much about (the February 2003 assessment). I look at the hard work they are doing and I'm very proud of them. I was asked a question and I gave the best military judgment that I could provide."

Shinseki said there were probably things he would have done differently during his tenure as Army chief of staff.

"I've chosen not to comment publicly about what's going on (in Iraq)," he said in 2006. "There are folks that have those responsibilities, they are the ones that make the decisions and have to explain themselves."

As chief of staff, Shinseki led the service during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, advocated the black berets that soldiers wear today and championed the Stryker armored vehicles that have become a "medium-weight" force between tanks and infantry.