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Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 16:21
To: Turner, James, crv, OASD-PA
Subject: Re: Transcript - Military analysts body armor
Bryan Whitman
-----Original Message----
From: Turner, James, CIV, OASD-PA
To: Whitman, Bryan, SES , OASD-PA
CC: Merritt, Roxie T. CAPT. OASD-PA; Skinner, John A., Lt Col, OASD-PA
Sent: Fri Jan 13 16:19:432006
Subject: RE: Transcript - Military analysts body armor
·_---Original Message-----
From: Whitman, Bryan, SES, OASD-PA
.Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 2:45 PM
To: Tumer , James, CIV, OASD-PA
Subject: Re: Transcript - Military analysts body armor
·----ungmal Message-----
From: Whitman, Bryan, SES, OASD-PA
.Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 2:45 PM
To: Tumer , James, CIV, OASD-PA
Subject: Re: Transcript - Military analysts body armor
Bryan Whitman
Margaret wants us to post this analysts briefing transcript with General Speakes and General Sorenson. Is that
OK with you?
-----Original Message-----
From: Murphy, Margaret, CIV, OASD-PA
Sent: Fridav, January 13,2006 1:01 PM
To : ClY ,OASD-PA
Whitman, Bryan, SES, OASD-PA; Ruff, Eric, SES, OASD-PA; Thorp, Frank,
RDML, OASD-PA; Barber, Allison, CIV, OASD-PA; Haddock, Ellen (Katie),
Col. OCJCS/PA: . . . . .. .
. . . Merritt. Roxie T . CAPT, OASD-PA; Tumer,
James, CIV, OASD-PA; CIY, OASD-PA; Sciarretto, Bonnie,
ClY. OASD-PA; Lawrence. Dallas, OASD-PA; CIY, aSD-LA;
Idziak,
Susan E., Maj, OASD-PA; CIV, OASD-PA; Di Rita, Larry,
CrV,OSD-OASD-PA
Subject: Transcript - Military analysts body armor
Attached is the transcript for the military analyst call on Thursday, Jan . 12 at 1430.
Guests were MG Stephen Speakes of the Army G-8 and MG Jeff Sorenson from Assistant Secretary of the
Army Claude Bolton's office (Army acqu isitions).
Please note:
1. Mr. Ruff has asked that CAPT Merritt get the transcript to our reporters and also posted on our Defenselink
web site in the transcript bin.
2. The transcript references an appearance by Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis (ret), one of our military analysts, on the
Lehrer Newsllour on Wednesday, Jan. 11. I've attached a transcript of that discussion in case anyone would like
to read it. He aooears with retired Marine Corns Lt. Col.Rozer Charles. nresident of Soldiers for the Truth. the
web site in the transcript bin.
2. The transcript references an appearance by Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis (ret), one of our military analysts, on the
Lehrer Newslfour on Wednesday, Jan. 11. I've attached a transcript of that discussion in case anyone would like
to read it. He appears with retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Roger Charles, president of Soldiers for the Truth, the
advocacy group that obtained and published the Pentagon study of Marine deaths from torso wounds.
In addition to all the nice work yesterday, I think it is still a good ideo to have Sorenson do a .
phone call with the Military Analyst. There were a number of critical Op-Ed pieces that popped
up today and r think our analyst -- properly armed -- can push back in that arena.
We can set it all up, just need a time he could do it with a little advance notice to get them all
on the phone.
Thanks,
Bryan
From: Whitman , Bryan , SES, OASD-PA
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 200612:09
To:
Subject: How about one of those 2 talking to Military Analyst tomorrow -- by phone?
From: Whitman , Bryan , SES, OASD-PA
Sent: Friday , December 23 , 2005 09:50
To: Oi Rita, Larry , civ, OSO·OASD·PA
Subject: Re: Everybody happy?
News Release is out. Talking to Military analys t right now. Seedef remarks to following.
Everything seems to be unfolding nicely and the coverage looks good so far .
Brvan Whitman
-----Original Message-v-«
From:
To: Di Rita, Larry, CIV, OSD-OASD-PA; Whitman, Bryan , SES, OASD -PA
Sent: Fri Dec 23 09:46:35 2005
Subject: Everybody happy?
The AP story is on the front page here in Lexington KY. A good news story, right before xmas!
Are there any loose ends? Did you guys put out Rumsfeld's statement yet?
The AP story is on the front page here in Lexington KY. A good news story, right before xmas!
Are there any loose ends? Did you guys put out Rumsfeld's statement yet?
From: Wh itman , Bryan, SES, OASD-PA
Sent: Mondav. December 12.200517:45
To:
Cc: Oi Rita, Larry, CIV. OSO; Ruff, Eric, SES, OASD-PA
SUbject: FW : Military Analysts Who Went to Iraq; as of Monday at 5pm
The analyst are back from Iraq and starting to make do their thing _•.very positive contribution to the reporting.
Jeffrey McCauslin:
The U.S. troops I talked to feel that life is getting better for Iraqis
Steven Greer:
12/10/20054 :00:47 AM
Reporter: CBS news military analyst Jeffrey McCauslin has been talking with us troops in Fallujah.
McCauslin: l Ove just been asking the U.S. troops if they believe through their patrols throughout the city that
life in Iraq is gett ing better. They all uni formly thought it was getting better allover the country.
12/12/20 058:17:02 AM
Newscaster: As the people in Iraq start voting today for people in hospitals and prisons and military
installations, how long will it be from before the forces can take over the security? Our next guest just got back
from Iraq. Newscaster2: Retired Major Steve Greer joins us now from Washington, D.C. thanks for being with
us. Greer: Hey, good morning. Newscaster2: First, give us an update. Because here in the states , 10m sure you
reali ze this, there is this big debate over people like Joe Lieberman that just got back are more accurate about
t"'.:. ... "",k.4a+ ..--.: ........, • .a. n..f' n .,,",ot'C! "'an:nAn;rUY In 1....01"'1 n.,.. i f' I"\th~..-c! Q r~ "", n~ a t""J""'l1 ra t llOl 'J. llu~n t'h ~'T ~~" i t'c i n c t nnt oni no
welL What did you find? Greer: Good morning. Yeah, I would tell you, as a whole, the strategy is working.
There is no doubt that this three tier strategy, of the political, the economic, and the security, is working. And
that is a correct structure. And I would also tell that you the Iraqi security forces are much better than they were
six months ago in terms of their capability, their commitment to the progress of their new country and their
desire to be part of a tearn effort. And so that's the good news . There are some 212 , 220 ,000 Iraqi security forces
currently. They Ore continuing to assume more and more of their battle space which allows our forces to
disengage and eventually to return home. Newscaster: Sergeant, what do you know about the way we're
approaching this election as opposed to the other two? The other two went pretty well from the security
perspective. What are we going to do to make sure the Sunni areas allow those that want to vote to be able to
vote? Greer: Well , certainly the Anbar Province is a critical area . What we've done recently transferred the
authority of Osaba, the first border town between the Iraq and Syrian border that is the first critical note. We
disrupted the flow of foreign fighters and terrorists coming from Syria. So that's a key point. The next point here
is that I think you're looking at the Sunni rejectionists, those who are not part of the terrorist network or the
foreign fighter network. Those guys are fence sitters. I think you might see those guys vote in the morning and
conduct attacks in the afternoon. Their strategy is a duel strategy. ewscaster: Steve, let's talk about how long it
should take to get an army up and running. Some critics of the president said , look, we train men and women to
go into combat with just three months combat training. And now it's already been two years for many the Iraqi
forces. To some it might seem like their heart just isn't in it. Greer: Anybody that thinks that doesn't know what
they're talking about. I tell you , up front, you know, we don't train our forces in three months to go into combat.
Those guys are funne led into a unit and the armed forces have had 226 years of experience. And so the lessons
that we learned over such a long time frame are directly impacting the quality of training that goes into Iraqi
security forces. And I can tell you I was at the military academy. I was watching the new lieutenants that are
becoming lieutenants and about to go out to the field . And those guys figured this thing out. Newscaster2 : All
right. Command Sergeant Steve Greer, thank you very much. Greer: Take care.
000107
From: Whitman, Bryan, SES. OASD-PA
Sent: Tuesday, November 29 ,2005 15:06
To: Lawrence, Dallas, OASO-PA; Barber, Allison, CIV, OASD-PA; RUff, Eric , SES , OASO-PA;
Merritt, Roxie T. CAPT, OASD-PA
Cc: CIV ,OASD-PA
Subject: RE: analysts
Dempsey is going to do a Press Conference on Friday back to the Pentagon -- perhaps we could open up a phone
line to that (listen only mode).
With the PresidentOs big speech tomorrow and secde f going out today , what do you folks think about getting a
senior military leader in iraq to do an analyst call tomorrow early afternoon (or even today). Possibly Vines or
Dempsey?
•• - • • .00 -- - .. --_. __ . .... _ - - "0 - r-- . . . - - - .....--- --- -- . . - - - -- - --- O - - - -g - _ . . - - - -" ~ ---- - -- J - -- ----- ---- -- - - --. "iiii" - " ..,
senior military leader in iraq to do an analyst call tomorrow early afternoon (or even today). Possibly Vines or
Dempsey?
Dallas B. Lawrence
This sounds great Jim. I may be on the road with some of the media analyst during that timeframe, but I've cc'd my deputy, Jim
Turner who will make sure things go smoothly if I'm not here .
Roxie T. Merritt
Capta in, U.S. Navy
Director, 000 Press Operations
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affa irs
Pentagon, Room
Washington , DC 20301-1400
Capta in, U.S. Navy
Director, 000 Press Operations
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affa irs
Pentagon, Room
Washington , DC 20301-1400
roxie .merritt@
"Life , Liberty and the Pursuit of All Who Threaten It"
31 Roxie :
We are currently scheduled to return to the Pentagon 7-9 DEC. Therefore, would like to reschedule the
events we had originally planned. Can you tell me if the proposal below is doable?
• 7 DEC 1300 -1345 (T): Mil Analyst round-table/conference call discussion. POC:
• 8 DEC 1000 -1025 (T): Press Conference prep wi Mr. De Rita or Mr. Whitman. POC : Roxie
• 8 DEC 1030 -1110 (T): 000 Press Conference. POC : Roxie
Our time in Wash is very short this trip, so I currently do not see time for any other events . However, if things
change we may be able to flex .
Mil Analyst phone conf (UNCLASSIFIED) Page 2 of3
COL Yonts
Todd: As expected , the calendar is filling up very fast. Not sure we can fit this in .
& Roxie: Here's how I see Wed , 19 Oct and Thurs , 20 Oct shaping up .
• 19 OCT 1500-1545 (T) : Mil Ana lyst round table discussion . POC:
• 20 OCT 1230 -1300 en:
Press Conference prep wI Mr. De Rita or Mr. Whitman. POC: Roxie
• 20 OCT 1315-1350 (T) : 000 Press Conference. POC: Roxie
Let me know if you see any problems with the above inform ation? We are currently doing a nice rend ition of
the soft shoe calendar dance based upon availabil ity of office calls on the Hill and in the Pentagon.
Let me Know IT you see any promems wnn tne aeove mtormatrorrr we are currenny aOlng a nice renomon OT
the soft shoe calendar dance based upon avai lability of office calls on the Hill and in the Pentagon .
COL Yonts
COL Yonts,
I see you have a robust schedu le with the analysts, med ia, and speaking engagement. If possible , we recommend you
cons ider adding 20 minutes wh ile in the Pentagon for regiona l/syndicated radio interviews. These can be done in our
stud io, and our media outreach team can work the deta ils. The stations will be hand selected and have been good outlets
for previous SECDEF interviews,
very respectfully
Todd Vician
Mil Analyst phone conf (UNCLASSIFIED) Page 3 of3
-·---Origlnal Message-----
From: Yonts, James R COL USA CFC-A PAO DIRECTOR [mailto:Yontsj@
sent: Thursdav. september 15, 2005 11:36 AM
To: OV,OASD-PA' .
Cc: Merritt, Roxie T. CAPT, OASD-PA; 'Vician, Todd, Maj, OASD·PA'
Subject: Mil Analyst round table
Great! Look at the 20 th as well for a possible round table meeting with your Mil analysts.
As soon as our schedule of appointments gets developed I will let you know when we are available.
We are in the Pentagon conducting meetings. We are tentatively scheduled for an OSD press
conference on 20 OCT (aftemoon) .
COL Yonts
COLJim Yonts
CFC-A Puhlic Affairs Officer
From: Whitman, Bryan , SES, OASD-PA
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 06:04
To: Barber, AJlison, civ, OASD-PA; Ruff , Eric, SES, OASD-PA
Subject: Re: list of guys
Bryan Whitman
-----Original Message-s-«
From: Barber, Allison, CIV, OASD-PA
To: Whitman, Bryan, SES, OASD-PA; Ruff, Eric, SES, OASO-PA; Oi Rita, Larry , crv, OSD-OASD-PA
Sent: Tue Nov 0805 :56:162005
Subject: Re: list of guys
Those are just my quick thoughts on providing our mil analysts list to anyone . :).
We have a deal with these guys that we don't give out their info.
As we always tell people , we are happy to pass along requests at anytime. We can let them know of sally's
'1 nose are Just my'quick rno ugnrs on provrcmg our mu anaiysts 11S1 to an yone. .].
We have a deal with these guys that we don't give out their info.
As we always tell people , we are happy to pass along requests at anytime. We can let them know of sally's
interest and give them her info.
Ab
Not sure who she has asked, but I would have this conversation with Allison. My understanding is that some of
them have requested a certain amont of anonynimity. One would have to ask what her interest! intent is. I
certainly don't feel compelled to provide and would be concerned about the unintended consequences of doing
so. That said, it's not really my call but I could see her spinning a negative story that I would have to deal with.
b)(2)
-----Original Message-----
From: Ruff, Eric, SES, OASD-PA
To: Oi Rita, Larry, eIV, OSD-OASD-PA; Whitman, Bryan, SES, OASD-PA
Sent: Mon Nov 0721 :52:332005
Subject: Fw: list of guys
Sally is aware that we brief the mil analysts and is looking for a copy of the list. Saidshe has asked previously
but I said I was unaware -- bw, has she mentioned this to you and what she wants to do withe list? She
mentioned this on the naocc during the flight back from china . I didn't know the status of any conversation(s)
she may have had w/anyone in the building. Haven't raised it until she raises it now . Thanks .
-----Original Message-----
From : .
To: Ruff, Eric, SES, OASD-PA
Sent: Mon Nov 07 21:17:352005
Subject: list of guys
think i can get that list of guys you guys brief occassionally?
Page 1 of 1
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Mr 'Nh itman
We'll be discussing the military analystsfTime magaz ine request with Gen Casey tomorrow morn ing. No answer expected
tonight. vir Dewey
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
[fthis e-mail is marked FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY it may be exempt from mandatory disclosure under FOIA. 000
5400.7R, "0 00 Freedom ofInformation Act Program", 000 Directive 5230.9, " Clearance of DoD Information for
Public Release", and DoD Instruction 5230 .29, " Security and Policy Review of 000 Information for Public Release"
apply.
From: Whitman, Bryan, SES, OASD-PA
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 16:41
To: Di Rita, Larry, CIV, OSD
Cc: Thorp, Frank, CAPT , OCJCS/PA
Subject: FW : COL Jack Jacobs
Sir,
FYSA --here's info on analysts COL. Jack Jacobs. Will continue to develop the list of analysts regarding
Huricane Katrina.
vr
Todd
-----Original Message----
From: Di Rita , Larry, CIV , OSD-OASD-PA
Sent: Wednesday, August 03 ,20053:44 PM
To : Ruff, Eric, SES, OASD-PA; Whitman, Bryan, SES , OASD-PA; Thorp, Frank, CAPT, OCJCSfPA; Barber,
Allison, CIV, OASD-PA
Subject: Re: military analysts
May be worth a 30 min phone call if gen ham or someone were available.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ruff, Eric, SES, OASD-PA <Eric.Ruff@
To: Di Rita, Larry, CIV, OSD-OASD-PA <larry.dirita@ Whitman, Bryan, SES, OASD-PA
<Bryan. Whitman@
Sent: Wed Aug 03 14:20 :512005
Subject: military analysts
C I V U I. l'.UIl, L,;,U", ,;JJ,.;,;J, VL" ,;J~-I rio ~ L,jIl" •.l'\."U.l~
given events of the last two days in theater, should we pull together a call with military analysts to give them
some context. for example, bryan has worked with frank thorp to get ham or conway (don't recall the second
name, bryan, sorry) in touch with bill cowan, who is doing o'reilly tonight.
also, we may want to think about expanding our posture on things for the next day or two, reaching out to some
of the radio people with senior civilians or military, to place events of the last two days in context.
this isn't a clarion call suggestion, but i'm wondering if we ought to tum up our efforts to try and make sure
balance and perspective are achieved.
thanks, eric
From: Whitman, Bryan , SES, OASD-PA
Sent: Wednesday, August 03,200514:45
To: :IV, OASD-PA
Cc: Ruff, Eric, SES , QASD-PA
Subject: RE: mil analyst on o'reilly
From: av,OASD·PA
sent: Wednesday, August 03,20051 :25 PM
To: Whitman, Bryan, SES, OASD·PA
Subject: RE: mY analyst on o'reilly
i believe eric is calling to tell him that we're trying to track down the info for him. j told bill i would take his request for action and see
what i could get from the pao's..... would you be able to give him the info eric mentioned (if we don't have the info bill wants)? thanks
for being Willing to help out!
bill cowan will be on fox's o'reilly report tonight and wanted to give us a heads-up about what he's going to say... and to also ask
for anything and everything we can give him reothe deaths of the marines yesterday and today.
i told him that larry ju st got out ofa press avail where he basically said that as soon as we have the facts we will release them. he
said if there's anything we can send him, be'll take it. he wants his comments to be factual. he doesn't want to speculate, w hich he's
sure o'reilly will do plenty of.
he's going to talk about the overall situation and what his contacts in iraq are telling him. it may not all be friendly, but it comes
from the perspective of not wanting the war effort to fail--but tough on some of the things that are going on over there.
Respectfully,
0001"
From: Whitman. Bryan, SES, OASD·PA
Sent: Monday, July 18,200514:16
To: Waxman , Matthew, CIV , OSD-POLlCY; Shavers , Michael , Maj, OASD-PA: Plexico, Alvin
CDR , OASD-PA
Cc: Merritt, Roxie T. CAPT. OASD-PA; Turner, James, C1V, OASD-PA; Ebberts , Lynette, CIV,
OASD -PA;
Subject: Re: Jed Babbin Interview Request
-----Original Message-v-«
From : Waxman, Matthew, CIV, OSD -POLICY <Matthew.Waxman@
To: Whitman, Bryan, SES, OASD-PA <Bryan. Whitman@ Shavers, Michael. Mai, OASD-PA
<MichaeI.Shavers@· ; Plexico, Alvin LtCdr, OASD-PA <Alvin.Plexico@
CC : Merritt, Roxie T. CAPT, OASD-PA <Roxie.Merritt@ Turner, James. CIY. OASD-PA
<James.Turnertdl Ebberts, Lynette, CIY, OASD-PA <lynette.ebberts@
I may be en route to Afghanistan with Prosper that day. Will know that by later today
I may be en route to Afghanistan with Prosper that day. Will know that by later today
To: Shavers, Michael, Maj, OASD-PA <Michael.Shavers@ Plexico, Alvin LtCdr, OASD-PA
<Alvin.Plexico@·
CC : Waxman, Matthew, CIV, OSD-POLICY <Matthew.Waxman@ ; Merritt. Roxie T. CAPT, OASD-
PA <Roxie.Merritt@ Turner. James , CIV, OASD-PA <James.Tumertd Ebberts, Lynette,
CIV, OASD-PA <lynette.ebberts@ 'McWilliams, David, COL (L)'
Sent: Mon Jul 18 06:42:26 2005
Subject: Jed Babbin Interview Request
Jed Babbin is substituting for Mark Larson on KOGO, San Diego, next Friday, 22 July. The show airs 3-6 EDT.
He is asking if BG Jay Hood or Matt Waxman might be availab le for an interview. As you probably know Jed
is very friendly and supportive.
Michael and Flex please take for action and keep me updated.
.Ted Babbin
Message Page 1 of 1
As you mayknow, we took a plane load of military analysts/ commentators down to GTMO last Friday .
Attached is a summary of the resulting transcripts from various shows. Once again it proves if you go
there you have a totally different perception and it is much more difficult to criticize the operat ion.
We will continue to encourage more visits of this nature.
MILITARY ANALYST FEEDBACK
POST GUANTANAMO VISIT
(Transcripts : June 25-27, 2005)
Note: These are clips found as of) 500 Monday. More may follow.
Highlights.
OSD
Public Affairs Research and Analysis
000 121
Transcripts:
W BC-NY ( BC ) - Today
6125/20057:08:07 AM
Newscaster: Earlier this week a team of human rights experts at the United Nations
accused the U .S. of unfair treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. And joining us this
morning from Washington, D.C., two NBC news analysts, both former generals, Barry
McCaffrey who's returned from a trip to Iraq and Montgomery Meigs, who recently
returned from, I believe, j ust yesterday, a visit to Guantanamo Bay. Go od morning to
both of you ...
Newscaster: General Meigs, let me tum to you and Guantanamo Bay . You were just
there at the invitation of the U.S. military. Give us your general impressions . Meigs:
Well , we went to just about every corner of the place. Escorted by Major General Hood,
the conunander down there. There's been over $ 100 mill ion of new construction. The
place is professionally run. I was impressed. Newscaster: isn't the debate though no t so
much about exactly how prisoners are being treated there but mo re on whether or not
Guantanamo Bay has become a symbol? A symbol to the Muslim world and in particular
-- a recruitment tool for terrorists because of what it represents? Meigs: Well, I think the
problem we have is in terms of the general treatment of prisoners earl y on in the war. Let
me give you an example. The Red Cross just spent six weeks there interviewing
prisoners, going to every part of the prison. It's not an irretrievable situation. You're
going to have to have something like Guantanamo to hold these 500-odd terrorists who
were very seriously dedicated people. It mi ght as well be Guantanamo as just the
Department of Defense is going to tell the story of what's really going on there. I think
they 're starting to do a much better job of that now. Newscaster: General Meigs and
General McCaffrey, thanks very much to both of you this morning.
000122
The Red Cross are both saying the prisoners may have been abused and that they were
not allowed to see all that was going on. Were you able (confirm?) Meigs: Yes. I know
the commander. He was trying to show us everything because he's got a good story to
tell. The Red Cross had just spent six weeks there interviewing prisoners, getting access
to any part of the facility. And as I understand it, secondhand, their issues concern
individual cells for prisoners, as opposed to two or three prisoners in a cell. That is not
unusual in confinement facilities , in that the prisoners can talk to each other cell-to-cell,
et cetera. So I would say as time goes on, this story is going to abate. They are doing the
right things at Guantanamo. Newscaster: I will have more on their thoughts on whether
the media is giving America the accurate picture of what's really happeni ng in the war on
terror . Meanwhile, a look at your weather...
OSD 3
Public Affairs Research and Analy sis
because the soldiers and sailors I know would never put up with it. They wouldn't allow
this to go on....
Newscaster: Steve, this is what I want to know . We had interrogations - you witnessed
four of them. My question is, if these interrogations are indeed working, are we further
along on the intelligence trail? Are we any closer to cracking Al-Qaeda? Are we closer
to getting Osama bin Laden? Greer: I don't know . Yes, they are definitely working . I
spoke to the senior interrogator - a female who has been there two years, she said every
single week they gain credible information that helps us uncover the structure of a
Canadian and associated networks . Not to mention Al-Qaeda's pursuit of WMD, terrorist
techniques and skill sets the way they recruit, recruiting centers and locations as well as
how terrorist organizations used legitimate financial businesses as fronts to fund
terrorism. Newscaster: The interrogations you viewed - what were they like? Greer: it
was really hair-raising to watch the interrogations and to see an Al-Qaeda operative face-
to-face with an American interrogator and interpreter. To see the cat and mouse game
that goes on... There was one individual who was leaning forward in his seat very focused
and attentive, with the detainee watching every word he said, he was there two years and
he was a leader within the camp itself.... Newscaster: thank you for joining us today.
Take care.
OSD 4
Public Affairs Research and Analysis
ewscaster: You had free run of the place and that you got to watch them at work pretty
much unfettered for a day . Isn't it fair to, well , ifthere's abuse going on it sure isn't going
to happen while the U.S . Congressional delegation is going through and certainly not
while former people who are now analysts on TV , are hanging out in town? I mean, it
seems to me, obviously you wouldn't see those things, I think that's fair to say, isn't it?
Shepperd: Absolutely. They put their best foot forward. In any prison situation you have
to continually guard against abuses. There have been abuses at Guantanamo in the past. I
think they have been fixed and they 're constantly on the alert for them. What we saw was
a bunch of dedicated people that are really mad and feel attacked by the things coming
out in the print press about this . They say, I don't know where these people are getting
information. They haven't been here, and I haven't seen it going on. Newscaster: not only
coming out in the print press, journalists who haven't had a chance to visit, talking about
Amnesty International, they called Guantanamo modem gulag, the IRC said tactics were
tantamount to torture. IRC comes by frequently to check on prisoners. They're there all
the time. The same with Amnesty International, they are people there. These are not
journalists typing on computers in another state and never have left the country.
Shepperd: The International Red Cross has access 24 hours a day 7 days a week at
times and place of their choosing. You 've got to realize that people think about
Guantanamo as in previous wars where you captured detainees and bold them until the
end of the war and release them. Guantanamo is detaining people, keeping them off of
the battlefield, releasing ones not guilty and punishing and bringing to military tribunals
ones that are. That's what we saw going on . And I believe that's what's going on now,
after some rough starts. Newscaster: What do the interrogators tell you about
information they're getting from folks who remain detained there? Shepperd: These
people have been here, some, two , three years. Newscaster: Are you still getting
valuable information? Shepperd: Absolutely yes . You get bits and pieces. New people
coming in all of the time , new faces, they reconfirm new things and go into databases line
things up, they say we've gotten a lot of information to prevent attacks in this country and
other countries with the information they're getting from these people and it's still
valuable. Former Air Force Major General Don Shepperd joining us CNN military
analyst back from Gitmo. Thanks for talking with us.
OSD 5
Public Affairs Research and Analysis
000.20
Newscaster: You said you got to talk to the interrogators and guards. What have they
told you? Shepperd: The interrogators, we have the opinions that people have been
mistreated. Everyone we talked to, and this is consistent with things I have known in the
past, every interrogator will tell you the key is a relationship based on respect.
Eventually, they will begin to talk and you get pieces of information you can fit together
with pieces of information from somewhere else. Pressure doesn't work, disrespect
doesn't work, and torture is counterproductive. That came from everyone, men and
women who were interrogators down here. Newscaster: This leads me to my next
question. Of course, this was a trip organized by the Pentagon . Do you feel like you're
getting full access? Are you seeing a true picture? Shepperd: That's a good question .
They are proud to have people down here to see what we're seeing. Obviously, they're
going to put their best foot forward, and obviously, there will be abuses or people
disobeying the regulations. I have been in prisons and jails in the United States, and this
is by far the most dedicated force I've ever seen in any correctional institution anywhere.
Newscaster: You mentioned you have spoken with guards. What are they saying?
Shepperd: Very interesting. I had lunch with one of the female guards and then I talked
to a group of male guards as well. I said, do you ever see anything that goes on that
resembles mistreatment of prisoners or mistreatment by the prisoners of guards. They
say they're on alert at all times. They're not armed when they're around the guards (sic-
meant to say "prisoners"). You don't do that because obviously weapons can be taken
and used against you. But basically, they treat the prisoners firmly with respect. They
don't engage in a lot of banter with them. They say the prisoners do things that we've
heard about in the media. They sometimes get riled and will throw feces, they'll throw
urine at the guards . But this entire system is based upon compliance. In other words, if
you comply with the rules, you're gonna be treated wen , you'll be given more privileges
just like any detention facility, and if you don't, your life is going to be much more
miserable than those who do. So, all of the guards seem to be very professional. None of
them that I have talked to have observed anything in the way of mistreatment or any
really bad incidents. The biggest thing they say is violence between the prisoners
themselves. A lot of the prisoners don't like each other. They're from different countries.
Newscaster: On the flipside, have you had access to the prisoners themselves and what
are their conditions? Shepperd: We have not had access to the prisoners themselves .
We are told what they are and we have seen all the facilities. We have watched
interrogations . We just watched interrogations of two high-value prisoners who have
been here for a considerable amount of time. The facilities are basic of prisons
anywhere. We have seen the cell said. They're 7 x 8 cells. They're clean. they have a
toilet in the facility. They have a water fountain in the facility. They have a bed. They
are given the Koran. They're given a mattress. They're given clothes, recreational things
such as playing cards, chess, checkers, that type of thing. We have not had access to talk
to the prisoners and, again, that's one thing you've got to be very careful of. You want to
establish a prisoner relationship with the interrogators and not have that proliferated with
other people. Newscaster: Let's back up for just a moment because you said you
watched an interrogation. Explain to us how that played out and were there any instances
of abuse or possible abuse? Shepperd; Absolutely not. Basically, you're able to observe
interrogations. When you say, "we watched them," I want to be very careful about how I
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describe this. I do not want to describe how we watched it. They have various ways of
monitoring the interrogations. With the interrogations we watched, there were
interrogators, translators who translated for the detainee, and there were also intelligence
people in there. They're basically asking questions. They ask the same questions over a
long period oftime. They get information about the person's family, where are they from,
who they know, what they do. All of the things you would want in a criminal
investigation. These were cordial, very professional. There was even laughing in two of
them. Newscaster: Laughing inan interrogation? Shepperd: Yes. It's not like the
impression that we have where people bend people's arms and mistreat people. They're
trying to establish a firm professional relationship where they have respect with each
other and can talk to each other. Yes, there was laughing and humor going on in a couple
of these things. I'm talking about a remark made where someone will smirk or laugh or
chuckle. Newscas ter: We appreciate your time and that look inside Gitmo
with you being there . Thank you for that. We invite you to stay tuned.
MS Be
6/26/20059:35:56 AM :
ewscaster: ... possible prisoner abuse in Guantanamo Bay, lawmakers from both sides
of the aisle tour the site this weekend. They say conditions are improving for prisoners.
Military escorts took a house delegation through cellblocks, interrogation rooms, and
troops' barracks. Our own military analyst was also given a tour of Guantanamo Bay
earlier this week; retired army Colonel Jack Jacobs joins us with a little more insight.
First up, before we get to Guantanamo Bay, about that report in the Sunday Times about
U.S. officials meeting with insurgent leaders , tell us a little about what that might mean.
Jacobs: I think we're reaching out to try to find some solution to the problem of
continued violence by this group of people that we call collectively the insurgency, trying
to meet with these guys and figure out if there's some way that we can ameliorate the
situation. I can't get any confirmation that it actually took place. But I can tell you this --
unless you meet with every one of these guys, including Al-Zarqawi's mob , you're not
going to get anything.
Newscaster: Well, Secretary Rumsfeld has said it was Iraqis meeting with insurgent
leaders. Was there a difference there? Would they not do it with the U.S. military?
Jacobs: They might do it with the U.S .'s approval, but not with the U.S. or any
combination of those things. And it's possible and plausible that the Iraqis themselves
would meet with the insurgency leaders. But if they're going to do it, they've got to get all
of the insurgency leaders together. The thing is so fragmented, unless they get them all to
agree it's not going to work.
Newscaster: Now to Guantanamo Bay. Tell us about the cells themselves also where the
prisoners are detained. What are they like?
Jacobs: Well, the older cells, of course, are older. But the new cellblocks, which a new
cellblock is patterned directly after a high security prison in Indiana , and it's the state of
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the art facility. The cells are very, very good indeed. The detainees have the capability to
talk to other detainees and inmates. They can do things like play checkers with them and
so on, even in the higher security blocks. It's a very nice facility, to be honest with you. If
you've got to be in prison, it's not a bad place to be.
Newscaster: We're seeing a lot of high-profile visits to Guantanamo Bay is it part of a
PR ploy? We now recognize that we've been watching pictures from three years ago,
since abandoned. ow Camp Delta, an entirely different location in that facility in
Guantanamo Bay. What 's going on here ?
Jacobs: Well, J think the Defense Department has been way behind the eight ball. This
story had been building up over a period oftime. You said yourself, the x-ray pictures are
three years old and we've still been showing them. The Defense Department has waited;
instead of getting ahead of the story and saying, why don't you come on down and take a
look at this thing. We'll show you what it's really like, but has waited until now to do it.
Long overdue. I think that the story -- the story is one in which we can get a good view of
what's actually taking place. There's nothing necessarily to be ashamed of. The facilities
there are actually quite good. And the story is an interesting and important one that the
Defense Department should have shown us before. They need to learn from this , that it
doesn't make any sense to wait, get everybody down there , show them the stuff at the
very beginning, and they would be lots better off.
Newscaster: We spoke to two retired Generals yesterday. Alex just spoke to two
lawmakers who said conditions there, and you yourself saw that conditions there are
better or good. Does that mean, however that, the reputation, the image, has not been too
tarnished, that this camp should in fact stay open?
Jacobs: Well , the reputation is tarnished, period. I don't know if you're going to be able
to improve the reputation in the Islamic world, no matter what you do. At the end of the
day, the intelligence value of Guantanamo is so high, and I've seen both unclassified and
classified briefings down there. But I can tell you that the intelligence value is so high
that it makes no sense whatsoever to close it down . And we're still getting information
from detainees who have been there for three years.
MSNBC
6/2612005 10:38:56 AM
Newscaster: Retired Army Colonel Jack Jacobs, welcome as always.
Jacobs: Good morning.
Newscaster: A report in the "Sunday Times" of London, about meetings between U.S.
officials disputed by Donald Rumsfeld, and Iraqi insurgents. Any way you slice that, it's
still problematic because the insurgency is not a coherent group, could you tell us about
that?
Jacobs: I tried to check to see whether or not it was true and so far, nobody's talking
about it. It's plausible that we will have, that we would have bad meetings with these
guys. But one of the points that you mention, that it's difficult, if you can't assemble
everybody who is participating in this very fragmented insurgency, we call it an
insurgency like it's one centrally-organized thing, it's not ...
Newscaster: Let's go to Guantanamo Bay . The respect or disrespect of Islam . Now we
talked earlier about some of the cells and conditions there. What about Islam itself? Did
you get any sense of how fair it is there?
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Jacobs: Sure . Not only what happened before, and people make mistakes and you're sure
mistakes have been made in the past. The law of large numbers says eventually
something bad may have happened. I can tell you right now that they go really, from my
standpoint, way out of their way to accommodate Islam. Ritually slaughtered meat is
flown in from Florida. The meals that they ate, 1can tell you that you can't eat that much
food, to be honest with you . The each, each detainee gets a prayer rug, prayer oil, prayer
beads. He's got a niche in his cell for his Koran, so that it doesn't inadvertently get
desecrated. Every conceivable horizontal surface you can think of has got an arrow
stenciled on it. Any place that a detainee can be, interrogation room, out in the exercise
yard in the cell, to show which way to turn, which way is Mecca, so he can pray.
ewscaste r : Are these changes? Is this an updating in the system? Because the reports,
remember the log story about how the 20th hijacker was treated three years ago or two
years ago.
J acobs: That was a long time ago.
Newscaster: Do you have a sense that this is newly implemented?
J acobs: This is the sense, I think some of the changes, the large majority of them have
been evolutionary, the kind of condi tions we have there now, were not, were not existing
three years ago. They' ve been changing for the better. And I think one of the reasons
we've done it is less because of the international concern about it, but because you get
more information out of these guys if you treat them properly. And they're properly
treated and we're getting lots of information from them. Information we didn't get before.
Newscaster: Better with honey than vinegar .
Jacobs: It works every time.
MSNBC
6/26/2005 11 :47:47 AM
Newscaster: Meanwhile, we'll get insight from our own military analyst, also given a
tour of Guantanamo Bay earlier this week. Retired Army Colonel Jack Jacobs , welcome
as always.
J acobs: Good morning again .
Newscaster: Tell us a little bit -- earlier you talked about the cells and the food . Tell us
about specifically about the interrogations you were able to witness.
Jacobs: We saw a number of interrogations. Some fairly high profile and extreme ly
dangerous detainees. And they used different techniques. The whole idea is to get closer
to the detainees, so he can feel comfortable with you and therefore give you the
information you require. You're not going to get any good informat ion from somebody
you beat up. He's going to tell you whatever he thinks you want to hear so that you'll
stop . So they've been working hard over the last few years to gain the trust of these
detainees. Some of them are very, very high-level and hard-core people. And it works, it
works. I saw one, one detainee, whenever there's a session, he won't talk unless he gets
his stuff. What's his stuff? A Twix candy bar, you can't make this up. A cup of Seattle's '
best coffee and the latest edition of '''' Martha Stewart Living.'"' and then he'll start
talking.
Newscaste r : And is that because Martha Stewart ....
J acobs: I have no idea. Are you establishing real trust with these people, if you have an
interrogator and analyst, who over time, develops trust with the detainees.
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Newscaster: Is that a change in a tactics? We had heard before the comp laints of the FBI
agents who were sent to various locations who witnessed military interrogations or
perhaps those by the contractors or reservists in Iraq. Who at one point were doing some
of them? Is that a change in tactics?
Jacobs: I think in some areas it's a change . In many areas, it's not. Because the American
military people recognize that if you, if you establish trust you're going to get the
information you require ultimately. But I think overall it's a recognition that it's going to
take time and you have to establish a working relationship with the detainee. There's one
interrogator I saw, who is a very motherly type. And this is the interrogator who finely
got this one detainee to spill everything because he felt some sort of close relationship
with this woman, who over time developed a personal intellectual relationship with him.
Newscaster: Did you see what you expected to see when you took this tour?
Jacobs: No . I'm something of a skeptic . And a doubter. I've always been, I was very
surprised to see what I saw. I expected the facilities to be very rustic . They are not, they
are in very good shape and they are in new high-tech containment cells. I did not expect
civilians to be interrogating the prisoners. I didn't expect to see the little contact with
military people and detainees.
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000'»
in the United States. The other thing is that surprised me is the fact that we're still getting
what we would caJl actionable , usable intelligence information interrogations with these
guys, and that I hadn't expected, and so I was very pleased to see that, because what it
shows is that the process is working and that there really is a reason, other than the fact
that these are very evil terrible people, who keep this system working. Brian: The FBI
report that says they used dogs chained to the floor , forced to go to the bathroom on
themselves , everything like that, do you understand that that is proven true, but that was
the old system or is that considered a false report? Cucullu: I don't know what
happened in the past, and it's tough for me to evaluate that particu lar report , although it
sounds a bit hyperbolic to me. We went through several of the camps, we actually
watched several ongoing interrogations and we had a chance to talk to the troops on a
one-on-one -basis over a meal , which was a detainee's meal, it proved to me that there's
absolutely nothing like that going on now. In fact, many of us were a bit shocked at the
leniency that the command is showing toward the prisoners , the detainees, because in
many cases the real abuse going on down there that we don't hear about is that every day
when these guards , our young men and women go into the blocks , they 're assaulted by
the detainees throw feces , urine, semen, spit. They're vilified , threatened; their families
are threatened with death. If they go into the cell with these guys, they 're personally
attacked. They try to scratch their eyes out, pull their mouths and stuff, and break their
hands. It's very dangerous, and these kids are very brave and professional for putting up
with it and not reacting in a way that maybe you and I would if we put up with the same
threat. Brian: When you talk about interrogations, you say relationships are being built.
Why? Cucullu: Because they feel that you get -- it's like the old -- the old saying, you
get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. These people are working with them
over a long period of time , the interrogators are establishing a relationship with the
prisoners, and what they're finding is that in many cases, it's an ego thing , Brian. These
detainees are proud of what they did, they're proud of the fact that they have tried to kill
Americans , and Westerners and will do so in the future . They brag about it. They openly
boast about it. And they -- we're finding out things about financing, about Al Qaeda
organizations and training, about operations that took place in the past and may happen in
the future, so this is all is essential for the security of the United States that we continue
n
the interrogation process down there. Brian: Last question, there's no way to ever show
you if there was something to hide in Gitmo , the average person watching at home says
(they) never show you what was wrong at Gitmo. What makes you think that you got the
real story? Cucullu: Because we saw hundreds of people , we saw almost every cell and
confinement facility down there. It's simply impossible, Brian, to have a conspiracy on
that level and that magnitude. There were 10 of us along; we were speaking to the troops
over a meal. If somebody had a complaint or a problem, they would have indicated it to
one of us and we would have been able to share that. This business about these vast
conspiracies is really overstated. Plus we do what we're looking for. You know , we're not
rookies at this, and we've inspected military units before. You can tell the pride, the
honesty, and the pride that comes from these troops . Briant Thanks again for joining us.
Cucullu: Great to be on with you. Brian: In and out of Cuba. not an easy thing to do.
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000132
From: Whitman, Bryan, SES, OASD-PA
Sent: Monday, June 20,200515:35
To: Lee. Randall H. LTC. OASD-PA
Cc: Ruff, Bonita, CIV, OASD-PA;
Kenney, Matthew , CIV OASD-PA ; Sciarretto . Bonnie CIV
OASD-PA
Subject: Re: Gitmo Trip •• Mit Analysts/Journalists - Intern from Yale
-----Original Message-----
From: Lee, Randall H, LTC , OASD-PA <randall.lee@'
To: Whitman, Bryan. SES. OASD-PA <Bryan.Whitman@
cc.
Ruff, Bonita, Clv, OASD·PA <Bonita.Ruff@
; Sciarretto,
Bonnie elV OASD-PA <Bonnie.Sciarretto@
Sent: Mon Jun 20 15:31 :062005
Subject: Gitmo Trip -- Mil Analysts /Journalists -- Intern from Yale
Sir,
At Friday's PA Ops meeting, issue of sending Military Analysts I Journalists to Gitmo was raised (with a trip in
July seemingly a go).
Sir,
At Friday's PA Ops meeting, issue of sending Military Analysts I Journalists to Gitmo was raised (with a trip in
July seemingly a go).
Just wanted to remind you that Mr. Di Rita had broached the subject a while back of sending our Yale intern,
on that trip.
We still suppport 100%. FYI, he's literally the voice of the conservatives at Yale -- he has a biweekly column in
the Yale Daily News (the nation's oldest daily college newspaper).
VRI
Randy
Randall H. Lee
Lt. cer ., U.S. Army
Speechwriter to the Secretary of Defense OASDIPA, OSD Writers Group Pentagon, Rm
randall.lee@l
From: W hitman, Bryan, SES , OASD-PA
Sent: Friday, June 17,2005 16:34
To: 'Dave McWilliams
Cc: Merritt, Roxie T. CAPT, OASD-PA; Turner, James, CIV, OASD -PA
Subject: FW: Analyst Update
Folks,
For those of you that were able to take a few hours out of your busy day yesterday to join us at the Pentagon, I'd like to
express my sincere appreciation. I hope you found the mUltiple brief ings and Q&A to be usefull as you go about your work
in discussing America's efforts in the globa l war on terrorism. For those that missed the day's briefing by the Deputy
Secretary , the Secretary and sen ior military leaders, we hope to be able to bring additiona l briefings to you again later in
the year.
Based on the multiple requests and the strong support of the Secretary, we are now mov ing forward with planning a trip for
military analysts to Guantanamo Bay. Dates have not been selected yet, however we plan to move as quickly as possible
to get you folks down there to see first hand the effective policies and practices in place to respect the rights of the terrorist
detainees the Secretary discussed yesterday . What I need from all of you, rather quickly, is a first cut at who is interested
in a trip down to Guantanamo Bay, most likely within the next thirty days. SouthCom will be lead in planning and executing
this trip once we have built the confirmed guest list.
It is my understanding that Guantanamo Bay is 5 hours away via air, therefore one should expect to be gone at least a full
da¥. P9ssibly. depending on SouthCom's itinerary, a little [onger. . . . _
detainees the Secretary discussed yesterday . What I need from all of you, rather quickly, is a first cut at who is interested
in a trip down to Guantanamo Bay. most likely within the next thirty days. SouthCom wi ll be lead in planning and executing
this trip once we have built the confirmed guest list.
It is my understanding that Guantanamo Bay is 5 hours away via air, therefore one should expect to be gone at least a full
day, possibly, depending on SouthCom's itinerary, a little longer.
Please rsvp to . . if you are seriously interested in partic ipating in a analysts delegation to
Guantanamo Bay. Once we have an initial cut and a date locked by SouthCom we will be back in touch with specifics.
Again, thank you for all that you all continue to do to spread the word about the great deeds and sac rifices of our men and
women in uniform. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend .
Dallas B. Lawrence
Director, Office of Community Relations & Public Liai son
United States Department of Defense
From: Wh itman, Bryan, SES, OASD-PA
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 12:37
To: Skinner, John A., Lt Col, OASD-PA
SUbJect: RE: Jed Babbin
no
Sir
Jed Babbin called. He's negotiating with the John Gibson Show producers to go on their show live tomorrow at 5 pm to
discuss the Church Report . He asked if he can share the Info we provided him with FOX (he says they swear they
won't use until tomorrow). Bottom line, I think Mr Babbin wants to use it to better market himself to them ...to secure some
air time .
Personally, I'm uncomfortable with him providing the info to them today, but maybe you feel there's value...it likely would
ensure his use him as an "analyst." What should I tell hlm?-V/R John
VIR
John A. Skinner
Lt. Col., U.S. Air Force
Defense Press Officer
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
John A. Skinner
Lt. Col., U.S. Air Force
Defense Press Officer
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
From: Wh itman, Bryan , SES, OA$O-PA
Sent: ' Tuesday, March 08,200518:17
To: Thorp, Frank, CAPT, OCJCS/PA
Cc: Oi Rita , Larry, crv, OSO-OASD-PA; Geren, Pete, CIV , OSO ; Maples, Michael 0 , MG, JCS
VOJS
SUbject: FW: Military Analysts call
Here is the most current RSVP list for tomorrow's confere nce call. It will be held in Allison's office at 1500. Thanks.
Declining:
Resoeciiuliu,
Dallas/Tl: Thanks for the heads up. Gen . McInerney and I will be in France meeting the some of the leadership
of the Iranian dissident groups, May 21-26th. Hopefully, we will have a good report for you. Should be
interesting.
Paul E Vallely
www.soldiersmemorialfund.org
MEMORANDUM
MEMORANDUM
To : Retired Military Analysts
We invite you to participate in a conference call, MONDAY, May 22.2006, from 9:45-10:30 a.m.
Date : May 19,2006
We invite you to participate in a conference call, MONDAY, May 22,2006, from 9:45-10:30 a.m.
The Honorable Peter Rodman, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, will brief you on the
2006 China Military Report. Mr. Rodman's Biography can be found at:
http ://wwW.defenselink.millbios/rodma~Lhi.Q.htmJ.. This call will be on Background. In order to participate in the call
you must agree to EMBARGO the information until 3:00 PM TUESDAY, MAY 23,2006.
To participate in this conference call, please dial or and ask the operator to connect
you to the Analysts conference call.
hi. ltc maka just advised that rodman would like to do a call on monday with the analysts reothe china military
report. i know that jed babbin will be all over it, but not sure how much more interest we will get. more than
happy to set it up with your ok. will send out the invite tomorrow and then remind them on monday morning?
thanks
yepper.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence, Dallas, OASD-PA
Sent Monday. May 08,20069:03 AM
To: CIV,OASD-PA
Subject FW: Spider on invite list
-----Original Message-----
From : Marks, James "Spider" [mailto:
Sent Monday, April 17, 2006 7:29PM
To: Lawrence, Dallas, OASD-PA;
Cc: MsOSDPA
Subject: Re: Spider on invite list
Office
Senior VP McNeil Technologies
6564 Loisdale Ct
Springfield, Va 22124
(0) 703-921-1719
Home
Tnx again.
-----Original Message-v-«
From: Lawrence, Dallas, OASD-PA <Dallas.Lawrence@
To: Marks, James "Spider"
CC: OSDPA ·
Subject: RE: Spider on invite list
General Marks,
Can you please send along your full contact info, including current work address and contact numbers and
emails? We will be sure to work you into the mix for future outreach.
Thanks.
Dl
Dallas B. Lawrence
Director, Office of Community Relations & Public Liaison United States Department of Defense
-----Original Message----- .
From: Marks, James "Spider" [mailto:
Sent: Monday, April 17,20067:18 PM
To:
Cc: dallas.lawrence@ dgrange@ Lawrence , Dallas, OASD-PA
Subject: Re: Spider on invite list
----Original Message---- ~
From: DiBenedetto, Joy '
To:
CC: Marks, James "Spider" ...... . dallas.lawrence@
<dallas.lawrence@ ; dgrange@ <dgrange@ dallas.lawrence@
<dallas.lawrence@
Sent: Mon Apr 17 19:07:02 2006
Subject: Re: Spider on invite list
om-Original Message- m
-
Thank.you very much General Shepperd. You are kind to do this and I am grateful for your help, as always.
Dallas, I'm not quite sure who you've dealt with here at CNN but you can always feel free to contact me for any
CNN reason and if I'm not the right person I can certainly be sure to Jl;et you to the right person . My contacts are
below and my Cell phone is always on, day or night.
Joy DiBenedetto
CNN
Vice President, Network Booking
0: 404-827-1320
M:
EM :
----Ori2inal Messaee----- ~
From:
To: DiBenedetto, Joy
CC : . _ dallas.lawrence@ Grange (Tribune)
Sent: Mon Apr 17 18:40:302006
Subject: Spider on invite list
Joy - I talked with Dallas Lawrence, OSDIPA. Spider will be added to the invite list for all PA analyst functions.
I did not realize he was not on it, as when the invites come to us bye-mail, they are personally addressed and do
not have a CC:list attached.
Dallas told me he has repeatedly tried to get various networks to tell him who their analysts are with no reply. I
not have a CC:list attached.
Dallas told me he has repeatedly tried to get various networks to tell him who their analysts are with no reply. I
do not know how they decide who goes on the lists - you can ask Dallas, but I suspect it is those who regularly
appear on the tube/radio/print covering Dod and the GWOT.
I do not know who has been invited tomorrow, but am informed one of those calling for Rumsfeld's resignation
has been invited - no clue who
- I am also told this is SECDEfls 16th such session. I have probably been at 12 and SECDEF has attended all
but one. The format has been : a one-hour background session with a Dod briefer (sometimes civilian,
sometimes mil) on the latest hot topic, non-attribution, then the SECDEF comes in with Gen. Myers for a quick
sandwich lunch and Q&A, staying between 30 minutes and 2 hours (SECDEF stays average 45 min-I hr.).
In addition there are conference calls with an 800 nwnber - now average once/week-week and a half-
background non-attribution 20-min-30 min brief + Q&A on hot topics. Normally lasts 1 hour.
Early during the war we had weekly meetings with SECDEF, then bi-weekly, monthly, has petered out as war
goes on to every few months. Average attendance has been 20, low IS, high 35. Most attendees have former
military experience .
The atmosphere in the sessions has always been respectful, but there are some tough questions - I would
compare it to the Pentagon Press conferences in tenor.
Don
Page 1 of 1
----Original Message-v->
From: . CT~ OASD-PA
To : CIV,OASD-PA; CIV OASD-PA
Sent: Fri Apr 21 08:23:402006
Subject: Slate as a copy of the military analyst factsheet on its website
http://www.slate.comlid/21401 05/entry/2140106l?nav=tap3
Page 1 of 1
From: CIV,OASD-PA
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 14:08
To; LTC; civ . OASD-PA;
Captain; CIV, bSO-LA CIV, OASD·PA:
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AFIS-HQ/PIA; AFIS-HQ/PIA
Subject: lftJhat the military analysts were saying about the Secretary
Attachments: MilitaryAnalysts_4.19.06.doc
This report covers the period April 18 -19 (as of noon on the 19th )
IjJh1;
MIlitary Analysts
4.19.06.doc ...
Please review .
--.--Original Message-----
From : ClV OASD-PA
To : Barber, Allison, CIV, OASD-PA
CC : ClV,OASD-PA; , CTR, OASD-PA
Sent: Wed Apr 19 13:36:41 2006
Subject: Memo on SecDef/military analysts
Allison ,
Attached is the memo from yesterday's analysts ' meeting with the Secretary .
Please let us know if you need anything else.
Attached is the memo from yesterday's analysts ' meeting with the Secretary .
Please let us know if you need anything else.
PAR .
Summary
Retired Major General Donald W. Shepperd received the most airtime of the 15 attending
milit~ analysts, generating about 13 minutes of clips on CNN and Headline News on
the 1S t • Shepperd was followed by:
~ Robert Maginnis, who appeared on MSNBC for approximately three minutes
~ Thomas McInerney, who appeared on Fox News for roughly three minutes
~ Tom Wilkerson, who was on CNN's American Morning for about three minutes.
Wilkerson was also quoted in a front page New York Times article by David S.
Cloud
Generally speaking, all four of the analysts interviewed shared similar views on the
meeting. They agreed tha t:
~ The Secretary was positive and not overly concerned with the generals' criticism
~ The Secretary and General Pace felt they had consulted with military and other
experts frequently and sufficiently on war strategy/plans
~ The focus of the meeting was not on the generals' criticism, but on the more
important topics at hand regarding Iraq - including forming a new government
and getting the right messages out to the American public
~ The meeting was productive, a chance to share ideas and the Secretary clearly
listened to the analysts
Don Shepperd provided the most insight on details discussed during the meeting,
followed by Tom Wilkerson, while Thomas McInerney focus ed specifically on the
Secretary's concern about setting up an Iraqi government. By comparison, Robert
Maginnis spoke less about meeting specifics, including Iraq, and more about the
generals' criticism of the Secretary.
Highlights
Jed Babbin
• No comments found
Frank B. Campbell
• No comments found
(Tim) J. Eads
• No comments found
John Garrett
OSD
Public Affairs Research and Analys is
• No comments found
Robert L. Maginnis
• Secretary was both "forthcoming" and "energized"
• Secretary wondered "why these generals didn't, while they were on active duty,
push back and ask these questions that they're raising after retirement"
• General Pace primarily talked about transformation and its neces sity
• Repeated General Pace's point that troops on ground have not raised concerns
about the civilian leadership and feel that generals do represent their best interest
in Washington
• Pointed out that commanders have plenty of opportunities to express their
opinions
• In response to questions of "being arrogant and dismissive" Maginnis reported
that the Secretary was a "tough cookie," but a " reasoning man"
Jeff McCausland
• No comments found
Thomas McInerney
• The Secretary is "very concerned" that an Iraqi government is not yet formed. and
knows things will "fall into place" after this happens.
Chuck Nash
• No comments found
William L. Nash
• No comments found
Donald W. Shepperd
• The focus was on Iraq, and «things of concern" around the world - Afghanistan,
piracy in the Pacific, things in the Southern Command
• Little focus on the generals ' controversy . However, although the Secretary and
General Pace were in good moods, the Secretary is "clearly distracted" by it. He
and General Pace are "puzzled" about where it's coming from, as they thought
they had been extremely "consultive" about strategy
• The analysts discussed the need to better communicate to the public about the
importance of the war, and a "forward strategy"
OSD 2
Publ ic Affa irs Research and Ana lysi s
000.50
• The analysts asked what are the next things coming up in terms of a milestone to
mark progress - the answer was clearly setting up an Iraqi government and
training Iraqi security forces
• General Pace reiterated the level of collaboration on war plans with the generals,
combatant commanders, General Franks and others, who all "made their inputs,
voiced their concerns.. .talked it out. .. we all had a hand in this"
• The Secretary and General Pace definitely see progress thus far in Iraq, and are
hopeful that a new government will be in place soon
• This was the 16th meeting between the Secretary and analysts, of which the
Secretary has attended all but one. The analysts also have regular teleconferences
with briefers for Iraq background and Q and A sessions
Wayne Simmons
• No comments found
Martin Strong
• No comments found
Tom Wilkerson
• To call this is a "firestorm" of criticism is an exaggeration. There are some 7-
8,000 retired Generals
• The criticism is at least a temporary distraction to the Secretary in that it takes
time away from prosecuting the war in Iraq and the global war on terror
• The criticism misses the point because we are at a crucial stage in the change
needed to bring Iraq back to self-sufficiency; that's far more important than what
happened in the past to an individual
• The meeting was a good exchange of views , with tough questions asked
• The Secretary appeared energized at the meeting rather than chastened
• The Secretary and General Pace emphasized that the big event to watch for in Iraq
is the formation of the government there
Sources
Robert L. Maginnis
MSNBC: ews Live - April 19, 9:35 :48 AM (approximately three minutes)
"I've been meeting with Mr. Rumsfeld for over four years prior to the beginning of the
war in Iraq. He's a tough cookie. He's a tough debate partner. He's a tough person when
you ask a question. If you have your ducks in a row, then you can perhaps win or
persuade him. He's a reasoning person, a very bright person but if you don't know what
you're talking about, he's going to push back and rightly so."
OSD 3
Public Affairs Research and Analysis
000151
Thomas McInerney
Fox News: Special Report with Brit Hume - Aired 4118/2006 6:08:46 PM, again on
4/19/2006 12:08:46 AM (approximately three minutes)
(clip of Mcinerney in a Bret Baier report)
... LT. GE . TOM MCINERNEY t US AIR FORCE RET.: He is very concerned that
it hasn't happened because he knows once we have a unity government, a lot of things
will fall in place, and they're not falling in place now because the Iraqi people who have
voted, 11 million voted, they've done their share , now it's up to the elected officials to do
theirs .
Donald Shepperd
Rumsfeld takes on his critics - The Dallas Morning News, clo Knight Ridder - April 18
At the meeting of military analysts, retired Air Force Maj . Gen. Don Shepperd, a military
analyst for CNN, said Rumsfeld didn't bring up the calls for his resignation by the retired
generals, but was "clearly distracted by it, and worried about it and concerned about it."
"He listened to a lot of things from the group," Shepperd said, explaining that the session
focused mainly on Iraq and what events might evolve there that would send encouraging
signals back home. Shepperd reported that Rumsfeld said the formation of a new Iraqi
government, stalled for months, would be such a new milestone.
OSD 4
Public Affa irs Research and Analysis
000152
And the answer was unanimous from both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and
also the secretary . It's the formation of the Iraqi government. That's the next important
event and from there, the continuing training of the Iraqi forces . That's the message ,
Wolf.
C N's The Situation Room April 18,5 :00 PM (approximately 5.5 minutes)
* Note: This clip is a roundtable discussion with Shepperd and two other military
analysts
SHEPPERD: I thought the focus of our meeting would be on the generals controversy
calling for the resignation. He was very upbeat, he was humorous. He appeared very
much as he did in the press conference. But he was very, very intense, Wolf, as he always
is ...
They (the Secretary and General Pace) feel that there's progress. Not light at the end of
the tunnel. They think it's going to be a long, hard struggle in many places . But what they
said unanimously and immediately when we asked the question , what's the next big event
that's going to take place? They said the formation of the Iraqi government is the most
important. You can train all the Iraqi troops, but those troops have to be loyal to the
government in which the people have confidence. They see that as the next big event
before anything else can happen.
OSD 5
Public Affairs Research and Analysis
000'"
Tom Wilkerson
OSD 6
Public Affairs Research and Analysi s
000'"
From: Barber, Allison Ms O$D PA
Sent: Tuesday, April 18. 2006 19:27
To: Lawrence, Dallas, OASD-PA; OSDPA
Subject: FW: DoD mailing list
Hi
Please look into adding bing west on the list..
Thanks
ab
-----Original Message-----
From: Di Rita, Larry, CIV, OSD
Sent: Tuesday, April 18,2006 5:51 AM
To : Barber, Allison, CIY, OASD-PA
Subject: FW: 000 mailing list
Can you or someone be in touch with bing west? His e-mail is below. He sounds like he wants to be added to
our list of analys ts. I don't know his circumstances, but he has been interested and helpful over time and is
active.
TIDe ..
--mOrip;inal Message m-
From: CIV ,OSD-POLICY
Sent: Monday, April 17. 2006 10:11 PM
Tnx::. U . -- -
--mOrip;inal Message m-
From: CIV ,OSD-POLICY
Sent: Monday, April 17. 2006 10:11 PM
To: 'larry.dirita2@
Subject: Fw: DoD mailing list
Larry ,
See Bing West 's note below. He's offered to help take on the critics.
Jim
----Original Message----
From: Bing West
To:
Sent: Sun Apr 1607:59:01 2006
Subject: 000 mailing list
"The Defense Department has issued a memorandum to a group of form er military commanders and civilian
ana lysts . The one-page memorandum was sent bye-mail on Friday to the group, which includes several retired
How about putting me on that mailing list as one of The News Hour gang?
000'"
Page 1 of 1
thanks . id love to try and finese it before we send it out. something that tracks tota l minutes on air. or audience track etc.
something that really hits home how worthwhile this meet ing was .
Yes. We just saw him too so we will have someth ing out tomorrow on the day 's track .
can we start tracking our analysts now? sheppard just did enn, and will do it again for a while throughout the day. fox
should have at least one hit everyhour from now until10pm. msnbc as well .
can we start tracking our ana lysts now? sheppard just did enn, and will do it again for a while throughout the day. fox
should have at least one hit everyhour from now until10pm. msnbc as well .
DRAFT Page 1 of 8
From: OSD PA
sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2006 9:17 AM
To : aV,OSD
Cc: Barber, Allison, CIV, OASD-PA; lawrence, Dallas, OASD-PA
Subject: Read Ahead Retired Military Analysts 04-1B-06.doc
Background:
• Approximately seventeen retired military analysts who serve as military /defense experts for major media
outlets.
• Last outreach meeting with this group was September 2005.
• Comments should be considered on background.
Timeline:
1:40 p.m, Welcome and Introduction
• Allison Barber, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
1:45 p.m. Update OD Iraqi Security Forces (via teleconference)
• Briefers TBD
2:30 p.m. Break
2:45 p.m. Update 00 Global Operations
• General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
DRAFT Page 2 of8
3:15 p.m, Discussion and Questions witb Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
4:00 p.m. Meeting Concludes
Attachments:
• List of Participants Tab A
• Key Comments to Date Tab B
11/14/2007
000lS~
DRAFT Page 3 of8
Particip.....a_"_t_s _
CONFIRMED:
11114/2007
000'10
DRAFT Page 4 of 8
Babbin, Jed - Critical of Chinese PM Hu's visit. Thinks politics and • sour grapes" at base of retired generals' anti-
Rumsfeld comments.
Campbell, Frank - No recent remarks foun d
Carafano, James - Thinks ifIraqi leaders don ' t have Kurds, Shii tes, and Sunnis involved in the gov' t., there will be
civil war and chaos. Favored the Dubai Ports World deal.
Eads, Tim - No recent remarks found
Fogelman, Ronald - Reportedly favors better use of allies in dealing with African crises .
G arrett, John - No recent remarks found
Maginnis, Robert - Condemns hypocrisy of generals for failing to ask the Secre tary tough questions one on one, then
criticizi ng him later . Wants Afghanistan to embrace values shared worldwide. Sees substantial improvement in Iraq i
forces over the past year.
Nash, C huck - No recent remarks found
Nash, William - Believes the Secretary has made some "serious misjudgments" but stopped short of calli ng for his
resignation . Says there have been top to bottom problems with Iraq reconstruction. Believes civil war is ongo ing on in
Iraq , though not at "maximum level."
Scales, Robert - Think s US needs 100,000 more ground troops. No tes Iraq insurgents ha ve changed tact ics over past
3 years to exploit us . Does not think situation in Iraq constitutes a civi l war - yet.
Shepperd, Donald - Says there ha ve been mistakes in Iraq but that retired Generals "step over the line" in calling for
the Secretary's resignation. Sees Op eration Swarmer as a good step in the evolu tion of Iraqi forces.
Simmons, Wayne - Be lie ves there is a need for mili tary action agains t Iran .
Strong, Martin - No recent remarks found
Wilkerson, Tom - No recent remarks found
11 /14/2007
ooo1Ct
DRAFT Page 5 of 8
Jed Babbin - Wrote "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" (American Spectator, 4/17)
Excerpt: China seeks regional dominance to provide a safe base for further expansion. Its military buildup is aimed , in
the short term, at providing unquestioned superiority on its periphery -- nations such as Japan and South Korea -- and
asserting dominance over Taiwan. Our defense treaty with Japan places us squarely between the two nations, and the
President's statements that we will defend querulous Taiwan have kept China at bay. Though the White House rejects
the term, our quiet strategy against China is, and must continue to be, containme nt. Over the past two years, we have
made gains among the nations on China's periphery due almost entirely to the quie t diplomatic efforts of the Defense
Department and its Assistant Secretary for Interna tional Affairs, Peter Rodman .
Jed Babbin - Quoted on Fox News "Your World with Neil Cavuto" - 4/14,1600
I think that General Zinni wants to succeed Rwnsfeld in a John Kerry or Hillary Clinton administration.
So, some of it is politics . Some of it is sour grapes. And I think , quite frank y some of it is sincere. But none of these
guys made these points when they were on active duty. They had every opportunity to.
I mean , General Batiste, for example, I mean , he cou ld have told these things directly to Mr. Rwnsfeld or Mr.
Wolfowitz. Why didn 't he do it then?
James Carafano - Quoted in "When should the US leave (Iraq)? - Lincoln Journal Star - 3/19
"Carafano thinks it's easy to predict wha t will happen if Iraqi leaders can't keep Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds involved in
the government. 'T hen they are going to fail. Period. The country devolves into death and chaos. Period," he says. "
James Carafano - Quoted on Fox News "Special Report with Brit Hume" - 3/10,1800
TIM ANGLE: Why are we less safe without this deal than we would have been with it?
CARAFA 0 : Well, we're slightly less safe . When the original deal came along, the Dubai company had agreed to all
kinds of information sharing that normally companies don't agree to. Of course that doesn't go now. So even though
it's a U.S. company that will run it now , we'll actually know less about what they're doing than if Dubai Ports World
was running it. ...
.. . if you wanted to do the most economic damage you could to the U.S. economy , you know the port that you would
go after ? .. . Singapore. Because that's where most of the stuff that comes to America comes from . And it's the
transshipping point for Asia . So all those other risky ports , all that stuff dumps into Singapore. Singapore screens all
that stuff and then they send it to us.
So the point is, is American ports are not critical infrastructure. People don't get this. The ports are not critical. We
had a port in Seattle-Tacoma had a strike, shut down for two weeks. We had a port in New Orleans wiped out in a
hurricane. What did we do? Ship the stuff to other ports.
The loss of one American port, even in a catastrophic terrorist attack, would not materially affect the U.S. economy .
But if you started to go after some of these mega ports around the world like Singapore and Hong Kong and Rotterdam,
that would. And what we have to worry about is, all the ports that are feedi ng into these guys, who are a lot riskier than
the stuff coming out of the main people that we deal with.
Ron Fogelman - Cited in BASC Hearing on the FY '07 EUCOM Budget, - 3/8
Comment by Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA): Last year in Europe, I had a conversation with General Fogelman in which he
talked about our need to better improve our use of potential allies and allies in Africa to deal with situations in Africa .
He specifically referenced moving Rwandan troops to Liberia in time to deal with Liberia's needs when we were
reluctant to put Marines on the shore for all kinds of reasons.
11 /1412007
0001.2
DRAFT Page 60f8
Rumsfeld included. Behind the scenes some were critica l, but at our meetings, only a few shot back.
Robert Maginnis - Quoted on NBC Night ly News re: Afgha n death sentence - 3/24
'T he American people don't want to think that we spent our blood and treasure for wars that end up being just as
oppressive new regimes as they were that-those that we replaced."
Robert Maginnis - Quoted on CNN American Morning (during Op. Swarmer) - 3/18
(The Iraqi forces are) very good at counter- insurgency at this point. The las year, you know, I was over there a couple
of months ago and the improvement over the last couple of years has been absolutely phenomenal. But they can't do it
all and they need us to a certain level. Now, are we going to be able to draw down from 133,000 now? I think so. I
think we'll see a significant drop by the end of the year. But we're not going to be out of there totally for some good
long time.
William Nash - Quoted about tbe Generals on ABC' s Good Mor ning America - 4/15
BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) Is this an invitation to insubordination among the ranks ? MAJOR
GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) I don't think so. I think the profess ionals that are involved in all of this understand that when you wear
the uniform, you are responsive to and dedicated to and subordinate to the chain of command.
GRAPHICS : RUMSFELD UNDER FIRE
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) And the president, the commander in chief, the
secretary of defense, a member of the national command authority, they' ll follow their duties. But at the same time,
they'll follow their conscience and their professio nal judgment, and speak out after they retire, or, if on active duty, may
choose to retire in lieu of following orders they don't believe in.
BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) And I must ask do you believe Secretary Rumsfeld should step down?
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) I think, in my personal opinion, we need to work
the issues at hand. The Secretary of Defense works for the President. That's his judgment. The people need, are free
to critici ze the specific issues.
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM ASH (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) And I think he's, on those issues, he's made some
serious misjudgments . .
KATE SNOW (ABC EWS) (Off-camera) Okay. General Nash, we appreciate your insight. Thank you.
William Nasb - Quoted in " Military option s aga inst Ir an carry big risks ," Chi. Tribune - 4/14
William Nash, a retired Army major general who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said, "In
Iraq, every bit of intelligence we dropped on the U.N. inspectors turned up a dry hole. Give me one good reason we
should trust our intelligence this time."
William Nash - Quoted on ABC 's Wor ld News Tonight about Iraq assessment - 4/10
The good news is, is that the folks in country, in Iraq are taking a clear-headed view and doing some analysis of the real
conditions.
W illiam Nash - Quoted in NY Times " Report Adds to Criticism of Halliburton's Iraq Role" - 3/29
William L. Nash, a retired Army general who is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on
post-conflict zones, said the unusually revealing documents laid bare "a microcosm of all the ills" of the Iraq rebuilding
effort. "This a continuing examp le of the mismanagement of the Iraq reconstruction from the highest levels down to
the contractors on the ground," he said.
William ash - Quoted on ABC's Wor ld News T onight about Civil War in Iraq - 3/5
"The failure to understand that the civil war is already taking place, just not necessarily at the maximum level, means
that our countermeasures are inadequate."
Robert Scales - Quoted about ground force in "Retired genera l's call puzzles Rumsfeld aid es" - Wash. Times -
11/14/2007
DRAFT Page 70f8
4/14
" Retired Maj. Gen . Robert Scales, a former commander of the Army War College, said the Army, Marines, and special
operations need 100,000 more troops. "If you're going to fight a long war, " Gen. Scales said, "if this war is
generational, and if our grandchildren are going to be fighting this war, and if this war continues to be principally
ground warfare , then it just seems overwhelmingly obvious that over the long term we are going to need a bigger
ground force.'?'
Robert Scales - Quoted about the US in Iraq on Fox News-Hannity and Colmes 3/20
" . . . there's an old saying that America fights short wars brilliantly and long wars not so well. America fights its wars
on the clock. The enemy has no timetable. The enemy measures success in terms of prevailing for decades ; our
philosophy has always been to use our firepower and our technology to get in, win the war, and get out. So what the
military's done over the last three years, Alan is they 've changed the way they fight. And they've readjusted, or they've
changed thei strategy, changed their tactics to take on an enemy who himself has adapted over the last three years ."
Robert Scales Quoted on NPR's Weekend Edition about "Civil War in Iraq?" - 2/25
"It's not a civil war yet in the classic sense. Perhaps a better term to use would be a growing Sunni insurrection . The
Sunnis simply don't have the military power; they don't have the regional control. However, I do agree with Professor
Nasr that as the situation continues to deteriorate, the country moves closer and closer to an expanded insurrection that
could very well in time if the government doesn't step in and intervene effectively, lead to something like civil war."
Don Shepperd Quoted about the Secretary on CN '5 Late Edition - 4/16
Is Rumsfeld derelict in his responsibilities, General Shepperd, based on what you know?
MAJ. GEN . DON SHEPPERD (RET.), U.S . AIR FORCE: Not derelict in his responsibilities, Wolf. On the other
hand, there were clearly some misjudgments made about the difficulty of the stabilization process in Iraq. It is also
clear, we did not have the number of troops to go and to maintain that security and to stay there a long time.
The question is, are we going to do that , or is it better to train the Iraqis to do that. I think it's an open question. The
thing that troubles me very much about these assertive statements made by the retired generals is that it's a question not
of do they have the right to do it; it's a question of propriety.
It steps over, in my opinion, the line of the role of military general officers, active or retired, calling for the resignation
of a duly appointed representative of the government by a duly elected government. That's the problem I have with all
of this. And it's hard to have a rational discussion because you quickly get into, is the war going well or not do we or
do we not have enough troops, when the question is one of propriety about these statements.
BLITZER: But if a defense secretary, General Shepperd, is what the critics are saying, derelict, and U.S. troops are
dying and they're being injured, taxpayer funds are being squandered to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars
because of miscalculations, shouldn't retired U.S . military officers stand up and say enough is enough?
SHEPPERD: No. They ought to stand up and they ought to criticize the strategy to go with it, state their opinion, but
shouldn't be calling for the resignation of the defense secretary during a time of war when that defense secretary is
trying to lead the troops.
We're in a really tough situation in Iraq. And the question is, are we going to be able to pull this off or not. That is the
real question. Lots of things have gone wrong, and there's lots of blame to go around, to the state department, to
Congress, to the military, as well some of these people making the charges, Wolf.
Don Shepperd - Quoted on CNN's American Morning about Operation Swarmer - 3/17
This is the kind of strategy you would use. But you would probably do it with much more surprise and much less
planning and on a rapid basis ; in other words, kind of a rapid reaction force.
The Iraqi security forces are not there yet. They're still operating side by side with U.S. forces , learning how to do
this . And, again, it's a step in their evolution, and an important one , I believe.
M. a/BRIE : What does it say about the whole situation in Iraq in general -- and you were there just this past fall --
that on the three year -- approaching the three year anniversary of the invasion, this sort of operation needs to even be
contemplated?
SHEPPERD : Yes. This is a tough , ugly place over there, a very, very difficul t neighborhood. Insurgents were
operating freely in places like Falluja and in western Iraq . They're being put under pressure more and more by Iraqi
11114/2007
000'"
DRA FT Page 8 of 8
security forces. The number oflraqi security forces, the quality, the equipment, is increasing dramatically. This, again ,
thi s operation is just one example of a step in that evolution.
So the country is by no means stable. The people are waiting to see what 's going to happen. The Sunnis and the Shia
conflict is still there . It's a very difficult place. But, again, I have confidence that over time, the Iraqi security forces
will be able to do better the things that need to be done, which is find insurgents and stay in areas where the U.S. forces
are not able to do that and where the U.S . -- when the U.S. forces are going to be com ing home .
Wayne Simmons - Quoted on Fox News's Your World with Neil Cavuto about Iran- 4/14
Simmons: «Well, look, as my good friends General Paul Vallelly (?) and General Mclnernie wrote in their book "End
Game," forward strategy wins , defen se protects. We have homeland security protecting the United States now in order
to win in any situation you need a forward strateg y. The President took us off of a defensive military posture and put
us on an offensive military posture . We need to use that now.
Cavuto: What do you mean by that ? What would you advocate doing right now ?
Simmons: The man is a maniac. He is going to get the weapon; he is try ing to secure the nuke s. He is going to use
them wherever he can to threaten us. We absolutely need some kind of military action and we need to consult with our
like-minded allies.
Cavuto : What type of military action?
Simmo ns: I would leave that up to the mili tary planners but air strikes are a no brainer. We don't need an invasio n I
don't think . I'm not a military planner but something very decis ive ha s to be done now to show these guys that we are
not playing.
11/ 14/2007
000'"
Updated April 18, 2006
Background:
• Approximately seventeen retired military analysts who serve as military/defense experts for
major media outlets.
• Last outreach meeting with this group was September 2005 .
• Comments should be considered on background.
Timeline:
• Briefers TBD
3:15 p.m. Discussion and Questions with Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
Attachments:
• List of Participants Tab A
• Key Comments to Date TabB
000'"
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
Meeting with Retired Military Analysts
Room 3E729, The Pentagon
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Participants
CONFIRMED:
000 117
Military Analysts on the Air and In Print
Babbin, Jed - Critical of Chinese PM Hu's visit. Thinks pol itics and ' sou r grapes" at base of retired
gene rals' anti-Rumsfeld comments.
CampbeU, Frank - No recent remarks found
Carafano, James - Thinks if Iraqi leaders don ' t have Kurds, Shiites, and Sunni s involved in the
gov't., there will be civil war and chaos . Favored the Dubai Ports World deal.
Eads, Tim - No recent remarks found
Fogelman, Ronald - Reportedly favors better use of allies in dealing with African crises.
Garrett, John - No recent remarks found
Maginnis, Robert - Condemns hypocrisy of generals for failing to ask the Secretary tough questions
one on one, then criticizing him later. Wants Afghanistan to embrace values shared worldwide. Sees
substantial improvement in Iraqi forces over the past year.
Na sh, Chuck - 0 recent remarks found
Nash, Willia m - Believes the Secretary has made some "serious misjudgments" but stopped short of
calling for his resignation. Says there have been top to bottom problems with Iraq reconstruction.
Believes civil war is ongoing on in Iraq , though not at "maximum level."
Scales, Robert - Thinks US needs 100,000 more ground troops. Notes Iraq insurgents have changed
tactics over past 3 years to exploit us. Does not think situat ion in Iraq constitutes a civil war - yet.
Shepperd, Donald - Says there hav e been mistakes in Iraq but that retired Generals "step over the
line" in calling for the Secretary's resignation. Sees Operation Swarmer as a good step in the evolution
of Iraqi forces .
Simmons, Wayne - Believes there is a need for military act ion against Iran.
Strong, Martin - No recent remarks found
Wilkerson, Tom - No recent rema rks found
Jed Babbin - Wrote " Gues s Who 's Coming to Dinner?" (American Spectator, 4/17) .4
Jed Babbin - Quoted on Fox News ' Your World with Neil Cavuto" - 4/14 , 1600 .4
James Carafano - Quoted in " When should the US leave (Iraq)? - Lincoln Journal Star - 3/19 .4
James Carafano - Quoted on Fox News "Special Report with Brit Hume" - 3/10, 1800 .4
Ron Fogelman - Cited in HASC Hearing on the FY ' 07 EUCOM Budget, - 3/8 4
Robert Maginnis - Wrote " With Hindsight" - Op-Ed Washington Times - 4/ 17 5
Robert Maginnis - Quo ted on N BC Nightly ews re: Afghan death sentenc e - 3/24 5
Rob ert Maginnis - Quoted on CNN American Morn ing (during Op . Swanner) - 3/18 5
William Nash - Quoted about the Generals on ABC's Good Morni ng America - 4/ 15 5
Willairn Nash - Quoted in "Military options again st Iran carry big risks," Chi. Tribune - 4/14 5
William Nash - Quoted on ABC's World News Tonight about Iraq assessment - 411 0 5
William Nash - Quoted in NYTimes "Report Adds to Criticism of Halliburton's Iraq Role" - 3/29 .6
William Nash - Quo ted on ABC's World News Tonight about Civil War in Iraq - 3/5 6
Robert Scales - Quoted about ground force in " Retired general's call puzzles Rumsfeld aides" - Wash.
Times - 4/14 6
Robert Scales - Quoted about the US in Iraq on Fox News-Hannity and Colmes 3120 6
Robert Scales Quoted on NPR's Weekend Edition about "Civil War in Iraq?" - 2/25 6
Don Shepperd Quoted about the Secretary on CNN 's Late Edition - 4/16 6
Bob Shepperd - Quoted on C ' s American Morning about Operation Swanner - 3/17 7
Wayne Simmons - Quoted on Fox News's Your World with Neil Cavuto about Iran- 4/14 7
000'"
Jed Babbin - Wrote "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" (American Spectator, 4/17)
Excerpt: China seeks regional dominance to provide a safe base for further expansion. Its military
buil dup is aimed , in the short term, at providing unquestioned superiority on its periphery -- nations
such as Japan and South Korea -- and asserting dominance over Taiwan. Our defense treaty with
Japan places us squarely between the two nations, and the President's statements that we will defend
querulous Taiwan have kept China at bay. Though the White House rej ect s the te rm, our quiet strat egy
against China is, and must continue to be, con tainment Over the past two years, we have made gains
among the nations on China's periphery due almost entirely to the quiet diplomatic efforts of the
Defense Department and its Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, Peter Rodman.
Jed Bab bin - Qu oted on Fox News "Your World with eil C avuto" - 4/14, 1600
I think that General Zinni wants to succeed Rumsfeld in a John Kerry or Hillary Clinton
adm inistration.
So, some of it is politics . Some of it is sour grapes. And I think, qu ite frankly some of it is sincere.
But none of these guys made these points when they were on active duty. They had every opportunity
to.
I mean, General Batiste, for example, I mean, he could have told these things directly to Mr. Rumsfeld
or Mr. Wolfowitz. Why didn't he do it then?
James Carafano - Quoted in "When sh ould the US leave (Iraq)? - Li ncoln Journal Star - 3/19
" Carafano thinks it's easy to predict what will happen if Iraqi leaders can't keep Sunnis, Shiites, and
Kurds involved in the government. "Then they are going to fail. Period. The country devol ves into
death and chaos. Period," he says."
James Car afano - Quoted on Fox News "Special Report w ith Brit Hume" - 3/10, 1800
JIM ANGLE: Why are we less safe without this deal than we wou ld have been with it?
CARAFANO : Well , we're slightly less safe . When the original deal came along, the Dubai company
had agreed to all kinds of information sharing that normally companies don't agr ee to. Of course that
doesn't go now. So even though it's a U.S. company that will run it now, we'll actually know less
about what they're doing than if Dubai Ports World was running it. ., .
... if you wanted to do the most economic damage you could to the U.S. economy, you know the port
that you would go after? . .. Singapore. Because that's where most of the stuffthat comes to America
comes from. And it's the transshipping point for Asia. So all those other risky ports, all that stuff
dumps into Singapore. Singapore screens all that stuff and then they send it to us.
So the point is, is American ports are not critical infrastructure. People don' t get this. The ports are
not critical. We had a port in Seattle-Tacoma had a strike, shut down for two weeks. We had a port in
New Orleans wiped out in a hurricane. What did we do? Ship the stuff to other ports.
The loss of one American port, even in a catastrophic terrorist attack, would not materially affect the
U.S. economy. But if you started to go aft er some of these mega ports around the world like Singapore
and Hong Kong and Rotterdam, that would. And what we have to worry about is, all the ports that are
feeding into these guys, who are a lot riskier than the stuff coming out of the main people that we deal
with.
Ron Fogelman - Cited in HASC Hea r ing on th e FY ' 07 EUCOM Budget, - 3/8
Comment by Rep . Jim Marshall (D-GA): Last year in Europe, I had a conversation with General
Fogelman in which he talked about our need to better improve our use of potential allies and allies in
Africa to deal with situations in Africa. He specifically referenced moving Rwandan troops to Liberia
in time to deal with Liberia's needs when we were reluctant to put Marines on the shore for all kinds of
reasons .
000169
Robert Maginnis - Wrote "With Hindsight" - Op-Ed Washington Times - 4/17
Since 2002 , I've been privileged to attend meetings with Mr. Rumsfeld and his sta ff. As part of a
group of retired officers who now work as media consultants, we have free rein to ask tough quest ions.
Mr. Rumsfeld is always frank , tough, and receptive. You have to stand your ground, but Mr. Rums feld
listens and reason s.
Typically at these meetings, I was the lowest-ranking retired officer . It was amazi ng how hypocrit ical
some now-retired generals were. They had plenty of opportunity and encouragement to ask tough
questions of Pentagon staff, Mr. Rumsfeld included. Behind the scenes some were critical, but at our
meet ings, only a few shot back.
Robert Maginnis - Quoted on NBC Nightly News re : Afgha n death sentence - 3/24
"The American people don't want to think that we spent our blood and treasure for wars that end up
being just as oppressive new regimes as they were that--those that we replaced."
Robert Maginnis - Quoted on CNN American Morning (d uring Op. Swarmer) - 3/18
(The Iraqi forces are) very good at counter- insurgency at this poin t. The last year, you know, I was
over there a couple of months ago and the improvement over the last couple of years has been
absolutely phenomenal. But they can't do it all and they need us to a certain level. Now, are we goi g
to be able to draw down from 133 000 now? I think so. I think we'll see a significant drop by the end
of the year. But we're not going to be out of there totall y for some good long time.
William Nash - Quoted about the Generals on ABC's Good Morning America - 4/15
BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) Is this an invitation to insubordination among the ranks?
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC EWS)
(Off-camera) I don't think so. I think the professionals that are involved in all of this understand tha
when you wear the uniform, you are responsive to and dedicated to and subordinate to the chain of
command.
GRAPHICS: RUMS FELD UNDER FIRE
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) And the president, the commander
in chief, the secretary of defense , a member of the national command autho rity, they'll follow their
duties. But at the same time , they 'll follow their consc ience and their professional judgment, and speak
out after they retire, or, if on active duty, may choose to retire in lieu of following orders they don't
believe in.
BILL WEIR (ABC N EWS) (Off-camera) And I must ask do you believe Secretary Rumsfeld should
step down?
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) I think, in my personal opinio ,
we need to work the issues at hand. The Secretary of Defense works for the President. That's his
j udgment. The peop le need , are free to criticize the specific issues.
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) And I think he's, on those issues,
he's made some serious misjudgments.
KATE SNOW (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) Okay. General Nash, we appreciate your insight. Thank
you.
William Nash - Quoted in "Military opt ions against Iran ca rry big risks," C hi. Tribune - 4/14
William Nash, a retired Army major general who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign
Relations, said, "In Iraq, every bit of intell igence we dropped. on the U.N. inspectors turned up a dry
hole. Give me one good reason we should trust our intell igence this time ."
Willia m Nash - Quoted on ABC's World News To night about Iraq assessment - 4/10
The good news is, is that the folks in country, in Iraq are taking a clear-headed view and doing some
analysis of the real conditions.
000170
William Nash - Quoted in NY Times "Report Adds to Criticism of Halliburton's Iraq Role" -
3/29
Will iam L. Nash, a retired Army gen eral who is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relation s
and an expert on post-conflict zones, said the unusually revealing docum ents laid bare "a microcosm of
all the ills" of the Iraq rebuilding effort. "This a continuing example of the mismanagement of the Iraq
reco nstruction from the highest lev els down to the contractors on the ground," he said.
William Nash - Quoted on ABC's World News Tonight about Civil War in Iraq - 3/5
"The failure to understand that the civil war is already taking place , just not necessarily at the
max imum leve l, means that our countermeasures are inadequate."
Robert Scales - Quoted about grou nd force in "Retired gene ra l's call puzzles Rumsfeld aides"-
Wash. Times - 4/14
" Retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, a former commander of the Arm y War College, said the Army,
Marines, and spec ial op erations need 100,000 more troops. "If you're go ing to figh t a long war," Gen.
Scales said, "if this war is generational, and if our grandchildren are going to be fighting this war , and
if this war continues to be principally gro und warfare, then it just seems ov erwhelmingly obvious that
over the long term we are going to need a bigger ground force. ""
Robert Scales - Quoted abo ut the US in Iraq on Fox News-Hannity and Calmes 3/20
" ... there's an old saying that America figh ts short wars brilliantly and long wars not so well. America
fights its wars on the clock. The enemy has no timetable. The enemy measures success in terms of
prev ailing for decades; our philosophy has always been to use our firepower and our technology to get
in, win the war, and get out. So what the military's done over the last three years, Alan, is they 've
changed the way they fight. And they've readjusted, or they've changed thei r strategy, changed their
tactics to take on an enemy who hims elf has adapted over the last three years."
Robert Scales Quoted on NPR's Weekend Edition about "Civil War in Iraq?" - 2125
"It's not a civil war yet in the classic sense. Perhaps a better term to use wo uld be a gro wing Sunni
insurrection. The Sunnis simply do n't have the military power; they don't have the regional control.
However , I do agree with Professor Nasr tha t as the situation continues to deteriorate, the country
moves close r and closer to an expanded insurrection that could very well in time, if the governme nt
doesn't step in and intervene effectively, lead to something like civil war."
Don Shepperd Quoted a bout the Secretary on CNN's Late Edition - 4/16
Is Rumsfeld derelict in his responsibilities, General Shepperd, based on what you know?
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), U.S . AIR FORCE: Not derelict in his responsibilities, Wolf.
On the other hand, there were clearly some misjudgments made about the difficulty of the stabilization
process in Iraq. It is also clear, we did not have the number of troops to go and to maintain that
security and to stay there a long time.
Th e question is, are we going to do that , or is it better to train the Iraqis to do that. [think it's an open
ques tion. The thing that troubles me very much about these assertive statements made by the retire d
generals is that it's a question not of do they have the right to do it; it's a question of propriety.
It steps over, in my opinion, the line of the role of military general officers, active or retired, calling for
the resignation of a dilly appo inted representative of the government by a duly elected government.
That's the problem I have with all of this. And it's hard to have a rational discussion because you
quickly get into, is the war go ing welt or not , do we or do we not have enough troops, when the
ques tion is one of propriety about thes e statements.
BLI TZER: But if a defense secretary, General Shepperd, is what the critics are saying, derelict, and
U.S. troops are dyi ng and they're being injured , taxpayer funds are being squandered to the tune of
hundreds of billions of dollars because of miscalculations, shouldn't retired U.S. mili tary offic ers stand
up and say enough is enough?
SHEPPERD: No. They ought to stand up and they ought to criticize the strategy to go with it, state
00011t
their opinion , but shouldn't be calling for the resignation of the defense secretary during a time of war
when that defense secretary is trying to lead the troops.
We're in a really tough situation in Iraq. And the question is, are we going to be able to pull this off or
not. That is the real question. Lots of things have gone wrong, and there's lots of blame to go around,
to the state department, to Congress, to the military, as well some of these people making the charges,
Wolf.
Don Shepperd - Quoted on CNN's American Morning about Operation Swarmer - 3/17
This is the kind of strategy you would use. But you would probably do it with much more surprise and
much less planning and on a rapid basis; in other words, kind of a rapid reaction force.
The Iraqi security forces are not there yet. They're still operating side by side with U.S. forces,
learning how to do this. And, again, it's a step in their evolution, and an important one, I believe.
M. O'BRIEN: What does it say about the whole situation in Iraq in general -- and you were there just
this past fall -- that on the three year -- approaching the three year anniversary of the invasion, this sort
of operation needs to even be contemplated?
SHEPPERD: Yes. This is a tough, ugly place over there, a very, very difficult neighborhood.
Insurgents were operating freely in places like Falluja and in western Iraq. They're being put under
pressure more and more by Iraqi security forces. The number of Iraqi security forces, the quality, the
equipment, is increasing dramatically. This, again, this operation is just one example of a step in that
evolution.
So the country is by no means stable . The people are waiting to see what's going to happen. The
Sunnis and the Shia conflict is still there. It's a very difficult place. But, again , I have confidence that
over time, the Iraqi security forces will be able to do better the things that need to be done, which is
find insurgents and stay in areas where the U .S. forces are not able to do that and where the U.S. u
Wayne Simmons - Quoted on Fox News's Your World with Neil Cavuto about Iran- 4/14
Simmons: "Well, look, as my good friends General Paul Vallelly (7) and General McInernie wrote in
their book "End Game," forward strategy wins, defense protects. We have homeland security
protecting the United States now in order to win in any situation you need a forward strategy. The
President took us off of a defensive military posture and put us on an offensive military posture. We
need to use that now.
Cavuto: What do you mean by that? What would you advocate doing right now?
Simmons: The man is a maniac. He is going to get the weapon; he is trying to secure the nukes. He is
going to use them wherever he can to threaten us. We absolutely need some kind of military action
and we need to consult with our like-minded allies.
Cavuto: What type of military action?
Simmons: I would leave that up to the military planners but air strikes are a no brainer. We don't need
an invasion I don't think. I'm not a military planner but someth ing very decisive has to be done now to
show these guys that we are not playing .
000 lT 2
Page I of8
From: Ms OSD PA
sent: Tuesday, Apnl18, 2006 09:42
To: LTCf05
Cc: Barber, Allison, CIV, OASD-PA; Lawrence, Dallas, OASD-PA
SUbject: today's roundtable
Attachments: Read Ahead Retired Military Analysts 04-18-06.doc
the teleconference will begin promptly at 1:45 om EST. the dial-in number is: if there are any problemswith dialing
in (there won't be...) call secdef protocol at and talk to It col augustitus ("col. a"). she will be able to help.
here is the read ahead and j've attached it as well. if you could please let me know as soon as you can who the briefer will be, that
would be great.... then i can include it on the agenda for the analysts.
Background:
• Approximately seventeen retired military analysts who serve as military/defense experts for major media
outlets.
• Last outreach meeting with this group was September 2005.
• Comments should be considered on background.
Attachments:
• List of Participants Tab A
• Key Comments to Date TabB
11 /14/2007
Page 3 of 8
Participants
CONFIRMED:
Babbin , Jed - Critical of Chinese PM Hu's visit. Thinks politics and "SOUT grapes" at base of retired generals ' anti-
Rumsfeld comments.
Campbell, Frank - No recent remarks found
Carafano, James - Thinks ifI raqi leaders don 't have Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis involved in the gov't., there will be
civil war and chaos . Favored the Dubai Ports World deal.
Eads, Tim - No recent remarks found
Fogelma n, Ron ald - Reportedly favors better use of allies in dealing with African crises.
Garrett, J ohn - 0 recent remarks found
Maginnis, Robert - Condemns hypocrisy of generals for failing to ask the Secretary tough questions one on one, then
critici zing him later. Wants Afghanistan to emb race va lues shared worldwide. Sees substantial impro vement in Iraqi
11 /14/2007
00011$
Page 4 of S
Jed Babbin - Wrote "Guess Who' s C oming to Dinner ?" (Ameri can Spec ta tor, 4/17)
Excerpt: China seeks regional dominance to provide a safe base for further expansion. Its military buildup is aimed, in
the short term, at providing unques tioned superiority on its periphery -- nations such as Japan and South Korea -- and
asserting dominance over Taiwan. Our defense treaty with Japan places us squarely between the two nations, and the
President's statements that we will defend querulous Taiwan have kept China at bay. Though the White House rejects
the term, our quiet strategy against China is, and must continue to be, containment. Over the past two years, we have
made gains among the nations on China's periphery due almost entirely to the quiet diplomatic efforts of the Defense
Department and its Assistant Secretary for Internat ional Affairs, Peter Rodman.
J ed Babbin - Quoted on Fox News " Your Wo rld with Neil Cavuto" - 4/14,1600
I think that General Zinni wants to succeed Rumsfeld in a John Kerry or Hillary Clinto n admin istration.
So, some of it is politics . Some of it is sour grapes. And I think:, quite frankly some of it is sincere. But none of these
guys made these points when they were on active duty . They had every opportunity to.
I mean, General Batiste, for example, I mean, he could have told these things directly to Mr. Rumsfeld or Mr.
Wolfowitz. Why didn't he do it then?
11114/2007
000111
Page 5 of8
James Carafano - Quoted in "When should the US leave (Iraq)? - Lincoln Journal Star - 3/19
"Carafano thinks it's easy to predict what will happen if Iraqi leaders can't keep Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds involved in
the government "T hen they are going to fail. Period. The country devolves into death and chaos. Period ," he says.'
James Carafano - Quoted on Fox ews' Special Report with Brit Hume" - 3/10, 1800
liM ANGLE: Why are we less safe without this deal than we would have been with it?
CARAFA 0: Well, we're slightly less safe. When the original deal came along, the Dubai company had agreed to all
kinds of information sharing that normally companies don't agree to. Of course that doesn't go now. So eve though
it's a U.S. company that will run it now, we'll actually know less about what they're doing than ifDubai Ports World
was running it. ...
... if you wanted to do the most economic damage you could to the U.S . economy, you know the port that you would
go after? ... Singapore. Because that's where most of the stuff that comes to America comes from. And it's the
transshipping point for Asia. So all those other risky ports, all that stuff dumps into Singapore. Singapore screens all
that stuff and then they send it to us.
So the point is, is American ports are not critical infrastructure. People don't get this . The ports are not critical. We
had a port in Seattle-Tacoma had a strike, shut down for two weeks. We had a port in New Orleans wiped out in a
hurricane. What did we do? Ship the stuff to other ports .
The loss of one American port, even in a catastrophic terrorist attack, would not materially affect the U.S. economy .
But if you started to go after some of these mega ports around the world like Singapore and Hong Kong and Rotterdam,
that would. And what we have to worry about is, all the ports that are feeding into these guys , who are a lot riskier than
the stuff coming out of the main people that we deal with.
Ron Fogelman - Cited in RASC Hearing on the FY '07 EUCOM Budget, - 3/8
Comment by Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA): Last year in Europe, I had a conversation with General Fogelman in which he
talked about our need to better improve our use of potential allies and allies in Africa to deal with situations in Africa.
He specifically referenced moving Rwandan troops to Liberia in time to deal with Liberia's needs when we were
reluctant to put Marines on the shore for all kinds ofreasons.
Robert Maginnis - Quoted on NBC ightly News re: Afghan death sentence - 3/24
"The American people don't want to think that we spent our blood and treasure for wars that end up being just as
oppressive new regimes as they were that-those that we replaced."
William ash - Quoted about the Generals on ABC's Good Morning America - 4/15
BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) Is this an invitation to insubordination among the ranks? MAJOR
11114/2007
0001>1
Page 6 of8
William Nash - Quoted in "Military options against Iran carry big risks," Chi. Tribune - 4/14
William ash, a retired Army major general who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said, "In
Iraq, every bit of intelligence we dropped on the U.N. inspectors turned up a dry hole. Give me one good reason we
should trust our intelligence this time. "
William Nash - Quoted on ABC's World News Tonight about Iraq assessment - 4/10
The good news is, is that the folks in country, in Iraq are taking a clear-headed view and doing some analysis of the real
conditions .
William Nash - Quoted in NY Times "Report Adds to Criticism of Halliburton's Iraq Role" - 3/29
William 1. Nash, a retired Army general who is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on
post-conflict zones, said the unusually revealing documents laid bare "a microcosm of all the ills" of the Iraq rebuilding
effort . "This a continuing example of the mismanagement of the Iraq reconstruction from the highest levels down to
the contractors on the ground," be said.
William ash - Quoted on ABC's World News Tonight about Civil War in Iraq - 3/5
"The failure to understand that the civil war is already taking place, just not necessarily at the maximum level, means
that our countermeasures are inadequate."
Robert Scales - Quoted about ground force in "Retired general's call puzzles Rumsfeld aides" - Wash. Times-
4/14
"Retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, a former commander of the Army War College, said the Army , Marines, and special
operations need 100,000 more troops . "If you're going to fight a long war," Gen. Scales said, "if this war is
generational , and if our grandchildren are going to be fighting this war, and if this war continues to be principally
ground warfare, then it just seems overwhelmingly obvious that over the long term we are going to need a bigger
ground force.''"
Robert Scales - Quoted about the US in Iraq on Fox News-Hannity and Colmes 3/20
" . .. there's an old saying that America fights short wars brilliantly and long wars not so well. America fights its wars
on the clock. The enemy has no timetable. The enemy measures success in terms of prevailing for decades; our
philosophy has always been to use our firepower and our technology to get in, win the war, and get out. So what the
military's do e over the last three years, Alan, is they've changed the way they fight. And they've readjusted, or they've
changed their strategy, changed their tactics to take on an enemy who himself has adapted over the last three years ."
Robert Scales Quoted on NPR's Weekend Edition about "Civil War in Iraq?" - 2/25
"It's not a civil war yet in the classic sense. Perhaps a better term to use would be a growing Sunni insurrection. The
11/14/2007
00011'
Page 7 of8
Sunnis simply don 't have the military power; they don 't have the regional control. However, I do agree with Professor
Nasr that as the situation continues to deteriorate, the country moves closer and closer to an expanded insurrection that
could very well in time, if the government doesn't step in and intervene effectively, lead to something like civil war."
Don Sbepperd Quoted about the Secretary on CNN's Late Edition - 4/16
Is Rumsfeld derelict in his responsibilities, General Shepperd, based on what you know?
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Not derelict in his responsibilities, Wolf. On the other
hand, there were clearly some misjudgments made about the difficulty of the stabilization process in Iraq . It is also
clear , we did not have the number of troops to go and to maintain that security and to stay there a long time.
The question is, are we going to do tha t, or is it better to train the Iraqis to do that. I think it's an open question. The
thing that troubles me very much about these assertive statements made by the retired generals is that it's a q estion not
of do they have the right to do it; it's a question of propriety.
It steps over, in my opinion, the line of the role of military general officers, active or retired, calling for the resignation
of a duly appointed representative of the government by a duly elected government. That's the problem I have with all
of this. And it's hard to have a rational discussion because you quickly get into, is the war going well or not, do we or
do we not have enough troops, when the question is one of propriety about these statements. .
BLITZER: But if a defense secretary, General Shepperd, is what the critics are saying, derelict, and U.S. troops are
dying and they're being inj ured, taxpayer funds are being squandered to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars
because of miscalculations, shouldn't retired U.S. military officers stand up and say enough is enough?
SHEPPERD: No. They ought to stand up and they ought to criticize the strategy to go with it, state their opinion, but
shouldn't be calling for the resignation of the defense secretary durin g a time of war when that defense secretary is
trying to lead the troops.
We're in a really tough situation in Iraq. And the question is, are we going to be able to pull this off or not. That is the
real question. Lots of things have gone wrong , and there's lots of blame to go around, to the state department, to
Congress, to the military, as well some of these people making the charges, Wolf.
Don Shepperd - Quoted on CNN's American Morning about Operation Swarmer- 3/17
Th is is the kind of strategy you would use. But you would probably do it with much more surprise and much less
planning and on a rapid basis ; in other words, kind of a rapid reaction force.
The Iraqi security forces are not there yet. They're still operating side by side with U .S. forces , learning how to do
this. And , again , it's a step in their evolution, and an important one, I believe.
M. O'BRIE : What does it say about the whole situation in Iraq in general -- and you were there just this past fall .-
that on the three year -- approaching the three year anniversary of the invasion this sort of operation needs to even be
contemplated?
SHEPPERD: Yes. This is a tough, ugly place over there, a very, very difficult neighborhood. Insurgents were
operating freely in places like Falluja and in western Iraq. They're being put under pressure more and more by Iraqi
security forces. The number of Iraqi security forces, the quality, the equipment, is increasing dramatically. This, again ,
this operation is just one example of a step in that evolution.
So the country is by no means stable. The people are waiting to see what's going to happen. The Sunnis and the Shia
conflict is still there . It's a very difficult place . But, again, I have confidence that over time , the Iraqi security forces
will be able to do better the things that need to be done , which is find insurgents and stay in areas where the U.S. forces
are not able to do that and where the U .S. -- when the U.S. forces are going to be coming home .
Wayne Simmons - Quoted on Fox News's Your World with Neil Cavuto about Irao- 4/14
Simmons: "Well, look, as my good friends General Paul Vallelly (?) and General McInernie wrote in their book "End
Game ," forward strategy wins, defense protects. We have homeland security protecting the United States now in order
to win in any situation you need a forward strategy. The President took us off of a defensive military posture and put
us on an offensive military posture. We need to use that now.
Cavuto: What do you mean by that ? What wou ld you advocate doing right now?
Simmons: The man is a maniac. He is going to get the weapon; he is trying to secure the nukes. He is going to use
them wherever he can to threaten us. We absolutely need some kind of military action and we need to consult with our
11 /14/2007
000119
Page 8 of8
like-minded allies.
Cavuto: What type of military action?
Simmons: I would leave that up to the military planners but air strikes are a no brainer. We don't need an invasion I
don't think. I'm not a military planner but something very decisive has to be done now to show these guys that we are
not playing .
11 /14/2007
000'10
From: eIV.OSD
Sent: Tuesday , April 18, 2006 09:31
To: OSD PA; CIV. OSO
ce: Barber, Allison, CIV, OASD-PA; Lawrence. Dallas. OASD-PA
Subject: RE: Read Ahead Retired Military Analysts 04-18-06.doc
Attachments: image001.gif
imageoOl.glf (9 KB)
... Approximately seventeen retired military analysts who serve as mi litary/defense experts for major media
outlets.
... Last outreach meeting with this group was September 2005.
Tirneline:
... Allison Barber, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
Attachments:
2.
0001. 2
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
Participants
CONFIRMED:
000'1>
Military Analysts on the Air and In Print
Babbin, Jed - Critical of Chinese PM Hu Js visit. Thinks politics and SOUf grapes 0 at base of retired
generals D anti-Rumsfeld comments.
Carafano, James 0 Thinks if Iraq i leaders don Ot have Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis involved in the gov Ot., there
will be civil war and chaos. Favored the Dubai Ports World deal.
Fogelman, Ronald 0 Reportedly favors better use of allies in dealing with African crises.
Maginnis, Robert 0 Condemns hypocrisy of generals for failing to ask the Secretary tough questions one on
one , then criticizing him later. Wants Afghanistan to embrace values shared worldwide. Sees substantial
improvement in Iraqi forces over the past year .
Nash , William 0 Believes the Secretary has made some serious misjudgments O but stopped short of calling
for his resignation. Says there have been top to bottom problems with Iraq reconstruction. Believes civil war is
ongoing on in Iraq, though not at Omax imum level. 0
Scales, Robert Thinks US needs 100,000 more ground troops. Notes Iraq insurgents have changed tactics
over past 3 years to exploit us. Does not think situation in Iraq constitutes a civil war 0 yet.
Shepperd, Donald Says there have been mistakes in Iraq but that retired Generals ostep over the line D in
calling for the SecretaryOs resignation. Sees Operation Swarmer as a good step in the evolution ofIraqi forces .
000'"
Simmons, Wayne 0 Believes there is a need for military action against Iran.
led Babbin 0 Wrote o Guess Who fls Coming to Dinner?o (American Spectator, 4/17) 4
Jed Babbin 0 Quoted on Fox News o Your World with Neil Cavuto o - 4/14,1600.4
James Carafano 0 Quoted in o Wh en should the US leave (Iraq)? 0 Lincoln Journal Star 0 3/19. 4
James Carafano 0 Quoted on Fox News o Special Report with Brit Hume o 0 311 0, 1800.4
Robert Maginnis 0 Quoted on NBC Nightly News re: Afghan death sentence 0 3/24.5
Robert Maginnis 0 Quoted on CNN American Morning (during Op. Swarmer) 0 3/18.5
William ash 0 Quoted about the Generals on ABC Os Good Morning America 0 4/15. 5
Willaim Nash 0 Quoted in Military options against Iran carry big risks, O Chi. Tribune 4/14.5
William Nash 0 Quoted on ABC Os World News Tonight about Iraq assessment 0 4/10. 5
William ash 0 Quoted in NYTimes o Report Adds to Criticism of Halliburton's Iraq Role o 0 3/29.6
William ash 0 Quoted on ABC Ds Wo rld News Ton ight about Civil War in Iraq 0 3/5.6
Robert Scales Quoted about ground force in ORetired general's call puzzles Rumsfeld aides 0 Wash.
Times 0 4/14 6
Robert Scales 0 Quoted about the US in Iraq on Fox News-Hannity and Colmes 3/20. 6
Robert Scales Quoted on NPR Ds Weekend Edition about DCivil War in Iraq? 0 0 2/25.6
Don Shepperd Quoted about the Secretary on CNNDs Late Edition 0 4/16. 6
Bob Shepperd 0 Quoted on Cl\TN Os American Morning about Operation Swarmer 0 3/ 17.7
Wayne Simmons 0 Quoted on Fox News fls Your World with eil Cavuto about lran D 4/14. 7
000'"
Jed Babbin D Wrote DGuess Who Ds Coming to Dinner? D (American Spectator, 4/17)
Excerpt: China seeks regional dominance to provide a safe base for further expansion. Its military buildup is
aimed, in the short term, at providing unquestioned superiority on its periphery nations such as Japan and
u
South Korea -- and asserting dominance over Taiwan. Our defense treaty with Japan places us squarely between
the two nations, and the President's statements that we will defend querulous Taiwan have kept China at bay.
Though the White House rejects the term, our quiet strategy against China is, and must continue to be,
containment. Over the past two years, we have made gains among the nations on China's periphery due almost
entirely to the quiet diplomatic efforts of the Defense Department and its Assistant Secretary for International
Affairs, Peter Rodman .
Jed Babbin D Quoted on Fox News DYour World with Neil Cavuto D - 4/14, 1600
I think that General Zinni wants to succeed Rumsfeld in a John Kerry or Hillary Clinton administration.
So, some of it is politics . Some of it is sour grapes. And I think, quite frankly some of it is sincere . But none of
these guys made these points when they were on active duty. They had every opportunity to.
I mean, General Batiste, for example, I mean, he could have told these things directly to Mr. Rumsfeld or Mr.
Wolfowitz. Why didnDt he do it then?
James Carafano Quoted in DWhen should the US leave (Iraq)? D Lincoln Journal Star D 3/19
DCarafano thinks it's easy to predict what will happen ifIraqi leaders can't keep Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds
involved in the government. "Then they are going to fail. Period . The country devolves into death and chaos.
Period," he says.D
James Carafano D Quoted on Fox News DSpecial Report with Brit Hume D D 3110, 1800
flM ANGLE: Why are we less safe without this deal than we would have been with it?
CARAPANO: Well, we're slightly less safe. When the original deal came along, the Dubai company had agreed
to all kinds of information sharing that normally companies don't agree to. Of course that doesn't go now. So
even though it's a U.S. company that will run it now, we'll actually know less about what they're doing than if
Dubai Ports World was running it.
""""
o if you wanted to do the most economic damage you could to the U.S. economy, you know the port that you
would go after? 0 Singapore . Because that's where most of the stuff that comes to America comes from. And
it's the transshipping point for Asia. So all those other risky ports, all that stuff dumps into Singapore.
Singapore screens atl that stuff and then they send it to us.
So the point is, is American ports are not critical infrastructure. People don't get this. The ports are not critical.
We had a port in Seattle-Tacoma had a strike, shut down for two weeks. We had a port in New Orleans wiped
out in a hurricane. What did we do? Ship the stuff to other ports .
The loss of one American port, even in a catastrophic terrorist attack, would not materially affect the U.S.
economy . But if you started to go after some of these mega ports around the world like Singapore and Hong
Kong and Rotterdam, that would . And what we have to worry about is, all the ports that are feeding into these
guys, who are a lot riskier than the stuff coming out of the main people that we deal with.
Comment by Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA): Last year in Europe, I had a conversation with General Fogelman in
which he talked about our need to better improve our use of potential allies and allies in Africa to deal with
situations in Africa. He specifically referenced moving Rwandan troops to Liberia in time to deal with Liberia's
needs when we were reluctant to put Marines on the shore for all kinds of reasons.
Since 2002, I've been privileged to attend meetings with Mr. Rumsfeld and his staff. As part of a group of
retired officers who now work as media consultants, we have free rein to ask tough questions. Mr. Rumsfeld is
always frank, tough, and receptive. You have to stand your ground, but Mr. Rumsfeld listens and reasons.
Typically at these meetings, I was the lowest-ranking retired officer. It was amazing how hypocritical some
now-retired generals were. They had plenty of opportunity and encouragement to ask tough questions of
Pentagon staff, Mr. Rumsfeld included. Behind the scenes some were critical, but at our meetings, only a few
shot back.
Robert Maginnis 0 Quoted on NBC Nightly News re: Afghan death sentence 0 3/24
o The American people don't want to think that we spent our blood and treasure for wars that end up being just
as oppressive new regimes as they were that--those that we replaced. 0
0001.7
Robert Maginnis 0 Quoted on CNN American Morning (during Op. Swarmer) 0 3/18
(The Iraqi forces are) very good at counter- insurgency at this point. The last year, you know, 1 was over there a
couple of months ago and the improvement over the last couple of years bas been absolutely phenomenal. But
they can't do it all and they need us to a certain leveL. Now, are we going to be able to draw down from 133,000
now? I think so. I think.we'll see a significant drop by the end of the year. But we're not going to be out of
there totally for some good long time.
Will iam Nash 0 Quoted about the Generals on ABC Os Good Morning America 0 4/15
BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) Is this an invitation to insubordination among the ranks? MAJOR
GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) I don't think so. I think the professionals that are involved in all of this understand that when you
wear the uniform , you are responsive to and dedicated to and subordinate to the chain of command.
GRAPHICS: RUMSFELD UNDER FIRE
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) And the president, the commander in chief,
the secretary of defense, a member of the national command authority, they'll follow their duties. But at the
same time , they'll follow their conscience and their professional judgment, and speak out after they retire, or, if
on active duty, may choose to retire in lieu of following orders they don't believe in.
BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) And I must ask do you believe Secretary Rumsfeld should step down ?
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) I think, in my personal opinion, we need to
work the issues at hand. The Secretary of Defense works for the President. That's his judgment. The people
need , are free to criticize the specific issues.
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) And I think he's , on those issues, he's made
some serious misjudgments.
KATE SNOW (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) Okay. General Nash, we appreciate your insight. Thank you.
William Nash 0 Quoted in OMilitary options against Iran carry big risks,O Chi . Tribune 0 41J4
William Nash, a retired Army major general who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations,
said, "In Iraq, every bit of intelligence we dropped on the U.N. inspectors turned up a dry hole. Give me one
good reason we should trust our intelligence this time ."
William Nash 0 Quoted on ABC Os World News Tonight about Iraq assessment 0 4/10
The good news is, is that the folks in country, in Iraq are taking a clear-headed view and doing some analysis of
000'"
the real conditions.
William Nash D Quoted in NY Times OReport Add s to Criticism of Hal iburton's Iraq Role D D 3/29
William 1. Nash , a retired Army general who is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an
expert on post-conflict zones, said the unusually revealing documents laid bare "a microcosm of all the ills" of
the Iraq rebuilding effort. "This a continuing example of the mismanagement of the Iraq reconstruction from the
highest levels down to the contractors on the ground," he said .
William ash 0 Quoted on ABC Ds World News Tonight about Civil War in Iraq 0 3/5
OThe failure to understand that the civil war is already taking place, just not necessarily at the maximum level,
means that our countermeasures are inadequate. 0
Robert Scales 0 Quoted about ground force in DRetired general's call puzzles Rumsfeld aides O Wash.
Times 0 4/14
DRetired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, a former commander of the Army War College, said the Army , Marines, and
special 0 erations need 100,000 more troops . "If you're going to fight a long war, " Gen. Scales said, "if this war
is genera ional, and if OUT grandchildren are going to be fighting this war, and if this war continues to be
principally ground warfare, then it just seems overwhelmingly obvious that over the long term we are going to
need a bigger ground force." 0
Robert Scales 0 Quoted about the US in Iraq on Fox News -Hannity and Colmes 3120
00 there's an old saying that America fights short wars brilliantly and long wars not so well. America fights its
wars on the clock. The enemy has no timetable. The enemy measures success in terms of prevailing for
decades ; our philosophy has always been to use our firepower and our technology to get in, win the war, and get
out. So what the mili tary's done over the last three years, Alan , is they've changed the way they fight. And
the y've readjusted, or they've changed their strategy changed their tactics to take on an enemy who himself has
adapted over the last three years .0
Robert Scales Quoted on NPR Ds Weekend Edition about OCivil War in Iraq? D 0 2/25
"",.It
OIt's not a civil war yet in the classic sense. Perhaps a better term to use would be a growing Sunni
insurrection. The Sunnis simply don't have the military power; they don 't have the regional control. However I
do agree with Professor Nasr that as the situation continues to deteriorate, the country moves closer and closer
to an expanded insurrection that could very well in time, if the government doesn't step in and intervene
effectively, lead to something like civil war. 0
Don Shepperd Quoted about the Secretary on CNN Os Late Edition 0 4/16
Is Rumsfeld derelict in his responsibilities, General Shepperd, based on what you know?
MAl. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), U.S . AIR FORCE: Not derelict in his responsibilities, Wolf. On the
other hand, there were clearly some misjudgments made about the difficulty of the stabilization process in Iraq.
It is also clear, we did not have the number of troops to go and to maintain that security and to stay there a long
time .
The ques ion is, are we going to do that , or is it better to train the Iraqis to do that. I think it's an open question.
The thing that troubles me very much about these assertive statements made by the retired generals is that it's a
question not of do they have the right to do it; it's a question of propriety.
It steps over, in my opinion, the line of the role of military general officers, active or retired, calling for the
resignation of a duly appointed representati ve of the government by a duly elected government. That's the
problem r have with all of this . And it's hard to have a rational discussion because you quickly get into, is the
war goin g well or not, do we or do we not have enough troops , when the question is one of propriety about these
statements.
BLITZER: But if a defense secretary, General Shepperd, is what the crit ics are saying, derelict, and U.S. troops
are dying and they're being injured, taxpayer funds are being squandered to the tune of hundreds of billions of
dollars because of miscalculations, shouldn't retired U.S. military officers stand up and say enough is enough?
SHEPPERD: o. They ought to stand up and they ought to criticize the strategy to go with it, state their
opinion, but shouldn't be calling for the resignation of the defense secretary during a time of war when that
defense secretary is trying to lead the troops.
We're in a really tough situation in Iraq . And the question is, are we going to be able to pull this off or not.
That is the real question. Lots of things have gone wrong, and there's lots of blame to go around, to the state
department, to Congress, to the military, as well some of these people making the charges, Wolf.
This is the kind of strategy you would use. But you would probably do it with much more surprise and much
less planning and on a rapid basis; in other words, kind of a rapid reaction force.
The Iraq' security forces are not there yet. They're still operating side by side with U.S. forces , learning ow to
do this . And, again, it's a step in their evolution, and an important one, I believe.
M. O'BRIE : What does it say about the whole situation in Iraq in general -- and you were there just this past
fall -- that on the three year -- approaching the three year anniversary of the invasion, this sort of operation needs
to even be contemplated?
SHEPPERD: Yes. This is a tough, ugly place over there , a very, very difficult ne ighborhood. Insurgents were
operating freely in places like Falluja and in western Iraq. They're being put under pressure more and more by
10
"",.to
Iraqi security forces. The number of Iraqi secur ity forces, the quality the equipment, is increasing dramatically.
This, again, this operation is just one example of a step in that evolution .
So the country is by no means stable. The people are waiting to see what's going to happen . The Sunnis and the
Shia conflict is still there. It's a very difficult place . But , again, I have confidence that over time, the Iraqi
security forces will be able to do better the things that need to be done, which is find insurgents and stay in areas
where the U.S. forces are not able to do that and where the U.S. -- when the U.S. forces are going to be coming
home.
Wayne Simmons 0 Quoted on Fox ews Os Your World with Neil Cavuto about Iranfl 4/14
Simmon s: DWell, look, as my good friends General Paul Vallelly (?) and General McInemie wrote in their
book DEnd Game, D forward strategy wins, defense protects . We have homeland security protecting the United
States now in order to win in any situation you need a forward strategy. The President took us off of a defensive
military posture and put us on an offensive military posture. We need to use that now .
Cavuto: What do you mean by that? What would you advoca te doing right now?
Simmons: The man is a maniac. He is going to get the weapon ; he is trying to secure the nukes. He is going to
use them wherever he can to threaten us. We absolutely need some kind of military action and we need to
consult with our like-minded allies.
Simmons: I would leave that up to the military planners but air strikes are a no brainer. We don't need an
invasion J don't think . I'm not a military planner but something very dec isive has to be done now to show these
guys that we are not playing.
11
00011'
DRAFT Page 1 of8
DoDOGC
From: OSD PA
Sent: Tuesday, Apri118, 2006 09:17
To: e lV,OSD
Cc: Barber, Allison, elV, OASD-PA; Lawrence, Dallas, OASD·PA
Subject: Read Ahead Retired Military Analysts 04-18-06.doc
Attachments: oledata.mso
Background:
• Approximately seventeen retired military analysts who serve as military/defense experts for major media
_" ••14" ,"
Location: SecDefDining Room, 3£729
Background:
• Approximately seventeen retired military analysts who serve as military/defense experts for major media
outlets.
• Last outreach meeting with this group was September 2005.
• Comments should be considered on background.
Timeline:
1:40 p.m. Welcome and Introduction
• Allison Barber. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
1:45 p.m. Update on Iraqi Security Forces (via teleconference)
• Briefers TBD
2:30 p.m, Break
2:45 p.m, Update on Global Operations
• General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
3:15 p.m. Discussion and Questions with Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
4:00 p.m, Meeting Concludes
DRAFT Page 2 of 8
Attachments:
• L ist of Participants Tab A
• Key Comments to Date TabB
11 114/2007
000193
DRAFT Page30f8
Participants
CONFIRMED:
11/14/2007
000'"
DRAFT Page 4 of 8
Babbin, Jed - Critical of Chinese PM Hu's visit. Thinks politics and "sour grapes" at base of retired generals anti-
Rum sfeld comments.
Campbell, Frank - No recent remarks found
Carafano, James - Thinks ifIraqi leaders don 't have Kurds, Shii tes , and Sunnis involved in the gov ' t., there will be
civil war and chaos. Favored the Dubai Ports World deal.
Eads, Tim - No recent remarks found
Fogelman, Ronald - Reportedly favors better use of allies in dealing wi th Afric an crise s.
Garrett, John - No recent remarks found
Maginnis, Robert - Condemns hypocrisy of generals for faili ng to ask the Secretary tough questions one on one, then
criticizing him later. Wants Afghani stan to emb race values shared world wide . Sees substantial improvement in Iraqi
forces over the past year.
ash, Chuck - No recent remarks found
Na sh, William - Belie ves the Secretary has made some "serious misjudgments" bu t stopped short of ca lling for his
resignation. Says there have been top to bo ttom problems with Iraq reconstruction . Believes civil war is ongoin g on in
Iraq, thou gh not at "maximum level."
Scales, Robert - Thinks US needs 100,000 more ground troops. No tes Iraq insurgents have chan ged tactic s over past
3 years to exploit us. Does not think situation in Iraq constitutes a civil war - yet.
Shepperd, Donald - Says there have been mistakes in Iraq but that retired Generals "step over the line" in calling for
the Secretary's resignation. Sees Operation Swarmer as a good step in the evolu tion ofIraqi force s.
Simmons, Wayne - Believes there is a need for military action against Iran .
Strung, Martin - No recent remarks found
Wilkerson, Tom - No recent remarks found
11/14/2007
"""e.
DRAFT Page 5 of8
Jed Babbin - Wrote "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" (American Spectator, 4/17)
Excerpt: China seeks regional dominance to provide a safe base for further expansion. Its military buildup is aimed, in
the short term, at providing unquestioned superiority on its periphery -- nations such as Japan and South Korea -- and
asserting dominance over Taiwan . Our defense treaty with Japan places us squarely between the two nations, and the
President's statements that we will defend querulous Taiwan have kept China at bay . Though the White House rejects
the term, our quiet strategy against China is, and must continue to be, contairunent. Over the past two years, we have
made gains among the nations on China's periphery due almost entirely to the quiet diplomatic efforts of the Defense
Department and its Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, Peter Rodman .
Jed Babbin - Quoted on Fox ews "Your World with Neil Cavuto" - 4/14, 1600
I think that General Zinni wants to succeed Rumsfeld in a John Kerry or Hillary Clinton admin istration.
So, some of it is politics . Some of it is sour grapes. And I think, quite frankly some of it is sincere. But none of these
guys made these points when they were on active duty. They had every opportunity to.
I mean, General Batiste, for example, I mean, he could have told these things directly to Mr. Rumsfeld or Mr.
Wolfowitz. Why didn't he do it then?
James Carafano - Quoted in "When should the US leave (Iraq)? - Lincoln Journal Star - 3/19
"Carafano thinks it's easy to predict what will happen if Iraqi leaders can't keep Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds involved in
the government. "Then they are going to fail. Period . The country devolves into death and chaos . Period," he says."
James Carafano - Quoted on Fox News "Special Report with Brit Hume" - 3/10, 1800
TIM ANGLE: Why are we less safe without this deal than we would have been with it?
CARAF ANO: Well, we're slightly less safe. When the original deal came along, the Dubai company had agreed to all
kinds of information sharing that normally companies don't agree to. Of course that doesn 't go now. So even though
it's a U.S. company that will run it now, we'll actually know less about what they're doing than if Dubai Ports World
was running it. . ..
.. . if you wanted to do the most economic damage you could to the U.S. economy, you know the port that you would
go after? ... Singapore. Because that's where most of the stuff that comes to America comes from. And it's the
transshipping point for Asia . So all those other risky ports, all that stuff dumps into Singapore. Singapore screens all
that stuff and then they send it to us.
So the point is, is American ports are not critical infrastructure. People don't get this. The ports are not criti al. We
had a port in Seattle-Tacoma had a strike, shut down for two weeks. We had a port in ew Orleans wiped out in a
hurricane. What did we do? Ship the stuff to other ports.
The loss of one American port, even in a catastrophic terrorist attack, would not materially affect the U.S. economy.
But if you started to go after some of these mega ports around the world like Singapore and Hong Kong and Rotterdam,
that would. And what we have to worry about is, all the ports that are feeding into these guys, who are a lot riskier than
the stuff coming out of the main people that we deal with.
Ron Fogelman - Cited in HASC Hearing on the FY '07 EUCOM Budget, - 3/8
Comment by Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA): Last year in Europe , I had a conve rsation with General Fogelman in which he
talked about our need to better improve our use of potential allies and allies in Africa to deal with situations in Africa.
He specifically referenced moving Rwandan troops to Liberia in time to deal with Liberia's needs when we were
reluctant to put Marines on the shore for all kinds of reasons.
11114/2007
000'"
DRAFT Page 6 of 8
Rumsfeld included . Behind the scenes some were critical, but at our meetings, only a few shot back.
Robert Maginnis - Quoted on NBC Nightly News re: Afghan death sentence - 3/24
, The American people don't want to think that we spent our blood and treasure for wars that end up being just as
oppressive new regimes as they were that--those that we replaced."
Robert Maginnis - Quoted on CNN American Morning (during Op. Swarmer) - 3/18
(The Iraqi forces are) very good at counter- insurgency at this point. The last year, you know, I was over there a couple
of months ago and the improvement over the last couple of years has been absolutely phenomenal. But they can't do it
all and they need us to a certain level. Now, are we going to be able to draw down from 133 000 now? I think so. I
think. we'll see a significant drop by the end ofthe year. But we're not going to be out of there totally for some good
long time.
William Nash - Quoted about the Generals on ABC's Good Morning America - 4/15
BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) Is this an invitation to insubordination among the ranks? MAJOR
GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) I don't think so. I think the professionals that are involved in all of this understand that when you wear
the uniform, you are responsive to and dedicated to and subordinate to the chain of command.
GRAPHICS: RUMSFELD UNDER FIRE
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) And the president, the commander in chief, the
secretary of defense, a member of the national command authority, they'll follow their duties. But at the same time,
they'll follow their conscience and their professional judgment, and speak out after they retire , or, if on active duty , may
choose to retire in lieu of following orders they don't believe in.
BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) And I must ask do you believe Secretary Rumsfeld should step down?
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) I think, in my personal opinion, we need to work
the issues at hand. The Secretary of Defense works for the President. That's his judgment. The people need, are free
to criticize the specific issues.
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM NASH (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) And I think he's, on those issues, he's made some
serious misj udgments.
KATE SNOW (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) Okay . General Nash , we appreciate your insight. Thank you.
William ash - Quoted in "Military options against Iran carry big risks," Chi. Tribune - 4/14
William Nash, a retired Army major general who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said, "In
Iraq , every bit of intelligence we dropped on the U.N. inspectors turned up a dry hole. Give me one good reason we
should trust our intelligence this time ."
William Nash - Quoted on ABC's World News Tonight about Iraq assessment - 4/10
The good news is, is that the folks in country, in Iraq are taking a clear-headed view and doing some analysi s of the real
conditions.
William Nash - Quoted in NY Times "Report Adds to Criticism of Halliburton's Iraq Role" - 3/29
William L. Nash, a retired Army general who is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on
post-conflict zones, said the unusually revealing documents laid bare "a microcosm of all the ills" of the Iraq rebuilding
effort . "This a continuing example of the mismanagement of the Iraq reconstruction from the highest levels down to
the con tractors on the ground," he said .
William Nash - Quoted on ABC's World ~ews Tonight about Civil War in Iraq - 3/5
"The failure to understand that the civil war is already taking place , just not necessarily at the maximum level, means
that our countermeasures are inadequate."
Robert Scales - Quoted about ground force in "Retired general's call puzzles Rumsfeld aides" - Wash. Times -
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"Retired Maj . Gen. Robert Scales, a former commander of the Army War College, said the Army , Marines, and special
operations need 100,000 more troops. "If you're go ing to fight a long war," Gen. Scales said, "ifthis war is
generational, and if our grandchildren are going to be fighting this war, and if this war continues to be principally
ground warfare, then it just seems overwhelming ly obvious that over the long term we are going to need a bigger
ground force.''' '
Robert Scales - Qu oted about the US in Ira q on Fox News-Hannity and Colmes 3120
" . . . there's an old saying that America fights short wars brilliantly and long wars not so well. America fights its wars
on the clock. The enemy has no timetable. The enemy measures success in terms of prevailing for decades; our
philosophy has always been to use our fire power and our technology to get in, win the war , and get out. So what the
military's done over the last three years, Alan, is they 've changed the way they fight. And they've readjusted, or they 've
changed their strategy, changed their tactics to take on an enemy who himself has adapted over the last three years ."
Rob ert Scales Quoted on NPR's Weekend Edition about "Civil War in Iraq?" - 2/25
"It's not a civil war yet in the classic sense. Perhaps a better term to use would be a grow ing Sunni insurrection. The
Sunnis simp ly don't have the military power; they don't have the regiona l control. Howe ver, I do agree with Professor
Nasr that as the situation continues to deteriorate, the country moves closer and closer to an expanded insurrection that
could very well in time, ifthe government doesn 't step in and intervene effectively, lead to something like civil war.'
Don Sheppe rd Quoted about the Secretary on CNN' s Late Edition - 4/16
Is Rumsfeld derelict in his responsibilities , General Shepperd, based on what you know?
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.) U.S . AIR FORCE: Not derelict in his responsibilities , Wolf. On the other
hand , there were clearly some misjudgments made abou t the difficulty of the stabilization process in Iraq. It is also
clear, we did not have the number of troops to go and to maintain that security and to stay there a long time.
The question is, are we going to do that, or is it better to train the Iraqis to do that. I think: it's an open quest ion. The
thing that troubles me very much about these assertive statements made by the retired generals is that it's a question not
of do they have the right to do it; it's a question of propriety.
It steps over, in my opinion, the line of the role of military general officers, active or retired, calling for the resignation
of a duly appointed representative of the government by a duly elected government. That's the problem I have with all
of this . And it's hard to have a rational discussion because you quickly get into, is the war going well or not, do we or
do we not have enough troops, when the que stion is one of propriety about these statements.
BLITZER : But if a defense secretary, General Shepperd, is what the critics.are saying, derelict, and U.S. troops are
dying and they're being injured, taxpayer funds are being squandered to the tune of hu ndreds of billions of dollars
beca use of miscalculatio ns, shouldn't ret ired U.S. mili tary officers stand up and say enough is enough?
SHEPPERD: No. They ought to stand up and they ought to criticize the strategy to go with it, state their opinion, but
shou ldn't be calling for the res ignation of the defense secretary during a time of war when that defense secretary is
trying to lead the troops.
We're in a really tough situation in Iraq. And the question is, are we going to be able to pull this off or not. That is the
real question. Lots of things have gone wrong, and there's lots of blame to go around, to the state department, to
Congress, to the military, as well some of these peo ple making the charges, WoLf.
Don Shepperd - Quoted on CN 's American Mor ning ab out Ope ration Swanner - 3/17
This is the kind of strategy you would use . But you would probably do it with much more surprise and much less
planning and on a rapid basis ; in other words, kind of a rapid reaction force.
The Iraqi security forces are not there yet. They 're still operating side by side with U.S. forces , learning how to do
this . And , again, it's a step in their evolution, and an important one , I believe. .
M. O'BRIEN: What does it say about the who le situation in Iraq in general -- and yo u were the re just this past fall --
that on the three year -- approaching the three year anniversary of the invasion, this sort of operation needs to even be
contemplated?
SHEPPERD: Yes. This is a tough, ugly place over there , avery, very difficult neighborhood. Insurgents were
operating freely in places like Falluja and in western Iraq . They're being put under pressure more and more by Iraqi
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security forces. The number ofIraqi security forces , the quality, the equipment, is increasing dramatically. This, again,
this operation is just one example of a step in that evolution.
So the country is by no means stable. The people are waiting to see what's going to happen. The Sunnis and the Shia
conflict is still there. It's a very difficult place. But, again, I have confidence that over time, the Iraqi security forces
will be able to do better the things that need to be done, which is find insurgents and stay in areas where the U.S. forces
are not able to do that and where the U.S. -- when the U.S. forces are going to be coming home.
Wayne Simmons - Quoted on Fox News's Your Wo rld with Neil Cavuto about Iran- 4/14
Simmons: ' Well, look, as my good friends General Paul Vallelly (?) and General McInernie wrote in their book "End
Game, " forward strategy wins, defense protects. We have homeland security protecting the United States now in order
to win in any situation you need a forward strategy. The President took us off of a defensive military posture and put
us on an offensive military posture. We need to use that now .
Cavuto: What do you mean by that? What would you advocate doing right now?
Simmons; The man is a maniac. He is going to get the weapon; he is trying to secure the nukes. He is going to use
them wherever he can to threaten us. We absolutely need some kind of military action and we need to consult with our
like-minded allies.
Cavuto: What type of military action?
Simmons: J would leave that up to the military planners but air strikes are a no brainer. We don't need an invasion J
don't think. I'm not a military planner but something very decisive has to be done now to show these guys that we are
not play ing .
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