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Military ‘Analysts’ Are Not Journalists, And It Shows
By Eric Baerren/North Star Writers Group
There has been some sound and fury over The New York Times investigation of former generals used as analysts for the major cable networks. Sadly, as is so often the case, it misses the mark.
Much of it supposes that the generals were easy dupes of the Pentagon, given manipulated information that was simply issued forth during newscasts as propaganda.
Well, what was anyone to expect? These are former generals, men trained to command large groups of men in battle, not journalists.
There is good reason to point fingers at this small group of people. They were, at one time, entrusted with some of the nation’s most important national security secrets. They were, at one time, given the responsibility, should circumstances dictate, to send men to their deaths. And yet, when the nation needed them the most to question their orders, they instead chose to buy the company line.
According to The Times article, former MSNBC military analyst Kenneth Allard, who taught information warfare at the National Defense University, said, “I felt we’d been hosed.”
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