Arianna Huffington has a new book out called “The Right is Wrong,” and Ana Marie Cox (AKA Wonkette) has a brief comment on it up on the Time blogs. But this is classic:
Huffington bases her critique on some evidence of more recent vintage, including a CNN segment in which Michael Ware faced off with retired Gen. David Grange about a National Intelligence Estimate. Ware and terrorism analyst Peter Bergen base their analysis on something resembling a fact: Al Qaeda does not have a terribly large presence in Iraq, they both say, the American government is misleading the public when they say that the war in Iraq is against al Qaeda. Grange, on the other hand, sounds more like a movie producer discussing the plot of an action thriller than a military expert discussing policy: “I like the idea of [terrorists] assembl[ing] in Iraq, because there’s more of them there to take down, instead of hunting them around the world of global operations.” That way we can film the whole thing in Vancouver; what do you say to Costner as Petreaus?
Huffington was probably being snarky when she described Grange’s appearance as “reporting for duty as administration apologist.” But it’s funny – or, really, not funny — because it’s true. Earlier this month, as Karen pointed out at the time, the New York Times reported that Grange is one of the dozens of retired military officers who are now serving as both news “analysts” and defense industry entrepreneurs. Grange himself is the founder of the ViaGlobal Group, a military contractor specializing in, among other things, “information operations.” As its website boasts, “We can develop and implement discrete effective influence campaigns in support of your team. In close coordination with government agencies, we can implement a campaign and measure its success.”
(That clip, BTW is here, if you want to watch it. I wonder whether Arianna used the site for a little research? Hmm…)
Thanks to Sharon for the info.
