Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

These Generals Are Real Heroes

by Ashley Hoffman [contact information]

Published in the Asheville Citizen-Times on June 27, 2008

This spring, the New York Times exposed a six-year-long propaganda campaign by the Defense Department to use retired military officers to disseminate pro-Iraq war messages to the American public. These dozen or so retired military officers -- officially called "message force multipliers," which sounds more like a 1983 Atari video game than a name for decorated soldiers -- were portrayed as independent analysts on major news networks. In reality, however, they were far from it.

The majority of these retired officers had ties to lobbying firms for defense contractors or sat on the boards of companies on the receiving end of Defense Department contracts. This tarnished any objectivity or independent analysis they might have had about critical foreign policy issues – especially the war in Iraq. As the New York Times put it, "To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio...to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world."

The American people, thinking that they were receiving the kind of straight talk you'd expect from a general or colonel, were more often than not hearing talking points regurgitated from the Pentagon's public relations department. Where was the stern candor that Americans have come to respect, and expect, from their military officers?

You'll be glad to know that such candor exists. You just have to look a little harder to find it.

Right now, in big cities and small towns throughout the United States, there are retired military officers speaking out against the Bush administration's approach to the Iraq war and other foreign policy issues. These men and women aren't as front-and-center as the pro-administration "analysts," and they definitely didn't make the cut for the Pentagon's list of "suggested" experts.

But they are out there, working tirelessly to reach out to their fellow veterans and community groups in hopes that another perspective outside of the "message force multipliers" can be injected into the current American conversation. As the Outreach Coordinator at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, I've had the opportunity to travel with these brave retired officers as part of our nation-wide military outreach program.

In a profession such as the military – where soldiers, even in retirement, typically remain apolitical and loyal to the commander-in-chief – dissent by retired officers is the highest form of patriotism. But why, you may ask, do these men and women subject themselves to the criticism they inevitably face from people who think that it is not a soldier's place to speak out, even in retirement?

Let me assure you: they don't do it for the money. These trips are sponsored by non-profit organizations (like mine) that operate on a shoestring budget. While they do receive a small stipend, one retired general donates it to an organization that helps families offset the costs of visiting their loved ones at Walter Reed.

They also don't do it for the prestige. Visits to small-town Rotary clubs and local community groups normally don't make national headlines. Talking to a handful of college students in a small classroom doesn't attract the hot glare of the television cameras.

They do it, as they've told me, because they feel it is their duty to educate the American public about a foreign policy that they feel endangers a country they spent their entire lives fighting to protect. They believe that in light of the urgent and critical issues now confronting our nation, those who have served in the armed forces have a special obligation to make their voices heard.

Now that's a message worth multiplying.

Learn more about the Center's Military Outreach Program