On Fox News Sunday (FNS) today, Bill Kristol, the Jacobin publisher of the "Weekly Standard" said "I was invited to Fort Hood with a small group to talk to General Odierno who is taking over in Iraq..."
Several months ago it became a matter of passing media attention that Rumsfeld's Defense Department had for years been briefing a hand picked group of retired officers on a regular basis to prepare them for their roles as on and off screen commentators on the military aspects of Bush Administration foreign policy. At these briefing meetings(often held in the Secretary of Defense's own conference room) talking points on issues of the day were discussed and talking points were distributed or faxed and e-mailed to participants.
I was invited to one of these meetings in the time frame of the Abu Ghraib crisis and sat in on a couple of conference calls. I was disinvited after that. Why? I really don't know. Maybe someone did not like my questions? I wrote about this phenomenon several years ago on this blog and that was repeated at "No Quarter."
In my opinion, Kristol is not shy in pushing for an attack on Iran. He thinks that diplomacy is another word for weakness and merely a preparation of public opinion for military action to come. This was much the same view that he expressed before the Iraq War.
Why was Kristol invited by the Defense department to Ft. Hood, Texas to talk to Odierno? Who were the other member of the "small group" who were invited? Why does Odierno want to talk to such a group privately? Is Odierno involved in information operations in the United States?
I am surprised that Secretary Gates would countenance such shenanigans. pl
