Revenge of the ex-generals Page 1 of6

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Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, an NBC News

military analyst, during a lecture at the U.S. Naval
War Colleage in Newport, R.I. last year.
Disturbing the

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NEW YORK, Sept. 25 — "Windbags of war," • Revenge of the ex-

generals
quipped a television critic back in April as cable • For Bush at the U.N., a
tall order
news airwaves normally filled with slick • The greatest, most
haunting debate
broadcasters were invaded by graying former • Peacekeeping revisited,
again
generals. With American troops thrusting into News
Iraq, television networks put these retired • CIA formally called for
inquiry
officers on retainer to ride shotgun with their • Media review conduct
after leak
anchors. When several of them dared warn that • Long battle follows
soldier's death
the American war plan spread U.S. forces • Lawmakers eye Iraq
costs, intel
dangerously thin, the Pentagon quickly launched MSNBC's Top News
a broadside that all but accused them of • Long battle follows
soldier's death
undermining the war effort. Five months later, • CIA formally called for
inquiry
however, American troops are dying in a • Lawmakers eye Iraq
costs, intel
• Power rpti irnc tn Italu

http://www.msnbc.com/news/971168.asp 9/29/2003
 Page 1 of4

America's political leaders and field generals.

BY BARRY R MCCAFFREY and military senior team to
skillfully employ enormous
resident George H.W. Bush expressed hope at the military power fully integrated
P end of the 1991 Desert Storm victory that the
dramatic 100-hour air-ground-sea American blitzkrieg
with economic, political and
diplomatic leverage. The outcome
was a stunning victory that
accomplished our national-
had put to rest the ghosts of Vietnam. Hardly. However, security purpose with a rapid
and lopsided defeat of the Iraqi
the Gulf War proved to be in most ways the "anti- aggressors. A giant coalition was
Vietnam." We were blessed by political and military patiently assembled to provide
the legitimacy of multinational
leadership at the strategic, operational and tactical cooperation. A mighty force of
levels of command that capitalized on all that had gone 500,000 U.S. troops with 200,000
Allied was assembled and
so wrong a generation earlier. The memories and deployed in six months. The
massive mobilization of Reserves
trauma of Vietnam continue to affect our headers and and National Guard garnered the
policymakers. The Gulf War leadership and those they emotional commitment of the
American people. Our battle
mentored are affected to this day by the lessons of plans involved the skillful joint
integration of air, land and sea
Vietnam, now burned into our" culture. forces in a battle of maneuver
For 25 years, wetlave frequent- places like Beirut and Mogadi- that shattered the enemy's will to
ly and inappropriately used shu We shrank back from the resist with overwhelming vio-
these supposed lessons as a risleof ground comb's in Bosnia lence and speed.
i? yardstick to measure new and Kosovo. We articulated an - ~Th£ American people were
c. foreign-policy challenges. We absolute strategic imperative for politiciiBy prepared and in- "s"*«~
VBeared a morass like Viet- an exit strategy before we would formed. Tfew saw an evil in
i in Central America in consider involvement in vitat" Saddam Httssegj, an evil to be
> 1970s,and then were humanitariari*operations of little exterfMnated. ®>y saw am*,
; uncertain wneninre real physieaj threat to our innocent RuwaJlTsJK freed and a
evailed. Our revul- military power such as the tragic
sion for casualties disasters in Rwanda and Liberia.
Vietnam remains with us* in the weapon? of ma.86 daKnKtia
skitter away numbed collective psyche of our worth analysis in Isptiir
1 from dangar tn 'iiaticm34-security calculus. • sort-TOt^1^"
* " " " "*

http://www.dean.usma.edu/socs/ir/ss478/American%20Legion%20Magazine%20-%20SEP%202003.htm 9/29/2003
CNBC "Capital Report" program with General BARRY McCAFFREY Page 1 of 3

CNJC "Capital Report" program with General BARRY

MCCAFFREY
Author:
Publication: CNBC
Date: August 8, 2003

But first, it's been 100 days since the end of the combat phase of the Iraq war, and today President Bush said
they're making significant progress toward democracy in Iraq. But it's also been a violent week for US troops
and civilians. A deadly car bomb ripped into die Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, killing 19. Three more
soldiers were killed in separate incidents. US forces face guerrilla-style attacks now on almost a daily basis. So
where do we stand really after those 100 days? We're joined now by retired general and NBC News military
analyst Barry McCaffrey.

Give us some sense of the trend here. Are things gettingj2£tte£-or arc -fekigs getting worse?

General BARRY McCAFFREY (US Army, Retired; NBC News Military Analysty Well, first of all, I think it's
going to be confused for at least a year.

MURRAY: A year?

McCAFFREY: Yeah. The good news is—the good news is all sorts of the economic and political underlying
factors are getting better—there's no question about it—newspapers are opening, the food problem, the hospital
problem, communication getting better. The bad news is we're now seeing some very sophisticated attacks on
American troops. Many of them are foreign fighters. A lot diem are using clearly not improvised explosives but
some real training's going into this.

MURRAY: More organized, more focus than before.

McCAFFREY: Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's several different factors. It's not just criminal dead-enders. It's not
just the Fedayeen and the Ba'athist regime in their dying gasps. Some of it's nationalists are now coming out,
the Sunni Muslims. And more importantly, I think we're going to see this become a magnet for terrorism. Now
one can argue, and I certainly would, better we fight terrorists in Iraq than in the streets of New York. But I
think that's what's happening.

MURRAY: Well, you say that diese are foreigners. Are they coming into the country now or were they there at
the time of the invasion?

McCAFFREY: A bunch of them were there. Saddam brought them in. The fighting in Baghdad—a lot of the
people 3rd Infantry Division were killing in their so-called thunder runs were Assyrians, lots of them, some
Pakistanis, some Saudis and others. Now I think we may well be seeing some terrorist organizations that say,
'Look, if you want to do jihad, if you want to die attacking Americans, Iraq is the place to do it.'

MURRAY: There was a story out this week that came from one of the commanders in Iraq saying that the
bounty available to people in Iraq who kill American soldiers has gone considerably, to as much as $5,000 an
attack. Where is that kind of money and organization coming from?

http://www.hvk.org/articles/0803/82.html 9/29/2003