More McCaffrey

Back when I didn't have this shitty little blog, I went on a months-long McCaffrey comments tirade. Just for kicks, check my Firedoglake bit from March '07:

I’ve said it before, McCaffrey is wildly inconsistent. His views and evaluations of US progress in Iraq change weekly. He’s called the surge “a fool’s errand.” He’s praised the hard work of contractors: “Without that contractor effort, this war would have ground to a halt two years ago”. Now it’s “We need to support the U.S. leadership team in Iraq for this one last effort to succeed.”

McCaffrey is a seriously conflicted individual in every sense of the phrase. It’s not surprising that a decorated Viet Nam vet wants one last push towards victory. It’s well documented that many hawks of that war (ex-soldiers and current politicians) are adamant that we don’t “lose” this one.

McCaffrey is also an NBC military analyst. He needs to express some criticism of US military strategy in Iraq to maintain credibility. He also feels it’s his duty to support the war effort not just as a retired US general but also as a businessman. It wouldn’t be prudent for him to be too critical of the Pentagon.

McCaffery is on the board of: Dyncorp International (supplies security personnel and police trainers in Iraq and Afghanistan), McNeil Technologies ($4.6 billion dollar Army contract thru a joint deal with Dyncorp for Iraq translation and and interpretation services), HNTB Federal Services (military engineering contractor), and The Wornick Company (provides meals-ready-to-eat AKA MREs to the military).

McCaffrey’s making a serious chunk of change from this war while appearing to play both sides of the fence. Barry would take a hit in the wallet if the Iraq war ended any time soon.

From Raw Story, August '07:

Can NBC give a disclaimer on this guy already? I've been saying this for ages: Barry McCaffrey is on the board of The Wornick Company (supplier of MRE's to the military) and McNeil Technologies (supplier of Intelligence, Security, Language "services" to the Federal Government). McNeil & Wornick are both wholly owned by Veritas Capital -- a $1 billion+ private equity firm. Veritas also owns just a few military & Federal contractors you may or may not have heard of: Dyncorp, Trawick & Assoc., Aeroflex, Vangent, Athena Innovative Solutions and Continental Electronics.

In other words, it's clearly in the best interest of McCaffrey (not to mention his primary employer Veritas) to keep the fear level high. This continues increased spending and the support thereof in The Great War for Oil.

Gotta get ready for my town Democratic committee Festivus fete. More later -- sobriety permitting.

-AF

Barry McCaffrey Is Sooo Busted

In an era littered with scams of unprecedented number and scope, one standout, a real operator, has displayed extraordinary flair, dexterity and ability in gaming the military-industrial complex. He's literally done it in our faces yet he's flown under the radar.

Since NBC anointed Gen. Barry McCaffrey as their post-9-11 go-to war guy, his extra-curricular businesses have borne little scrutiny. (See McCaffrey Associates). It left McCaffrey free to parlay his unparalleled DOD contacts and his NBC top "military analyst" status into big bucks "consultant" and board member gigs with a slew of defense industry players.

For almost two years, I've tracked Gen. McCaffrey's brazen exploitation of his unique situation with a total disregard of his multiple, flagrant conflicts of interest. I'm talking the kind of conflicts that would have driven him out of any other business and wicked fast (O.K. maybe not the music business). McCaffrey's on my shit list. He's really burned my goat.*

In April, NYT's David Barstow exposed McCaffrey's fellow TV military commentators as Bush Administration propagandists. He touched on their collective conflicts of interest too. Now Barstow takes aim at the worst offender of all, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, in "One Man’s Military-Industrial-Media Complex":

In the spring of 2007 a tiny military contractor with a slender track record went shopping for a precious Beltway commodity.

The company, Defense Solutions, sought the services of a retired general with national stature, someone who could open doors at the highest levels of government and help it win a huge prize: the right to supply Iraq with thousands of armored vehicles.

Access like this does not come cheap, but it was an opportunity potentially worth billions in sales, and Defense Solutions soon found its man. The company signed Barry R. McCaffrey, a retired four-star Army general and military analyst for NBC News, to a consulting contract starting June 15, 2007.

Four days later the general swung into action. He sent a personal note and 15-page briefing packet to David H. Petraeus, the commanding general in Iraq, strongly recommending Defense Solutions and its offer to supply Iraq with 5,000 armored vehicles from Eastern Europe. “No other proposal is quicker, less costly, or more certain to succeed,” he said.

Thus, within days of hiring General McCaffrey, the Defense Solutions sales pitch was in the hands of the American commander with the greatest influence over Iraq’s expanding military.

“That’s what I pay him for,” Timothy D. Ringgold, chief executive of Defense Solutions, said in an interview.

I bet. What defense contractor large or small wouldn't want a 4-star wired to Commanding General, Multi-National Force - Iraq on their payroll? He's all over the tee-vee too. Bonus!

No one at Defense wants to fuck with McCaffrey. They're either former colleagues, served under his command and/or are acutely aware he's on NBC's various networks "analyzing" their military and their Iraq War. From his televised perch, this guy had the balls to bust Rumsfeld's balls.

This all would be bad, bad and more bad on it's own. McCaffrey wasn't nearly done. Oh, no no. He prostituted himself under oath in front of Congress:

...In his testimony to Congress, General McCaffrey criticized a Pentagon plan to supply Iraq with several hundred armored vehicles made in the United States by a competitor of Defense Solutions. He called the plan “not in the right ballpark” and urged Congress to instead equip Iraq with 5,000 armored vehicles.

“We’ve got Iraqi army battalions driving around in Toyota trucks,” he said, echoing an argument made to General Petraeus in the Defense Solutions briefing packet.

Yep, he stood before Congress under the guise of impartial expert just back from Iraq. McCaffrey made the most of it. He ripped a client's competitor and pushed for more military spending that would ultimately benefit all those who paid him.

So you think this can't get any worse, do you? Hell yeah. McCaffrey's not your garden-variety sleazy-war-profiteer/TV star. This fucking guy shapes US policy:

His influence is such that President Bush and Congressional leaders from both parties have invited him for war consultations. His access is such that, despite a contentious relationship with former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the Pentagon has arranged numerous trips to Iraq, Afghanistan and other hotspots solely for his benefit.

At the same time, General McCaffrey has immersed himself in businesses that have grown with the fight against terrorism.

That's just great. If you're like me, you're spitting blood right now. You're not? Maybe this'll do it. NBC, itself a military-industrial-media complex** charter member sees no problem with putting him on their combined networks nearly 1,000 times!

On NBC and in other public forums, General McCaffrey has consistently advocated wartime policies and spending priorities that are in line with his corporate interests. But those interests are not described to NBC’s viewers. He is held out as a dispassionate expert, not someone who helps companies win contracts related to the wars he discusses on television.

What the fucking fuck?!? During my decade's experience in major market broadcast management, I insisted on disclaimers for stuff insanely stupid more trivial. No problemo, senor sez NBC. We'll pretend this never happened. As the all-powerful NBC, we decide what and where the lines are:

The president of NBC News, Steve Capus, said in an interview that General McCaffrey was a man of honor and achievement who would never let business obligations color his analysis for NBC. He described General McCaffrey as an “independent voice” who had courageously challenged Mr. Rumsfeld, adding, “There’s no open microphone that begins with the Pentagon and ends with him going out over our airwaves.”

General McCaffrey is not required to abide by NBC’s formal conflict-of-interest rules, Mr. Capus said, because he is a consultant, not a news employee. Nor is he required to disclose his business interests periodically. But Mr. Capus said that the network had conversations with its military analysts about the need to avoid even the appearance of a conflict, and that General McCaffrey had been “incredibly forthcoming” about his ties to military contractors.

For years defense industry star Barry McCaffrey has bounced footloose between the very highest levels of civilian government, our military and a Big Three television network. None have the least bit of interest in or a requirement for a disclosure of The General's extensive business ties.

For fuck's sake. When you rub it on down to the nub, we're the ones who pay all their salaries and keep all their lights on.

They just don't think we need to know.

-AF

*A stoned friend of mine coined this malaproptic(!?!) mashup of "burns me up" and "gets my goat" years ago. It was funny then. It's still funny now. In the case of McCaffrey, the visual perfectly encapsulates my feelings.

**The military-industrial-media complex is a Eisenhower could not have forseen. FAIR's 2005 look at The Military-Industrial-Media Complex has more.

CBS Proposed Wingers Review Rather

I knew CBS screwed Dan Rather royally but I didn't know it was this bad.

Rather is suing CBS for a cool $70 million over the circumstances of his "Rathergate" dismissal. The NY Observer dug through papers Rather's legal team submitted last week. It learned that CBS' shortlist for Rather's "independent review panel" featured a long list of right-wing partisans. Some of them are even journalists:
William Buckley (TNR), Robert Novak, Kate O’Beirne (TNR & then @CNN!), Tucker Carlson (I'm starting to feel dirty here), Pat Buchanan (OK, I'm officially dirty), George Will (What? Pol Pot wasn't available?), Lou Dobbs (WTF? Right wing CNN anchor reviews CBS anchor?), Matt Drudge (Puh-leeze), Robert Kagan (PNAC + Papa do not make one worthy), Fred Barnes (Does anyone even read WS or watch FoxNews?), William Kristol (another Murdoch trust fund baby), John Podhoretz (Mama's Boy is to journalism what cinder blocks are to swimming), David Brooks (Soon-to-be banished to the farthest corner of the realm), William Safire (Wordsmythe, Nixonite & "libertarian conservative" whatever the fuck that is), Bernard Goldberg (FoxNews crank then@CBS News), Ann Coulter (don't even go there -- I said don't), Andrew Sullivan (Why, oh why?), Christopher Hitchens (depends on what he's drinking & for how long), PJ O’Rourke (depends on which PJ shows up & for how long), Christopher Caldwell ("No, my father-in-law did not get me this gig"), Elliot Abrams (like a cockroach, he'll never go away), Charles Krauthammer (a sad, delusional man), William Bennett (nicotine-addict/ex-Drug Czar/ homophobe/degenerate gamber), Rush Limbaugh (not qualified to fucking mowing Rather's lawn) and, written at the bottom, FoxNews' Dark Lord Roger Ailes (**shudder**).

Considering these stalwart wingers for their Rather “independent review panel” is sorta like Frank Perdue announcing plans to have foxes guard his hen house. Had CBS been truly interested in getting to the bottom of how Rather's report was sourced and erred aired, they wouldn't have considered a veritable murder's row of neo-con hacks and competitors! Shortly thereafter the Grand PooBah himself, lifelong Dem Sumner Redstone, conspicuously flipped Republican.

Please note that I chose to break two names out of the above pack as they have been unintentionally and undeservedly tarnished by association. One is NY Observer's own Nicholas Von Hoffman, who CBS fired for saying "Mr. Nixon is the dead mouse on the kitchen floor, and the American family, in slippers and bathrobe, is gathered around him arguing over who will pick him up by his tail and drop him in the trash" is as much a neo-con as you'd expect any friend of Gary Trudeau to be. The other is Robert (no relation to Gnarls or Charles) Barkley has been a tireless education reformer who penned the moving Grandfather's Apology two weeks ago.

-AF
(HT: ThinkProgress)

This Does Not Surprise Me...

...But the sheer extent of it does. The Media fucked us big time.

In the run-up to the Iraq War, news executives across the board dictated that the coverage reflect the wave of patriotism sweeping our nation. Concerned far more about ratings than the truth, the folks upstairs killed stories critical of the administration, admonished/fired/reassigned overly aggressive or outspoken reporters, required two conservative guests for every dissenter(no liberals could be interviewed alone), pushed stories that were positive to the Bush Administration, etc.

Glenn Greenwald has the lowdown.

-AF

They Said It. I Repeat It.

"I want to talk tonight about the respect I have for the American media. It is your task to watch the government, to make sure they do not exceed their power. Well done on that, by the way, the last eight years."



Craig Ferguson
Host of George W. Bush's last White House Correspondents' Dinner & All-Around Fine Scotsman

-AF
+Sorry about the light posting as of late. The trouble with having a chronic illness is the "chronic" part.

KO's 1st Anniversary Show

I watched Keith Olbermann's 5th Anniversary show on MSNBC a few hours ago. One of the centerpieces of the show was a rebroadcast of Olbermann's August 30, 2006 first "Special Comment" ripping Donald L. Rumsfeld. For many of us this was a true "defining moment." I vividly remember watching it at that time.

As a former broadcast professional, I found it really weird that this "Special Comment" video was pristine but the audio sounded super shitty -- like it was recorded down the hall. What was up with that? It sounded like MSNBC had to get the audio from a secondary source. Did they not think Olbermann was going to last and ditch the masters or is there some more mundane reason for the poor sound quality?

Dunno. I found it very strange.

-AF

Lou Dobbs' Cotton' Pickin' Flub

As a former major market broadcaster with over 10 years experience, I'm well aware of the perils of adlibbing. But I also know that in order to advance and then stay at the top of your game, you must learn to edit yourself. You develop an ability to hear most of what you're saying the split-second or two before it leaves your mouth. Otherwise you can only hope to eke out a living in what my old communications prof called the "tall grass."

I'm fascinated how the longer some of these folks stay in the biz, the more atrophied this editing skill can become. It's a combination of hubris and laziness. Hubris comes with the territory and fosters a belief that they are infallible. This leads to laziness as in "I'm so good I don't have to prepare." A lack of show prep inevitably leads to disastrous adlibs. This very bad habit is hard to break.

Show prep isn't just about news, facts and figures. It's also about the presentation of whatever info or opinion you want to get across and how you are going to deliver your message. From what I have seen of Lou Dobbs, he does an adequate job with the former and precious little of the latter.

-AF

(HT TPM)

Anger Is The New Black

Anger is the new black. I wanna trademark the phrase. My mind's eye sees a brisk trade in T-shirts and coffee mugs. Alas and alack, it is not to be. Money's too tight to mention. I'll settle for repeating it. A lot.

Anger is the new black. I coined the phrase commenting on the incomparable Digby's post here. She was talking about CNN's Jack Cafferty. On Thursday, apparently having mixed his meds, Cafferty had a spectacular xenophobic conniption. Digby dissects the whole sordid incident and the "new" style MSM champion. So I won't bother. She kicks her post off thusly:

I can't tell you how sick I already am of the latest incarnation of the angry, white male "star" as personified by Dobbs, Cafferty and lately (god help us) Matthews.

Hear, hear. It's the rare media types like Olbermann and Stewart who use their platform to rail against injustice, hypocrisy and corruption. Dobbs, Matthews and the other bargain basement Howard Beale's have a different intent. As alpha males competing to lead the MSM's howler monkey troop, they seek the shortest path to tap into our collective zeitgeist. Their very livelihood depends on it.

In Cafferty's case, it's his inconsistency I found maddening. Sure, his rants were often on target but his misses were absolutely excruciating. Even on a good day, Cafferty veered dangerously close to just every other howler monkey in the troop. With this whole lotta shrieking going on, it can be impossible to hear a specific simian above the din. When you can, it's frequently not good news. Since his rabid xenophobic meltdown Cafferty can howl all he wants. I'm not listening. He's dead to me.

Anger is the new black. We live in angry times. We live in desperate times. The average Joe yearns for someone to blame for this mess -- so long it the "accountability trail" doesn't lead back to them. They prefer to pretend they bear no responsibility for electing amoral officials, cheering for an unjust disastrous war or their reckless personal behavior.

MSM howler monkeys hope to cash in on this antipathy. They'd be well advised to keep their paws inside their cage.

AF

CIA Torture Team Leader Hired For "Kite Runner" Kids' Flight

Last week the finale to my epic Saudi Law: Can't Punish Female Victims Too Harshly... series noted that Paramount Pictures whisked The Kite Runner's young actors out of Afghanistan.

The three boys and their families feared reprisals in response to the film's "culturally inflammatory" homosexual rape scene. A crew of 2o including a former CIA counterterrorism expert worked for months to pull this off. We now know the CIA agent's name.

The brilliant Majikthise has exclusive deets:

A retired CIA agent who lead the team that waterboarded terror suspect Abu Zubaydah went on to work as a security consultant for the film adaptation of The Kite Runner (2007).

Lobbyists for Viacom helped the producers of the film retain retired CIA agent and "countererrorism expert", John Kiriakou, according an Oct 4 article in the International Herald Tribune--before Kirkakou went public about his career as a torturer.

Paramount Pictures is wholly owned by Viacom.

More on Kirkakou later.

AF