Montgomery Meigs

Retired U.S. Army General Montgomery Meigs is a participant in the Pentagon military analyst program and a military analyst for NBC. He's also "a Vietnam veteran, tank commander in Operation Desert Storm, and former commander of international peacekeeping forces in Bosnia, is a professor at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University."

War in Iraq
Meigs "wrote that the U.S. should not rush to complete the mission, but should study carefully the recent experience in Bosnia (he commanded the international peacekeepers there in his last active duty assignment and previously commanded a tank unit in Operation Desert Storm), and learn from that experience. He warned that the biggest crisis facing the U.S. in Iraq is not the fiscal cost or the continuing attacks, but the strain on the military. By April [2004], unless there is a substantially larger Reserve and National Guard callup, the U.S. will be only able to sustain a force of 40,000-80,000 troops. In the Balkans, with six-month tours and 18-month recovery time, troops and reservists re-enlisted. That won't happen if troops face 12-months on and 12-months off."

Pentagon military analyst program
In April 2008 documents obtained by New York Times reporter David Barstow revealed that Garrett had been recruited as one of over 75 retired military officers involved in the Pentagon military analyst program. Participants appeared on television and radio news shows as military analysts, and/or penned newspaper op/ed columns. The program was launched in early 2002 by then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke. The idea was to recruit "key influentials" to help sell a wary public on "a possible Iraq invasion."

SourceWatch resources

 * Covert propaganda
 * Donald H. Rumsfeld
 * Operation Iraqi Freedom: Military and Political Dissent
 * Pentagon military analyst program
 * Psyops
 * U.S. Department of Defense
 * Victoria Clarke

Articles by Meigs

 * INSCT Publications: Montgomery Meigs, accessed April 2008. (This is an archive of links to some of Meigs writings).