Paul E. Vallely

General Paul E. Vallely is a participant in the Pentagon military analyst program and a Fox News analyst. In September 2003, he took part in a Pentagon-funded "tour of Iraq ... timed to help overcome the sticker shock from Mr. Bush’s request for $87 billion in emergency war financing." He later told the New York Times, "I saw immediately in 2003 that things were going south." However, after returning he claimed on Fox's "Hannity & Colmes" show: "You can’t believe the progress."

Vallely is also the Military Committee Chairman for the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C., and a member of the Iran Policy Committee. He is co-author, with Thomas McInerney, of "Endgame: The Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror", advocating military-led regime change in Iran, Syria and North Korea. 

General Vallely was the first President of the National Psychological Operations Association. As author of "From PSYOP to Mindwar: The Psychology of Victory", he has stated, that "MindWar" "states a whole truth that, if it does not now exist, will be forced into existence by the will of the United States." Vallely has described "MindWar" as using "electronic media -- television and radio" in the "deliberate, aggressive convincing of all participants in a war that we will win that war."

The Pentagon's military analyst program
In April 2008 documents obtained by New York Times reporter David Barstow revealed that Vallely 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."

Under the umbrella of the program, Vallely asked the Pentagon for input on an April 2006 Wall Street Journal editorial defending then-Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. As he began work on the op/ed, Vallely emailed, "Any input for the article will be appreciated" to Dallas B. Lawrence, the Defense Department's director of community relations and public liaison.

Quotes
On the Iraq War, speaking on January 2, 2003 edition of the Fox show "On the Record":
 * These people that have just been there that have defected within the last six months, the psychological operations program that is going on now with Commando Solo, the broadcasting, the leaflets, the feedback I got today is very positive so far. So you're going to have a number of the Special Security Organization, 8,000 to 10,000, however many is there, the Special Republican Guard -- he's got some dedicated people that are there going to -- there -- and they're going to guard him.


 * But the information just over the last 10 years and as recently as today, the war of liberation will work. It's going to be done very skillfully by the coalition partners, and it's going to be a very quick campaign within 30 days.

Affiliations

 * Benador Associates
 * Center for Security Policy
 * Iran Policy Committee
 * National Psychological Operations Association
 * The Intelligence Summit 2007
 * Advisory Board, American Center for Democracy

SourceWatch resources

 * Bush administration smear campaigns
 * Department of Defense
 * military-industrial complex
 * Pentagon military analyst program
 * Swiftboating Joseph Wilson

Articles

 * Thomas McInerney and Paul Vallely, Endgame: The Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror, Regnery Publishing, February 1, 2004,
 * From MindWar to FoxNews, "Rigorous Intuition" (blog), December 8, 2004.
 * "Two years into leak investigation, Gen. Vallely suddenly claims, in contradictory statements, that Wilson revealed Plame's identity to him," Media Matters, November 9, 2005.
 * Larry Johnson, "The Hype of Paul Vallely," Booman Tribune, December 5, 2005.