

Did *The New York Times *run a hit piece on a group of former generals working as television analysts? Or have the networks purposely ignored a major story that implicates them in Pentagon propaganda-pushing? Here's your chance to fact check the media majordomos yourself.

A few weeks back, the* Times *ran a long, long expose on the Pentagon's relationship with ex-officers-turned-TV-commentators. The crux of the paper's story:

Analysts have been wooed in hundreds of private briefings with senior military leaders, including officials with significant influence over contracting and budget matters, records show. They have been taken on tours of Iraq and given access to classified intelligence ...* *In turn, members of this group have echoed administration talking points, sometimes even when they suspected the information was false or inflated. Some analysts acknowledge they suppressed doubts because they feared jeopardizing their access. *

Many in the military community were thoroughly unimpressed with the piece – especially since several of the officers featured in the expose were vocal critics of the conduct of the Iraq war. Liberal bloggers and media-watchers, on the other hand, were disgusted by what they saw as the latest disclosure of "the incestuous, extensive overlap between our media institutions and government officials." The outrage only grew, as the television networks decided not to cover the Times' scoop. Just today, Sen. John Kerry called for a "full investigation of this program," which the Pentagon claims is now suspended.

But there's no need to wait for Congress. You can launch your own investigation, right now. The Defense Department has released thousands of pages of documents related to this outreach effort. Years' worth of internal Pentagon memos, military talking points and interview tapes and transcripts with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are all now posted to the Pentagon's website. Take a look, and let us know what you find. Drop us a line, or leave a comment, below.

UPDATE: These retired officers may have received special access in Rumsfeld's Pentagon. But they were fed the same happy talk and BS as the rest of us, a quick scan of the documents shows.

Inflated estimates of Iraqi troop strength weren't just for the general public, for example. They were for the generals, too. Check out these talking points from November 29, 2005 and this April 22, 2005 conference call transcript:

Similarly, the Defense Department was making blissful predictions about the insurgency melting away to anyone who would listen. Here are some talking points from January 4th, 2006:

Not long after, the Sunni insurgency entered its bloodiest phase of the war.