When should a Pulitzer Prize NOT be a Pulitzer Prize?

Over 3 1/2 years ago I and my colleagues listed below strongly objected to the New York Times story entitled ‘’Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand’’ (front page, April 20, 2008) and its assertion that we, as military analysts privileged to receive briefings from Pentagon leaders, were tools of a Pentagon propaganda machine.

Now, 3 1/2 years later, the Government Accountability Office, Congress’s auditing arm, the Federal Communications Commission and two Pentagon Inspector General investigations have concluded repeatedly that neither we nor the Pentagon leadership had done anything wrong. 

We find ourselves asking of the New York Times once again, “Have you no shame?” The N.Y. Times story about retired military analysts was an editorial contrivance, built around a false narrative. What we did was to help the public understand what was taking place in Iraq, Afghanistan and in conflicts around the world by translating complicated military matters into laymen’s terms. We weren’t puppets, we were — and are — independent analysts bringing our vast knowledge and experience to the media and the public.

It is a terrible injustice — to the Bush administration, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and the military and intelligence agencies we know and love — to smear us as the New York Times did. 

If the N.Y. Times had any shame, which perforce it does not, they’d publicly apologize to those of us who participated in the retired-military-analyst program and were slandered by their fairy tale. We’re not going to hold our breath until that happens, nor do we expect David Barstow and the N.Y. Times to return the 2008 Pulitzer Prize they received for the fabricated story.

As we said over 3 years ago, “We will continue to speak out honestly to the American people about national security threats. Like our military service, we consider it our duty.”

Paul Vallely, of Bigfork, was joined in signing this letter by Thomas G. McInerney, Charles T. Nash, William V. Cowan, Wayne Simmons and Jed Babbin. The writers are, respectively a retired Army major general, a retired Air Force lieutenant general, a retired Navy captain, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel, a retired United States intelligence officer, and a former deputy undersecretary of defense and Air Force officer.