Former U.S. Generals Speak Out Against Iraq War Policy
ZAHN: Three retired Army generals are very much out in the open tonight with their opposition to the war in Iraq. And all three have taped TV ads that are running in Republican congressional districts condemning the president's handling of the war. The latest ad to hit the airwaves features retired Major General Paul Eaton. He was in charge of reforming Iraq security forces in 2003 and 2004. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, VOTEVETS.ORG AD) EATON: President Bush says he listens to his military commanders. Well, Mr. President, I was one of those commanders, and you weren't listening when we warned you of the dangers we would face invading Iraq. Now our military is overcommitted, and America is less secure. Mr. President, you're being told we need serious diplomacy, not escalation, and you're still not listening. If the president won't listen, Congress must.</s>ZAHN: Ex-generals rarely speak out that forcefully against the White House during a time of war. Let's hear from retired Major General Paul Eaton right now. Thanks so much for joining us, sir.</s>EATON: Paula, thank you very much.</s>ZAHN: Our pleasure. So, if the president didn't listen to you as we were ramping up this war, what makes you think he's going to listen to you now?</s>EATON: Paula, this is an effort to -- to get the president to pay attention to other voices in Congress, and to surge diplomatically, as well as the military effort that is under way right now. Absent for this last six years is an effort to really go after a diplomatic campaign plan to bring all the actors in the region to bear on the problem. We have also...</s>ZAHN: Isn't this also about, though, trying to get Democrats elected in districts where Republicans are very vulnerable, given the strong opposition to this war by the American public?</s>EATON: Not at all. This is an effort -- this is a bipartisan approach, if you would. It may not sound that way, but we're going after people who might be able to influence this president, who may be able to walk into his office and say, sir, Mr. President, we need your help here, and we need to adapt the strategy that you have under way right now. And we have got to surge this thing diplomatically. And we need to grow the armed forces to meet the demands that this president has placed in the realm of foreign policy.</s>ZAHN: General, I'm having a hard time understanding how you can say that this is not about getting Democrats elected, when this very group that's putting these ads on the air, VoteVets.org, has said officially in documents that 93 percent of its donations have, in fact, gone to Democratic campaigns and to Democratic political action committees. Do you fear you're getting used here?</s>EATON: Paula, two things. One, we're a long ways off from the election. We have an immediate problem right now to fix the strategy, so that we can conclude this war successfully. Now, VoteVets was stood up, was established to support veterans running for office. What is remarkable is that the vast majority of the veterans running for office are running on Democratic tickets.</s>ZAHN: And what is remarkable about that is, if you go back historically, you would suggest that they would have been running as Republicans?</s>EATON: Historically, the military has been very pro-Republican Party, very pro-GOP. The abuse and the devastating impact of this administration's policies and failure to maintain a viable military in the face of very considerable load, 15-month tours for the Army? That's excessive, and an administration that has steadfastly refused to grow the Army to meet the demands that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have imposed upon us.</s>ZAHN: Let me read to you something that an evangelical pastor had to say about you, his name is Rick Scarborough. And he has been really attacking you, and this is exactly what he has to say. "Generals John Batiste, John Eaton and Wesley Clark should be ashamed of what they are doing. No amount of suicide bombers could wreak so much havoc upon our military establishment as the word of these men, the effect of which is to communicate to our enemies, to be patient and you will win. Generals certainly ought to know better." Are you emboldening the enemy with these ads?</s>EATON: We have a very bold enemy. And let me put myself in context. I have two sons who are soldiers, one in Afghanistan as we speak, one served in Iraq while I was there for 15 months. I just buried my missing-in-action father, lost in Vietnam, remains identified last December. I know all about the impact that this has on soldiers of all ranks. And the feedback that I'm getting from soldiers of all ranks is very positive. We are advocates for the United States Army, advocates for the United States Marine Corps. We want these forces grown and we want this war fought intelligently. General Petraeus has said it is not just a military war. It is a requirement that we get the State Department, that the secretary of state engage politically and diplomatically inside Iraq and outside of Iraq to discipline this process and to get other players involved today on the diplomatic table.</s>ZAHN: Would this, General, very quickly, in closing, be a more disciplined process in your mind if more Democrats are elected in this upcoming election?</s>EATON: I won't speak to the election, Paula. The American people will all sort that out in November of 2008. Right now, I need the president to focus diplomatic efforts in the region, to help General Petraeus get the al-Maliki government disciplined and on timeline and to get the other players in the region to play diplomatically as well as the negative impact that Iran, Syria have on the problem.</s>ZAHN: General Paul Eaton, we really appreciate your time tonight. Thanks so much for joining us. And we are going to go straight to our "Out in the Open" panel now to talk more about what the general just had to say: CNN contributor Roland Martin; Republican political strategist Amy Holmes; also here, conservative commentator and constitutional lawyer, Mark Smith. You just heard what the general will to say. He said this is not about politics. This is about advocacy for the military, which he thinks has been undercut by this administration. Your reaction?</s>AMY HOLMES, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL STRATEGIST: But Paula, I think you put your finger right on it when we know that this is a campaign that's being waged in Republican districts, a $500,000 campaign. We also know that Wesley Clark, who he's cooperating with, was himself a presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, trying to defeat the president and possibly a vice presidential candidate.</s>ZAHN: All right. But hang on one sec, you can't ignore these statistics though which we're going to put up on the screen, showing that the overwhelming majority of Americans are against this war and the way it's being prosecuted. Why can't you just accept the fact that General Eaton perhaps is reflecting public sentiment here?</s>HOLMES: I think what we're not accepting is for the war to be micromanaged by 535 politicians in Washington, D.C. And let's look at the endgame of what he's talking about here. He's trying to pressure the president to take the Democrats' plan that was hatched who knows how in their committees and the president has already vetoed that plan. If he has this dispute with the president, he can address the president, he can have private meetings with him. He can go to John Warner, who is the senior Republican on the United States Armed Services Committee and discuss with him. These senators are getting input and they are...</s>ZAHN: There are a lot of Republicans breathing down the president's neck...</s>HOLMES: We had 11 of them go to the president last week.</s>MARK SMITH, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: The fastest way to end this war is to go out and lose it. And these generals are helping al Qaeda and the terrorists...</s>ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, stop.</s>SMITH: ... beat us.</s>MARTIN: Wait a minute, wait a minute.</s>SMITH: They are demoralizing the troops the middle of the conflict in the Middle East.</s>MARTIN: Wait a minute, is this not...</s>SMITH: They're emboldening our enemies.</s>MARTIN: Is this not a general who...</s>ZAHN: Hang on, Mark.</s>MARTIN: Is this not a general who was on the ground? Is this not a general who has seen people die? How dare you sit here and question a man who is actually serving over there, who saw it and...</s>MARTIN: Let me add, and who said he consistently criticized and gave his comments up the chain of command and were ignored. Now, the other piece of this here, for this pastor, for him to also criticize it, look, he understands it, at some point how can the president stand here and say, well, forget Congress' siding, let's give the generals on the ground.</s>MARTIN: Here is a general who was on the ground. How can you discount his thoughts?</s>HOLMES: We have a general who was on the ground -- hold on just a minute. We have a general who is on the ground, and that's General Petraeus, who was confirmed 81-0 by the United States Senate...</s>MARTIN: So we ignore what he has to say.</s>HOLMES: ... to pursue the...</s>MARTIN: We ignore Eaton.</s>HOLMES: If General Eaton says that he wants to be supporting General Petraeus, he's not cutting these ads.</s>ZAHN: One of the ideas that General Eaton set forth is that there should be benchmarks and there should be increased pressure on the Iraqi government...</s>MARTIN: Yes. ... to bring this government under control. What's wrong with that?</s>ZAHN: Are you opposed to that?</s>SMITH: We have a commander-in-chief. It is called the president. And the president should make these decisions, not ex- generals.</s>MARTIN: They have been wrong.</s>SMITH: Oh, but what is the alternative? These generals are out there with self-promotional infomercials out there essentially arguing for what? What's the alternative?</s>MARTIN: No...</s>MARTIN: These are the generals tired of...</s>SMITH: It has been tried. It has been tried...</s>SMITH: They have no alternative. It is very easy...</s>SMITH: It is very easy to criticize, but what's the alternative that's better than fighting this war in Iraq?</s>MARTIN: Here's the reality. We've...</s>MARTIN: Here's the deal, we've won the war. Saddam's not in control. We've won the war. At some point you've got to allow them to run their own country.</s>ZAHN: One last question, got 10 seconds to answer. Are you going to deny that politics has anything to do with this? That the general was saying that that's not the way he looks at it.</s>ZAHN: They're airing these ads in key...</s>MARTIN: I understand that.</s>ZAHN: ... congressional districts where Republicans are vulnerable.</s>MARTIN: Here's the deal. If you are against abortion and you know that that's the stance of the Republican Party, you're going to support them. They are against the war, so therefore they support those who are against the war. Simple as that. Partisan does not always mean well that I really can't lean this way or that way, they're partisan on the issue, not the party.</s>HOLMES: It's half a million dollars, Republican congressional districts trying to defeat those Republicans...</s>MARTIN: They are partisan about the issue, not the party.</s>HOLMES: ... so that they can have a bigger Democratic majority.</s>SMITH: Al Qaeda is very happy today because they have Americans who are trying to subvert the president's effort to win this war.</s>MARTIN: Are your sons serving? Are your sons serving in this war?</s>SMITH: Abraham Lincoln and FDR did not serve in the military and they won two wars.</s>MARTIN: This man's son is serving...</s>SMITH: You don't have to be in the military...</s>SMITH: ... to dispense (ph) advice.</s>MARTIN: I would listen to him than listen to you.</s>SMITH: FDR and Abraham Lincoln.</s>ZAHN: All right. I've got to end this war right here. Sorry. Someone has got to pay for this.</s>MARTIN: ... general on my side.</s>ZAHN: All right. Roland Martin, Amy Holmes, Mark Smith, thank you all. Do you know what a Sikh is? I'll bet you know what they look like. The problem is that many Americans think they look like terrorists.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beating me, beating me like five, six people. They were just beating, beating, beating. And they have something in their hand.</s>ZAHN: "Out in the Open" next, a film that is bringing vicious intolerance aimed at innocent people "Out in the Open," we'll be back with more.