“Iraq is the convergence point for two of the greatest threats to America in this new century: al Qaeda and Iran,” Mr. Bush said, speaking at the White House to an audience that included Vice President Dick Cheney, the secretaries of state and defense and representatives of veterans organizations.

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Gus: Before Dubya messed up, Iraq was NOT "the convergence point for two of the greatest threats to America in this new century". Bushit thus is too modest. After his little useless war, he should include himself (and his grubby followers) in an extended list as a third threat to the world in this new century...

The cretin created the crappy threats, when many of us told him not to... His understanding of the development of the situation he concocted is as clear as blood pudding... 

Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration’s war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized.

Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks.

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Gus: Yes, we did notice... It's been very difficult to be heard when one exposed the trick, the smoke, the mirrors and the corruption... But we're still at it. 

In a question-and-answer session following his speech, Gates said he intends to talk about a related subject later today: dissent within military ranks. "Dissent is a sign of health in an organization, and particularly if it's done in the right way and respectfully and so on," he said.

"But people who dissent, who take a different view . . . are always at risk in their careers," he said, adding that "the biggest challenge for out-of-the-box thinking is the wisdom of the senior leader who sees the value of that kind of thinking and protects it and the people who do it."

Gates also expressed concern about a proliferation of retired senior military officers who have signed up as advisers to presidential candidates or as media experts. In response to a question, he said he worries that distinctions between active-duty and retired officers "tend to get blurred" and that the public often does not know "whether they're speaking for the institution or for themselves."

"And so if I had one request to all of them, it would be in whatever role they're playing that they make clear that they're not speaking for the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, or the Marines Corps, or the Department of Defense, but only speaking for themselves," Gates said. He did not identify any advisers or commentators by name.