When lying Generals lie.

November 15, 2005 -- When lying Generals lie. There has been much made about retired Major General Paul Vallely's contention that Ambassador Joe Wilson relayed information about the employment status of his wife, Valerie, to the retired two-star in the Fox News green room during 2002. Funny that the ambassador would tell someone like Vallely such a thing when he would not even tell his own brother.

First of all, Vallely's time line is way off. Joe Wilson did not appear on any network, let alone Fox, when Vallely's claims he did. Second, retired two- and three-star generals in DC are all over the place, just like horse manure was in this town before the era of the automobile. Paul Vallely's colleague, Tom McInerney, a paid shill for the neo-cons who want to invade Iran, is a retired Air Force Lt. Gen. (three star). McInerney's brother, James McInerney, is a retired Air Force Major General and a shill for the defense industry-funded National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), a neo con bacchanalia of war planning and obscene defense spending. Third, Vallely dominates conversations, hardly letting anyone get a word in edgewise. See what I mean about retired right wing generals and horse crap?

Retired right-wing flag (flack?) ranks, most of whom pimp for whoever will pay them for their less-than-informed opinions, rolodexes of active duty colleagues, and presence at chi chi corporate-sponsored cocktail receptions and rubber chicken banquets, have put their narrow political interests ahead of their country's national security.

As someone who spent a fair amount of time at Fox News' Washington green room, I can say that Vallely is full of crap. When you are booked by Fox to appear, a car is sent around to pick you up. The car arrives with enough time to transport you to the studios at 400 North Capitol Street, usually 15 minutes before air time. However, most of that time is spent checking in and sitting for makeup. If you happen upon another guest in the green room before sitting for makeup, they are likely only minutes from air time -- certainly not enough time to engage in a biographical rendition about your family with a total stranger. If two guests appeared at the same time at Fox in Washington, they were taken to different studios.



Retired right-wing generals (Vallely (l.) and Tom McInerney (r.)) with a line of B.S. and propaganda aimed at Joe Wilson: These starred flacks for Bush are all over Washington, like horse manure was in the days of carriages and buggies.

The only time when you might be stuck with someone in the green room for any significant length of time is if there is a breaking news story that bumps the interview (for Fox, that is usually a high speed chase in Los Angeles following someone knocking off a 7-11 or liquor store). That certainly does not appear to be the case with Vallely's appearance.

During this editor's brief green room detentions, I once sat for a maximum of 5 minutes with Michelle Malkin. Knowing who she was, I decided I did not want to have a conversation and read the Washington Post instead. In fact, I seldom carried on conversations with others in the green room, since I was the token liberal and my appearances often later developed into a shouting match duel with some right-wing a-hole or a host like Sean Hannity. One exception was when I met Pat Buchanan in the green room after one of my appearances. While I don't agree with Buchanan on a number of issues, he is a friendly and likeable person with a great sense of humor. Buchanan remarked, "not a bad job for being deep behind enemy lines!" Contagious laughter followed.

If Vallely has any evidence, he should put it in a notarized and witnessed affidavit and send it to the special prosecutor. If he is not telling the truth (and believe me, he is not) and was put up to his prevarication by anyone tied to the Bush administration, Valelly may want to contact Judith Miller and get a run down on the chow and daily routine at the Federal detention center in Alexandria, Virginia.

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