E-mail a friend(Ret.) Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton
airdate May 21, 2007
Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton was commander of all U.S. Army infantry training at Fort Benning, GA when he was told to report to Bagdad to train a new Iraqi army—8 days after "mission accomplished' was declared. His job was eventually expanded to include all of Iraq's security forces, including the police. He maintained this post till '04 and retired in '06, after a 33-year military career. Eaton was one of the first to call for Defense Secretary Rumfeld's resignation and now appears in TV spots for votevets.org.
(Ret.) Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton
Tavis: Paul Eaton is a retired army major general who in June of 2003 was placed in charge of training Iraqi security forces. He retired from the army in 2006 after a distinguished career. General Eaton is featured in one of the new TV spots produced by the nonprofit group VoteVets.org. The unprecedented TV campaign is targeting key congressional Republicans in an effort to change U.S. policy in Iraq. Take a look.
[Clip]
Tavis: Paul Eaton joins us tonight from Seattle. General Eaton, nice to have you back on the program, sir.
(Ret.) Army Major General Paul Eaton: Tavis, great to be with you again. Thank you.
Tavis: I want to talk in a moment about how you came to decide to do this ad, which is a little bit more aggressive, for lack of a better word, than we would expect of military personnel - in this case, former military personnel; you are now retired. But before I get to your reasons for doing it, let me start by asking whether or not you think that the best way to get the president's attention is to tell him that he's not listening?
Eaton: Tavis, our approach was to really try to influence the president by means of congressional oversight. Other approaches have not worked particularly well with this administration, and we believe that working with members of Congress to better influence the administration - to exercise their oversight role - is a great way to go.
Tavis: What's your sense - again, persons who are still in the military do not clearly have the freedom that you have to speak your mind. What's your sense of how many military personnel on the ground you are speaking on behalf of when you say that the president isn't listening to what they're saying?
Eaton: I hesitate, Tavis, to speak on behalf of active duty military. I will tell you that the feedback that we are getting across the board has been outstanding. It's been very supportive, and we have to take a look at the military right now. We now see tours extended to 15 months in order to support the increased troop levels that we've got in Afghanistan and Iraq.
We're about 200, $212 million under-funded right now to refurbish the military equipment that is in Iraq and in depots. Our military is substantially under resourced both in personnel and in dollars to support the twin wars that we have now in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Tavis: As I mentioned, you were one of any number of military personnel who agreed to do these spots for VoteVets.org. Tell me one about the organization that you're speaking on behalf of, or at the invitation of, and then tell me more about whether or not you agonized at all about whether or not to do these spots.
Eaton: Tavis, first, the decision to do this spot was not taken lightly. It is a departure from normal means of expressing our viewpoints and the status that we are as a retired soldier. So doing the very bluntly laid out 30-second spots that we did was a change for me, and it was not taken lightly. Second, I do believe that they will have a substantial impact on behalf of Votevets.org.
The Vote Vet is an organization that was established to support any veteran, either Democratic or Republican party veteran running for office. And in fact, they have spent a fair amount of money to support both Democratic and Republican candidates.
Tavis: Let me ask whether or not an organization can effectively advance public policy when it supports vets who happen to be Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal. And I ask that, for example you consider that John McCain is a vet, decorated in the U.S. Senate. John Kerry, a vet decorated in the U.S. Senate.
And yet both have diametrically different views about how we ought to proceed or not, as it were, in Iraq. So how does an organization give money to folk of either party, of either belief, and affect good public policy?
Eaton: Great question, Tavis. This effort is a centrist appeal to governance. This is not an organization that is trying to support either a left or a right extreme but rather to drive government back into a more centrist approach. The veterans who are running for office and have run for office are moderates.
And we and Vote Vets are also very strong advocates for the United States Army, for the United States Marine Corps, our Navy and Air Force. The effort is to be an advocate for the armed forces to get this administration to perform in a more competent fashion and to take better care of the armed forces of the United States.
Tavis: Before I advance, just because I'm curious, given that we're talking about it now, given that the country has come to know you and see you and recognize that face over the last couple of years talking about the Iraq war, is running for office something you might consider one day?
Eaton: Tavis, I've been approached by friends and colleagues, and I think there is no better way to serve the country outside of the military than to run for public office. It is the lord's calling to work on behalf of the citizens of the United States to achieve the best governance possible. So I would consider it, but I have not considered it actively yet.
Tavis: All right, that was - I was watching how you were going to answer that question. You did a really good job of giving me a non-answer, but I thank you for that. I respect that, too. Let me ask now what you make of this new war tsar? I'm not exactly sure that I understand what the war tsar is going to do, but we know his name.
He's Lieutenant General Douglas Lute. I don't know if you know him, but tell me what you make of the fact that we now have a war tsar, if I could say that, and what we should expect or not expect out of this title, this position?
Eaton: Tavis, the term "tsar," whenever it's been applied - drug tsar, energy tsar, has been kind of a last-ditch effort on the part of the administration that chose it. So two-part answer; Lieutenant General Doug Lute is a wonderful soldier and if you're going to put somebody in this very difficult job, he is a great guy to do it.
He has been very forthright; he's been on record as against the surge in previous discussions. We have a frank, tough lieutenant general going into the job. However, the war tsar is really the job of the Vice President of the United States. It is a demonstration that this Office of the Vice President has been ineffective in achieving the coordination necessary in the interagency process to get this administration, to get this Cabinet, focused on solving the crisis that we've got right now in Iraq and in Afghanistan. The war tsar is a - it is a last-ditch effort to make responsible government happen in Washington, D.C.
Tavis: Finally, let me circle back to these ads that we started this conversation talking about. The strategy here is to reach out specifically to congressional Republicans who are on the fence, persons whose minds you want to change. When we say we're reaching out to Republicans, what's the strategy here specifically?
Eaton: Well, Tavis, recently we just saw the so-called "gang of 11" going to the president's office and argue on behalf of the legislation that we're trying to get out of Congress now to support the American soldier. This is an effort to put discipline into our government, to in turn discipline the Iraqi government, to get the Iraqi government to answer up to the benchmarks that they agreed to, to answer up to a timeline that we can pass to the American and to the American soldier to discipline what is not disciplined right now.
Tavis: Retired Major General Paul Eaton, one of a number of military personnel featured in these new ads - Votevets.org trying to get the president to change his mind, specifically by appealing to Republicans on the Hill in the House and the Senate. General Eaton, as always, nice to have you on the program, and I suspect if you ever make that decision that you are going to run, you'll come back and talk to us.
Eaton: Absolutely, Tavis, and thank you so much.
Tavis: My delight to have you on.
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