When Iraq started stinging, Pentagon got analysts to sing its tune

In turn, members of this group have echoed administration talking points, sometimes even when they suspected the information was false or inflated. Some analysts acknowledge they suppressed doubts because they feared jeopardising their access.

A few expressed regret for participating in what they regarded as an effort to dupe the American public with propaganda dressed as independent military analysis.

“It was them saying, ‘We need to stick our hands up your back and move your mouth for you,” Robert S. Bevelacqua, a retired Green Beret and former Fox News analyst, said....