BOB GARFIELD: All of a sudden there are a lot of generals on TV. A lot of generals being very specific.

TV COMMENTATOR/GENERAL I: We need to let the Air Force work over the Republican Guards -- if they can. There's no indication now--

TV COMMENTATOR/GENERAL II: The Iraqis are terribly worried about an American thrust not only from the south, not only from the southeast, but also from the west, and it makes it very difficult--

TV COMMENTATOR/GENERAL III: I think for certain that by now Saddam has got to understand that with the amount of forces that we have in the region, with those that he now has picked up from the media that are en route that his days are definitely numbered.

BOB GARFIELD:In past conflicts, the generals ran the war; the press did the analysis and the retired military played gin rummy in varying degrees of frustration and satisfaction about what was transpiring on the battlefield. For the past few military adventures, however, television has increasingly turned to the pool of ex-warriors for expert analysis of the action on the land, on the sea and in the air. For the current war in Iraq, two dozen so-called "armchair generals" have maintained a ubiquitous on-air presence. The question is, is brass-plated TV helping or hurting our understanding of what's actually going on?

CHRIS SUELLENTROP: It's a lot like launching a Dallas Cowboys' broadcast where all the commentators are former Dallas Cowboys or even current Dallas Cowboys.

BOB GARFIELD: Chris Suellentrop writes for Slate.com.

CHRIS SUELLENTROP:They're analyzing but they're not criticizing. I think every general that's on the air has a dual loyalty -- they're aware that foreigners including people in the Middle East watch CNN, and because of that they know that they're representatives of the Pentagon, so they tend to gush on and on about how wonderful it's going, and luckily it is going wonderfully. But the-- you'll notice the civilian analysts are much more critical than the generals.

BOB GARFIELD:In the first week of the war for example when supply lines for the coalition's northern push toward Baghdad seemed alarmingly long and thin, the print press was filled with hand-wringing about war planning that under-estimated the threat of Iraq's forces in the south. Those worries were echoed by embedded reporters and anchors on cable and broadcast news programs. But the ex-brass expressed little concern and a lot of confidence in their former comrades in arms.

TV COMMENTATOR/GENERAL: I think overall it is progressing in an orderly fashion; I believe that we've probably encountered a little more resistance in, in places along the way than was probably envisioned early on, but I know that General Franks is quickly adjusting his plan, and I anticipate that this will continue to go very well.

BOB GARFIELD:One ex-officer disgusted with the on-air retirees is Colonel David Hackworth, the maverick Vietnam officer turned maverick military affairs journalist. He believes that most armchair generals are simply mouthing the Pentagon line -- not necessarily because they're too loyal to the Pentagon but perhaps too deferential to their current paymasters.

DAVID HACKWORTH: ...has become a major industry, Bob, meaning each time they do a thing on TV the cash register goes ka-ching! I have a little problem with critics that sound off that are on the payroll, cause I don't see how they can be objective and true to themself.

BOB GARFIELD:Appearing himself before the war on CNBC's Kudlow and Kramer program Hackworth says, he found his arguments against rushing into armed conflict to be unwelcome.

DAVID HACKWORTH: I said well it's easy for you chickenhawks to have this attitude; you've never served on the battlefield; you don't really know what you're talking about -- but you're spouting the party line that's coming out of Washington, D.C. Well, Bob -- I was never invited back.

BOB GARFIELD:Two other retired warriors who have had no reluctance to speak their minds are NBC's Barry McCaffrey -- the former White House anti-drug czar and Army four star and ex-Army Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters on CNN. Their outspokenness on the deficiencies of the war effort got under the skin of Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers.

RICHARD MEYERS: So there may be others that have other ideas of how we should have-- should have done it - and I - and, you know - God bless 'em -that's a great sport here inside the Beltway and-- I suppose if I - when I retire, I'll probably have my comments too. Gee, they ought to have more air power. [LAUGHTER]

BOB GARFIELD:Of course another possibility is that the TV generals are motivated neither by undue allegiance to their ex-comrades or to their new media bosses. They may just be good analysts seeing the big picture behind the high profile but transitory messes of the day. Jeff Schneider is a vice president and spokesman for ABC News.

JEFF SCHNEIDER: I think that they're a little more immune to the, you know, peaks and troughs of the story than perhaps a lot of other people are, and maybe they see the big picture. I don't think it's a function of their desire to support and protect the people that they used to work with.

BOB GARFIELD:Fair enough, but getting back to the question of whether viewer enlightenment is going served, endless reiterations of big picture optimism at some point cease to be analysis and start becoming cheerleading, and if in the midst of the transitory but bloody messes of the day, that's all the armchair generals have to offer, perhaps the networks should more often train their cameras elsewhere. Let the journalists focus on the news, and off camera, somewhere in the green room, let the gin rummy games begin. [MUSIC]