The ‘Steely-Eyed Killer’ Who Became a Star on Fox News – Then Lost It All
For years, Bill Cowan ran top-secret programs for the Pentagon and appeared regularly on Fox as a military analyst. Today, he’s on the run.
By KEITH KLOOR
August 10, 2018
On May 6, 2011, retired Lt. Col Bill Cowan appeared on Fox News to talk about the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, which he opposed. At the time, Cowan had been a respected Fox News military analyst for a decade; his combat experience in the Marine Corps and background in special operations made him a favorite of Sean Hannity, Neil Cavuto and other hosts.
Although Cowan was in his sixties, the grizzled Vietnam veteran was no armchair analyst. “Just got back from Jordan,†he announced on the broadcast that day, “where I did meet with some senior Iraqi military people.†Cowan said he went there “to talk about business and what was going on inside Iraq.â€
In fact, Cowan went as a covert operator on behalf of the U.S. military, as part of a highly classified program contracted out by the Pentagon. Over the next year, he would make more than a dozen such trips to Iraq and other parts of the Middle East, he told me, as part of a larger black ops portfolio for the Defense Department that began in 2002. That was the same year Fox News signed him to an exclusive contract to talk about terrorism, Islamic militants and, as time wore on, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—all areas that intersected with his clandestine activities.
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https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/10/covert-operative-pentagon-bill-cowan-fox-news-219345
