Very good point from a reader:

Derb—I don’t think that retired General’s comment was odd at all. It is just barely possible that desperation has increased the number of attacks — so that’s what he’d say; one does not easily set aside a lifetime’s habits, and no officer worth his salt would say anything to hurt morale or encourage the antiwar Left on television.
Thus the feasible lie is the only option open to him.
General Lewis Burwell ‘Chesty’ Puller, possibly the greatest Marine ever, found himself in command of a beleaguered, entirely surrounded contingent in Korea after the Chinese surprise attack there. He told his staff, ‘Well, men, the enemy has us right where we want him. We can shoot in any direction, now!’ He also famously labeled his masterful retreat across Korea an ‘advance in another direction’ — technically true, if you define ‘advancing’ as ‘moving towards the enemy’ — they could ‘advance’ in any direction, too.
An officer might well have to inform a superior that a strategic or tactical situation is deteriorating or hopeless — but rarely a subordinate, and NEVER, EVER the public. The public includes both cowards and adversaries, the former to be coddled and the latter to be deceived.”

Fair enough… but count me among the undeceived.