Posted on 09/15/2015 11:09:40 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
WASHINGTON A group of intelligence analysts have provided investigators with documents they say show that senior military officers manipulated the conclusions of reports on the war against the Islamic State, according to several government officials, as lawmakers from both parties voiced growing anger that they may have received a distorted picture about the military campaigns progress.
The Pentagons inspector general, who is examining the claims, is focusing on senior intelligence officials who supervise dozens of military and civilian analysts at United States Central Command, or Centcom, which oversees American military operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Bridget Serchak, a spokeswoman for the Pentagons inspector general, confirmed that the investigation is focused on Centcoms intelligence command. The investigation will address whether there was any falsification, distortion, delay, suppression or improper modification of intelligence information, she said in an email on Tuesday. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Oh, the poor deceived White House! A purge is in order!
timed to have an effect on iran agreement?
Have the been “Trumped”?
“Yeah, why would a bunch of bureaucrats deliberately fictionalize their intelligence product on their own? “
Ever heard of the echo chamber effect? It is amplified exponentially in the classified world due to the size of the audience. It is not an Obama conspiracy, though Obama’s policies have markedly increased the effects. The echo chamber is the primary reason that intel organizations often rely on outsiders for analysis.
Everyone wants to look good. Firsthand BDA is always wildly optimistic—analysis is supposed to bring it back to reality. An unspoken agenda to make the war effort look good is implicit in the current environment. I think it is inevitable: Propaganda is the last resort of poor strategy.
I'm sure that he'll be outraged when he reads about it in the newspaper.
Good point. I spent 13 months in Vietnam. When reporting the results of air or artillery strikes we often erred on the side of higher numbers. We were dependent on air and artillery so we wanted to keep those people enthusiastic about their roles. At the time I never thought I might be contributing to a distortion at the theater level. But historically that’s what was happening.
It’s a well-known behavior that predates history. Battlefield casualty estimates often exceed the number of combatantsI always chalk those ones up to Democrat historians. The difference is that those “encouraging” numbers are now reported in many venues without caveat.
“Polishing the brass” has a long military history. This was a problem in Vietnam as well for similar reasons. Poor leadership infects the entire culture.
I wonder if the Wh was deceived by his DNI James Clapper or if Clapper was just following the bidding of his fuehrer’s handlers to tell dear fuehrer what he wanted to hear and what he wanted congress to hear?
It was not mid level
However I don’t understand why military intelligence had to be prostituted to become a vessel of the WH spin machine..... Surely Brennan at CIA could have churned that
If the ny TIMES is putting it out, it is an authorized OBAMA WHITE HOUSE leak.
White House leak means it will be published in my local Offal Official Obama Orifice and Outlet, the Albany Times Union.
OMG, there’s another conservative in Albany?! I thought my husband and I were the only ones. LOL
Those chickens have come home to roost.
Farsi speaking mooslime brotherhood types come to mind.
“...Lt. Gen. Vincent R. Stewart, the agencys director, said sending ground troops back into Iraq risked transforming the conflict into one between the West and the Islamic State, which would be the best propaganda victory that we could give....”
Is there anyone on the face of the globe (other than LG VR Stewart) who does not *already* (and has for some time now) consider the conflict as one between the West and the Islamic State? Seriously? This is what passes for leadership these days?
Even before the rise of ISIL, they (muzzies) have been consistent in telling us audibly, violently and repeatedly that they have declared war on the west and *everything* it stands for. At what point will we get both civilian and military leadership who will take islam (spit) at it’s word?
Yes, I love performing Bavarian Dumpling Assessments!
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