Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Analysts Detail Claims That Reports on ISIS Were Distorted
New York Times ^ | September 15, 2015 | By MARK MAZZETTI and MATT APUZZO

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 campaign’s progress.

The Pentagon’s 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 Pentagon’s inspector general, confirmed that the investigation is focused on Centcom’s 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 ...


TOPICS: Front Page News
KEYWORDS: centcom; intelcomminity; iraq; isis; obamaintelscandal; pentagon; syria

1 posted on 09/15/2015 11:09:40 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Brad from Tennessee
The revisions presented a more positive picture to the White House, Congress and other intelligence agencies, the officials said.

Oh, the poor deceived White House! A purge is in order!

2 posted on 09/15/2015 11:18:08 PM PDT by dr_lew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dr_lew

timed to have an effect on iran agreement?


3 posted on 09/15/2015 11:20:01 PM PDT by SteveH
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SteveH

Have the been “Trumped”?


4 posted on 09/15/2015 11:27:19 PM PDT by goodtomato (I'm really, really blessed!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: dr_lew
Yeah, why would a bunch of bureaucrats deliberately fictionalize their intelligence product on their own? It makes no sense. The slant of the article may be an indication that a few mid-level supervisors are about to be sacrificed. Just like Benghazi.
5 posted on 09/15/2015 11:30:06 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Brad from Tennessee

“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.


6 posted on 09/15/2015 11:49:01 PM PDT by antidisestablishment (If Washington was judged with the same standard as Sodom, it would not exist.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: antidisestablishment
Obama is pretty sleazy (i.e. the IRS debacle and no smidgen of corruption). He told his Czar of What I Want what he wants and presto, ISIS is the JV team.
7 posted on 09/15/2015 11:54:23 PM PDT by Chgogal (Obama "hung the SEALs out to dry, basically exposed them like a set of dog balls..." CMH)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Brad from Tennessee
Yep. This is to provide cover for soebarkho's non war against isis.

I'm sure that he'll be outraged when he reads about it in the newspaper.

8 posted on 09/15/2015 11:58:44 PM PDT by Eagles6 ( Valley Forge Redux. If not now, when? If not here, where? If not us then who?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: antidisestablishment

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.


9 posted on 09/16/2015 2:02:17 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Brad from Tennessee

It’s a well-known behavior that predates history. Battlefield casualty estimates often exceed the number of combatants—I 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.


10 posted on 09/16/2015 2:53:40 AM PDT by antidisestablishment (If Washington was judged with the same standard as Sodom, it would not exist.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: dr_lew

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?


11 posted on 09/16/2015 3:42:14 AM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Brad from Tennessee

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


12 posted on 09/16/2015 3:44:03 AM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Brad from Tennessee

If the ny TIMES is putting it out, it is an authorized OBAMA WHITE HOUSE leak.


13 posted on 09/16/2015 4:07:02 AM PDT by BilLies (It is not the color, but the culture that degrades....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BilLies

White House leak means it will be published in my local Offal Official Obama Orifice and Outlet, the Albany Times Union.


14 posted on 09/16/2015 4:09:43 AM PDT by BilLies (It is not the color, but the culture that degrades....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: BilLies

OMG, there’s another conservative in Albany?! I thought my husband and I were the only ones. LOL


15 posted on 09/16/2015 7:55:50 AM PDT by clinkclink
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Brad from Tennessee
Lest we forget that after 9/11 there was a mad dash to get people into our government that understood certain languages and in our haste for information...we were in fact infiltrated.

Those chickens have come home to roost.

Farsi speaking mooslime brotherhood types come to mind.

16 posted on 09/16/2015 8:04:59 AM PDT by JEDI4S (I don't mean to cause trouble...it just happens naturally through the Force!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brad from Tennessee

“...Lt. Gen. Vincent R. Stewart, the agency’s 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?


17 posted on 09/16/2015 10:04:17 AM PDT by jaydee770
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: antidisestablishment
Firsthand BDA?

Yes, I love performing Bavarian Dumpling Assessments!

18 posted on 09/16/2015 2:48:34 PM PDT by gr8eman (Don't waste your energy trying to understand commies. Use it to defeat them!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson