“The fact that so many people complained suggests there are deep-rooted, systemic problems in how the U.S. military command charged with the war against the self-proclaimed Islamic State assesses intelligence.” Indeed. It shows that it doesn’t assess intelligence at all. It shows that it isn’t really interested in fighting or defeating the Islamic State. It is only interested in creating the appearance of fighting and defeating the Islamic State, so that it doesn’t suffer politically for not doing so.
Meet Baghdad Bob, the new Secretary of Defense.
“Exclusive: 50 Spies Say ISIS Intelligence Was Cooked,” by Shane Harris and Nancy A. Youssef, Daily Beast, September 9, 2015:
It’s being called a ‘revolt’ by intelligence pros who are paid to give their honest assessment of the ISIS war—but are instead seeing their reports turned into happy talk.
More than 50 intelligence analysts working out of the U.S. military’s Central Command have formally complained that their reports on ISIS and al Qaeda’s branch in Syria were being inappropriately altered by senior officials, The Daily Beast has learned.
The complaints spurred the Pentagon’s inspector general to open an investigation into the alleged manipulation of intelligence. The fact that so many people complained suggests there are deep-rooted, systemic problems in how the U.S. military command charged with the war against the self-proclaimed Islamic State assesses intelligence.
“The cancer was within the senior level of the intelligence command,” one defense official said.
Two senior analysts at CENTCOM signed a written complaint sent to the Defense Department inspector general in July alleging that the reports, some of which were briefed to President Obama, portrayed the terror groups as weaker than the analysts believe they are. The reports were changed by CENTCOM higher-ups to adhere to the administration’s public line that the U.S. is winning the battle against ISIS and al Nusra, al Qaeda’s branch in Syria, the analysts claim.
That complaint was supported by 50 other analysts, some of whom have complained about politicizing of intelligence reports for months. That’s according to 11 individuals who are knowledgeable about the details of the report and who spoke to The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity.
The accusations suggest that a large number of people tracking the inner workings of the terror groups think that their reports are being manipulated to fit a public narrative. The allegations echoed charges that political appointees and senior officials cherry-picked intelligence about Iraq’s supposed weapons program in 2002 and 2003.
The two signatories to the complaint were described as the ones formally lodging it, and the additional analysts are willing and able to back up the substance of the allegations with concrete examples.
One person who knows the contents of the complaint said it used the word “Stalinist” to describe the tone set by officials overseeing the military’s analysis.
Some of those CENTCOM analysts described the sizeable cadre of protesting analysts as a “revolt” by intelligence professionals who are paid to give their honest assessment, based on facts, and not to be influenced by national-level policy. The analysts have accused senior-level leaders, including the director of intelligence and his deputy in CENTCOM, of changing their analyses to be more in line with the Obama administration’s public contention that the fight against ISIS and al Qaeda is making progress. The analysts take a more pessimistic view about how military efforts to destroy the groups are going.
The large number of analysts who complained to the Pentagon inspector general hasn’t been previously reported. Some of them are assigned to work at CENTCOM, the U.S. military’s command for the Middle East and Central Asia, but are officially employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency.
The complaints allege that in some cases key elements of intelligence reports were removed, resulting in a document that didn’t accurately capture the analysts’ conclusions, sources familiar with the protest said. But the complaint also goes beyond alleged altering of reports and accuses some senior leaders at CENTCOM of creating an unprofessional work environment. One person who knows the contents of the written complaint sent to the inspector general said it used the word “Stalinist” to describe the tone set by officials overseeing CENTCOM’s analysis.
Many described a climate in which analysts felt they could not give a candid assessment of the situation in Iraq and Syria. Some felt it was a product of commanders protecting their career advancement by putting the best spin on the war.
Some reports crafted by the analysts that were too negative in their assessment of the war were sent back the chain of the command or not shared up the chain, several analysts said. Still others, feeling the climate around them, self-censored so their reports affirmed already-held beliefs….
Two of the officials who spoke to The Daily Beast said that analysts began airing their complaints in October in an effort to address the issue internally and only went to the inspector general when that effort failed. Some of those who complained were urged to retire, one official familiar with the report told The Daily Beast. Some agreed to leave.
In recent months, members of the Obama administration have sought to paint the fight against ISIS in rosy hues—despite the terror army’s seizure of major cities like Mosul and Fallujah.
“ISIS is losing,” John Allen, the retired Marine general charged with coordinating the ISIS campaign, said in July.
“I am confident that over time, we will beat, we will, indeed, degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in March, using the government’s preferred acronym for the group.
“No, I don’t think we’re losing,” President Obama said in May….

Angemon says
Right, the “JV team”…
Dr. Divinity says
Right….I don’t think the goernment knows or cares what’s happening with isis.
Singh says
ALready showing true colours:
A frightening video of the “refugees” chanting on a train to Germany, chanting “May Allah make it difficult on their women” and “Allah give victory to Islam” on the train from Hungary to Germany
http://conservativepapers.com/news/2015/09/09/video-new-syrian-immigrants-in-europe-chant-allah-give-victory-to-islam/
jayell says
Perhaps people had better read the full text of a report from a Polish eyewitness just in case they don’t follow the link:-
“Half an hour ago on the border between Italy and Austria I saw with my own eyes a great many immigrants …
I saw how they surrounded a car of an elderly Italian woman, pulled her by her hair out of the car and wanted to drive away in the car. They tried to overturn the bus I travelled in myself with a group of others. They were throwing feces at us, banging on the doors to force the driver to open them, spat at the windscreen … I ask for what purpose? How is this savagery to assimilate in Germany?
I felt for a moment as though I was in a war … I really feel sorry for these people, but if they reached Poland – I do not think that they would get any understanding from us … We were waiting three hours at the border which ultimately could not cross.
Our whole group was transported back to Italy in a police-cordon. The bus is damaged, covered with feces, scratched, with broken windows. And this is supposed to be an idea for demographics? These big powerful hordes of savages?
Among them there were virtually no women, no children—the vast majority were aggressive young men … Just yesterday, while reading about them on all the websites I subconsciously felt compassion, worried about their fate but today after what I saw I am just afraid and yet I am happy that they did not choose our country as their destination. We Poles are simply not ready to accept these people – neither culturally nor financially.
I do not know if anyone is ready. To the EU a pathology is marching which we had not yet a chance to ever see, and I am sorry if anyone gets offended …
I can add that cars arrived with humanitarian aid – mainly food and water and they were just overturning those cars …
Through megaphones the Austrians announced that there is permission for them to cross the border—they wanted to register them and let them go on—but they did not understand these messages. They did not understand anything.
And this was the greatest horror … For among those few thousand people nobody understood Italian or English, or German, or Russian, or Spanish … What mattered was fist law… They fought for permission to move on and they had this permission— but did not realize that they had it!
They opened the luggage hatches of a French bus—and everything that was inside was stolen within a short time, some things left lying on the ground …
Never in my short life had I an opportunity to see such scenes and I feel that this is just the beginning.”
Well, this lot plus the ‘F*ck Hungary’ chanting reported elsewhere, and don’t we just get a picture of the kind of ‘positive contribution’ that these ‘poor starving refugees’ are going to make to Europe. I think we in the UK already know something about this. As they say, it’s just a bloody invasion, isn’t it?
Dr. Divinity says
Just a bunch ot t hugs. All of Europe and the United States too, if Obama has his way,will be covered up with terrorists, under the guise of refugees. Can it be stopped??Doubtful!!!
umbra says
It can be stopped, but only within the scope of a formal war. As the saying goes, “all is fair in love and war” and anything can happened during wars.
Westman says
The more chilling shout was, “May Allah make orphans out of their children”.
This is the aggressive, belligerent, supremist, mob mentality coming to Germany. These are not refugees, these are men who wouldn’t fight for their own country headed for the best milk cow of Europe and the parallel trojan horse sub-culture awaiting them.
This is a permanent migration of conquest but Brussels is so committed to its false altruistic vision that it is blindly allocating dystopia to Europe.
Mac-101 says
Can there be any doubt that out CIC, PoliTicks and much of our top military Leadership are Traitors?
Incek Mahallesi says
Look – in my humble opinion, this can all be explained in very simple terms. In a word…politics.
Obama has some debts to pay. These debts are in the form of propping up the clowns in the Democratic party in the run-up to the General election in 2016. They’re desperate to paint the rosiest picture that they can, up to and including encouraging dissenters from the party line, to retire.
The spooks, however, appear to be bucking the system – which is good. Obama needs to send the signal that the fight against terror is winning. He believes that the message is all that counts. Of course, and like Stalin, he is deadly wrong – and probably knows it.
Don’t worry, though. Mark my words: 2016 will mean a Republican or Independent in the White House and a return to sanity. America is sick of the Marxist/Leninist/Stalinist pretenders of the elite.
Hope is on the horizon. Only around 500 more days or so and things will look much better.
Cruz 2016.
Richard Loewe says
I know Allen and I know one of the CENTCOM analysts personally. The analyst is a rock solid academic, Allen is a disgusting bootlicker. He once gave the opening speech for BrightStar 2009 and in front of 80 generals said that he loves to be woken by the sound of the muezzin in the morning and that islam is The Religion of Peace.
Hussein Obama has corrupted most of the military leadership by now.
Gary D Gaither says
How many times are we going to fall for this ? There is no doubt the ‘faces’ of these agencies are buffoons (or worse), but the reason for this article is to plant the seeds of a “let’s bomb the sh** out of ’em grassroots movement”. We are being manipulated at every level of media. TPTB have to have a ‘villian’ in order to be our ‘hero’. The fact that I see photos and videos from these ‘barbaric’ hate-mongers tells me: #1 we know who they are #2 we know where they are and…….#3 THEY SERVE A PURPOSE that is advantageous to our ‘feckless leaders” or we would drone them into oblivion. Please stop banging your head against the wall of lies and disinformation, it feels great when you stop. Your mind will clear and you will see TBTB for who they ARE instead of who they and the media want them to appear to be.
dajjal says
Create a joint select cmte. to investigate this treason. Restore HUAC. Get the ‘slimes & ‘slimeophiles out of our government.
Mark Rosenthal says
obama has replaced or neutered all that descent on islam
please impeach potus here is away to start.
http://act.theteaparty.net/10026/impeach-president-obama-remove-him-from-office/