Barack Obama has been wrong about ISIS from the beginning, when he called them the junior varsity, through the time he claimed we had them on the run. It has now come to light that whistleblowers were right and Central Command did alter the aswsessments of ISIS in order to make it look better on paper than it did on the ground. The Daily Beast reports the Intel chief was warned that the reports put out by Central Command were erroneous and were made to look like we were containing the violent terrorist group. The ten page report from the House could be available as early as next week.
The task force, led by members of the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees and the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, was created after The Daily Beast first reported that more than 50 analysts had filed a formal complaint alleging their reports on ISIS and al Qaeda’s branch in Syria were being inappropriately altered by senior officials. Some told The Daily Beast they felt they were working in a hostile, toxic office where they felt “bullied” to draw conclusions not supported by the facts.
Some of the intelligence made its way into briefings presented to President Obama. However, administration officials have consistently said that they have confidence in CENTCOM’s reports and that they don’t believe White House policy was guided by false or misleading analysis.
The House committee cannot directly punish officials found to have acted inappropriately. But the fact that the appropriations committee was part of the investigation implies that if the military doesn’t respond to the findings, lawmakers could punish CENTCOM by curtailing funds.
The only question that needs to be answered is how high up on the chain of command did the changes come from?