As long as his nibs comes out looking good, who cares? So what if a House task force found that officials from the U.S. military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) doctored intelligence reports to portray the U.S. fight against ISIS and al Qaeda in a more positive light than lower-level analysts believed was indicated by the facts on the ground? Obama’s got a legacy to protect, doesn’t he?
According to The Daily Beast:
A roughly 10-page report on the controversy is expected to be released by the end of next week, two officials said. While it contains no definitive evidence that senior Obama administration officials ordered the reports to be doctored, the five-month investigation did corroborate earlier reports that analysts felt the leaders of CENTCOM’s intelligence directorate pressured them to conclude that the threat from ISIS was not as ominous as the analysts believed, the officials said.
The task force led by members of the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees and the Defense Appropriations subcommittee was created after more than 50 analysts filed a formal complaint alleging that 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 as though they were working in a hostile environment in which they felt “bullied” to draw conclusions not supported by the facts.
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These revelations come on the heels of earlier damning reports. In July, it was noted in this space that Obama never once met with his defense intelligence chief in the entirety of his two terms. And an article from 2014 notes that the president was briefed on ISIS for a year before dismissing them as the “JV team.”
