Report says Pentagon manipulated intel

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

UPDATE: Looks like the Fuzzy bear Lioness beat me to the punch on this one, and she shows the AP gamed it even more than I thought.

Report says Pentagon manipulated intel

That's not the truth, but it's what the AP headline reads. Do they ever bother to report facts any more or are they just an opinion and propaganda service.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Levin said the IG report is "very damning" and shows a Pentagon policy shop trying to shape intelligence to prove a link between al-Qaida and Saddam.

According to the completely impartial Sen. Levin that's what it says, but just what exactly was done wrong?

The investigation by acting inspector general Thomas F. Gimble found that prewar intelligence work at the Pentagon, including a contention that the
CIA had underplayed the likelihood of an al-Qaida connection, was inappropriate but not illegal.

The report found that former Pentagon policy chief Douglas J. Feith had not engaged in illegal activities through the creation of special offices to review intelligence. Some Democrats also have contended that Feith misled Congress about the basis of the administration's assertions on the threat posed by Iraq, but the Pentagon investigation did not support that.

I say again what did they actually do wrong? The actions were autorized and legal, but the IG somehow adds the category of innapropriate. If the President wants it and it's authorized and legal, it's appropriateness is determined right there. The office was created because CIA had consistently done such an excremental job of gathering, evaluating and analyzing intel that another group looking at the situation couldn't hurt. CIA suffers from a realist mindset and is very hesitant to evaluate threats as dangerous. That could lead to action and then who knows where it could go from there. A degree of caution is appropriate, but when it colors all analysis it renders that work much less useful. As it turns out much of what all our intel folks thought was wrong, but calling a difference of opinions manipulation of intelligence is wrong and the AP as usual editorializes rather than reports.

Asked to comment on the IG's findings, Feith said in a telephone interview that he had not seen the report but was pleased to hear that it concluded his office's activities were neither illegal nor unauthorized. He took strong issue, however, with the IG's finding that some activities had been "inappropriate."

Me too Doug, me too.

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Report says Pentagon manipulated intel

UPDATE: Looks like the Fuzzy bear Lioness beat me to the punch on this one, and she shows the AP gamed it even more than I thought.

Report says Pentagon manipulated intel

That's not the truth, but it's what the AP headline reads. Do they ever bother to report facts any more or are they just an opinion and propaganda service.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Levin said the IG report is "very damning" and shows a Pentagon policy shop trying to shape intelligence to prove a link between al-Qaida and Saddam.

According to the completely impartial Sen. Levin that's what it says, but just what exactly was done wrong?

The investigation by acting inspector general Thomas F. Gimble found that prewar intelligence work at the Pentagon, including a contention that the
CIA had underplayed the likelihood of an al-Qaida connection, was inappropriate but not illegal.

The report found that former Pentagon policy chief Douglas J. Feith had not engaged in illegal activities through the creation of special offices to review intelligence. Some Democrats also have contended that Feith misled Congress about the basis of the administration's assertions on the threat posed by Iraq, but the Pentagon investigation did not support that.

I say again what did they actually do wrong? The actions were autorized and legal, but the IG somehow adds the category of innapropriate. If the President wants it and it's authorized and legal, it's appropriateness is determined right there. The office was created because CIA had consistently done such an excremental job of gathering, evaluating and analyzing intel that another group looking at the situation couldn't hurt. CIA suffers from a realist mindset and is very hesitant to evaluate threats as dangerous. That could lead to action and then who knows where it could go from there. A degree of caution is appropriate, but when it colors all analysis it renders that work much less useful. As it turns out much of what all our intel folks thought was wrong, but calling a difference of opinions manipulation of intelligence is wrong and the AP as usual editorializes rather than reports.

Asked to comment on the IG's findings, Feith said in a telephone interview that he had not seen the report but was pleased to hear that it concluded his office's activities were neither illegal nor unauthorized. He took strong issue, however, with the IG's finding that some activities had been "inappropriate."

Me too Doug, me too.

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