Dozens of Spies Say Intelligence Reports were Manipulated
More than four dozen spies have accused the U.S. military's Central Command of distorting their intelligence reports to fit with the Obama Administration's claims that its campaign against the Islamic State was succeeding.
At least 50 members of the intelligence community have lodged formal complaints with the Pentagon's inspector general over the allegations that key pieces of their reports were either left out or heavily edited to reflect the idea that the international air campaign against ISIS was succeeding more than it actually was, according to the Daily Beast.
The analysts say that the omissions and revisions of their reports, some of which were given directly to President Obama, changed entirely the tone and conclusions they were trying to convey.
Some reports were actually sent back to analysts to be edited, while other analysts claim that they censored themselves to avoid any trouble. Some of the analysts who complained were told they should just retire, and indeed some of them did, according to the Daily Beast.
These complaints began back in October, but were only officially filed with the inspector general in July. It is said that the word "Stalinist" was used in the official document.
Some of the analysts say that the complaints were motivated by haunted memories of the Iraq War, where intelligence findings were manipulated by the Bush Administration into leading the United States to fighting a war and occupying a country on what was later found to be completely false.