PrairiePundit

Fox News: Intelligence reports produced by U.S. Central Command that tracked the Islamic State’s 2014-15 rise in Iraq and Syria were skewed to present a rosier picture of the situation on the ground, according to a bombshell report released Thursday by a House Republican task force. The task force investigated a Defense Department whistleblower's allegations that higher-ups manipulated analysts’ findings to make the campaign against ISIS appear more successful to the American public. The report concluded that intelligence reports from Central Command were, in fact, “inconsistent with the judgments of many senior, career analysts.” Further, the report found, “these products also consistently described U.S. actions in a more positive light than other assessments from the [intelligence community] and were typically more optimistic than actual events warranted.” Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., who was involved in the House report, said Thursday the data was clearly “manipulated.” “They wa...

Daily Beast: She worked on and off for five years identifying targets for the U.S. military’s Central Command. And then, when, some believe, she spoke up about cherry-picked intelligence in the ISIS war, she was drummed out of her job—allegedly for cursing twice in the span of the year. Those were just some of the surreal allegations thrown around last week in a Tampa law office conference room turned into a quasi-courtroom. Had the case not involved the third-highest ranking person at the Defense Intelligence Agency, a two-star general, a military judge, and hours of testimony—all at a cost of thousands of dollars—it would have been hard to take seriously. Even with those high-ranking officials, at times it was hard not to do a double-take about what was happening. After all, if cursing were really a fireable offense in the military, every soldier, sailor, Marine, and Defense Department civilian would have to be sent home. The case suggested that, at CENTCOM, there are two wars bei...

Eli Lake: The chairman of one of the House committees investigating manipulation of military intelligence on the Islamic State said Thursday that e-mails and other files needed for the investigation have been deleted. Representative Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, made that allegation in his opening remarks at a hearing on worldwide threats. "It is vital that this committee protect and seriously consider the testimony of the many whistleblowers who provide information to us," Nunes said. "For example, we have been made aware that both files and e-mails have been deleted by personnel at CentCom, and we expect that the Department of Defense will provide these and all other relevant documents to the committee." These charges are serious. Central Command has been under investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general since last year when scores of CentCom intelligence analysts complained to the watchdog that their...

NY Times: Military Reviews U.S. Response to Rise of ISIS The Pentagon has seized a trove of emails from military servers as it expands an inquiry into Central Command over allegations that officials overstated the progress of airstrikes against the Islamic State. Why did Centcom try to cook the books to make it look like ISIL was not as dangerous as it turned out to be.  The military is supposed to give honest appraisals and not pander to the political whims of any administration or faction.  They should tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may.

Daily Beast: 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 ...

Daily Mail: Was British ISIS fanatic who hacked Tony Blair’s Gmail account behind cyber attack on US Central Command’s Twitter page? The Twitter site of the military's U.S. Central Command 'hacked' by ISIS  Hackers retitled it 'CyberCaliphate' with the underline 'i love you isis' Threats posted read 'American soldiers, we are coming, watch your back' Pentagon official confirmed attack taken seriously 'at the highest levels'  Other postings listed names and numbers of top military personnel  Locations of suspected North Korean nuclear sites also posted War game scenarios for conflicts with China and Iran leaked online  Two ISIS militant videos were posted on the YouTube site of CentCom Official said incident 'has the Executive Office of the President freaking out' British Isis disciple Junaid Hussain may be in the frame for the hack  Anonymous claimed it had traced the source of the hack to Maryland  With the ways thee...

Dustin Walker: As he laid out his strategy to combat the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria, President Obama rejected the “best military advice” of his top military commander in the Middle East. Quoting two U.S. military officials, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), said “that his best military advice was to send a modest contingent of American troops, principally Special Operations forces, to advise and assist Iraqi army units in fighting the militants.” Austin’s recommendation was taken to the White House by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey. The White House rejected CENTCOM’s “advise and assist” contingent due to concerns about placing U.S. ground forces in a frontline role. In a press briefing Thursday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that the president had rejected Austin’s recommendation because he believes “it is not in the best interest of American na...

NY Times: The Obama administration plans to bolster the American military presence in the Persian Gulf after it withdraws the remaining troops from Iraq  this year, according to officials and diplomats. That repositioning could include new combat forces in  Kuwait  able to respond to a collapse of security in Iraq or a military confrontation with Iran. The plans, under discussion for months, gained new urgency after  President Obama’s announcement  this month that the last American soldiers would be brought home from Iraq by the end of December. Ending the eight-year war was a central pledge of his presidential campaign, but American military officers and diplomats, as well as officials of several countries in the region, worry that the withdrawal could leave instability or worse in its wake. After unsuccessfully pressing both the Obama administration and the Iraqi government to permit as many as 20,000 American troops to remain in Iraq beyond 2011, the P...

Image via Wikipedia NY Times: Lt. Gen. John R. Allen was called to the White House on Thursday for the formal announcement that he would take custody of the war in Afghanistan, now the focus of attention as the Obama administration moves toward withdrawing troops and handing over responsibility to the government in Kabul. General Allen is not well known beyond the Marine Corps and national security circles. But he was President Obama’s first choice to succeed Gen. David H. Petraeus, easily the most recognizable officer in the American military, in no small part for his work enticing Sunni tribal elders in the restive Anbar Province of Iraq to turn their backs on the insurgency and foreign fighters and to join the American cause during 2007 and 2008. Mr. Obama described General Allen as “the right commander for this vital mission” in Afghanistan. “As a battle-tested combat leader, in Iraq he helped turn the tide in Anbar Province,” the president added. To be sure, Afghanistan i...

NY Times: To those who have served under him, Gen. James N. Mattis is the consummate Marine commander, a warrior who chooses to lead from the front lines and speaks bluntly rather than concerning himself with political correctness. But General Mattis , President Obama’s choice to command American forces across the strategic crescent that encompasses Iraq and Afghanistan, has also been occasionally seen by his civilian superiors as too rough-edged at a time when military strategy is as much about winning the allegiance of local populations as it is about firepower. If his predecessor as the commander of Central Command, Gen. David H. Petraeus , is known for his skill at winning over constituencies outside the military, General Mattis has a reputation for candid, Patton-esque statements that are not always appreciated inside or outside the Pentagon. ... Adm. Mike Mullen , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , described General Mattis’s significant professional grow...

Mackubin Thomas Owens: T he president has nominated Marine Gen. James Mattis to be the next commander of U.S. Central Command, replacing Gen. David Petraeus, who has assumed command of the effort in Afghanistan. This is a welcome move. There is now a remarkable military tandem in place in the Greater Middle East, one that Victor Davis Hanson has compared to Grant and Sherman. It is no secret that my admiration for General Mattis is unbounded. I have expressed it on several occasions on National Review Online and the website of the Ashbrook Center. I first met General Mattis when he was a major and a student of mine in a seminar at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College. His character and intellect were obvious even then. General Mattis has commanded at all levels. Indeed, General Mattis is probably the finest Marine combat leader since the legendary Chesty Puller. Perhaps as a harbinger of things to come, as a lieutenant colonel, Mattis commanded the 1st Battalion, 7...

Danger Room: Meet the new prospective leader of all American forces in the Middle East and South Asia: Marine General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, whom Defense Secretary Robert Gates tapped this afternoon to take charge of U.S. Central Command. Not many intellectuals have such mean- muchacho nicknames. But Mattis is the kind of guy who rabidly gnarls through the gristle of pretty much every military shibboleth. He was into counterinsurgency before it was dogma. At a time of tech-driven constant communication, he thinks the military should be switching its radios off. Want to ensure that all levels of the force are networked together? Mattis wants a hierarchical organization like the military to embrace decentralization. And now, pending Senate confirmation, this guy is going to be running the most important command the military has. Don’t get it twisted: Mattis will mess you up. He has commanded Marines in both Iraq and Afghanistan and a coined a favorite Marine motto in the...

Fox News: After issuing a new policy enforcing more discipline over military interaction with the media, Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday named to lead U.S. Central Command a general who in 2005 was rebuked for saying "it's fun to shoot some people." Gates recommended Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis for the job left by Gen. David Petraeus, who assumed command in Afghanistan over the weekend. Petraeus was transferred after Gen. Stanley McChrystal was forced to resign following the publication of a magazine article in which he and his aides were critical of civilian officials. After the incident, Gates issued an updated media policy reining in interaction with the press. But as he defended that decision against a skeptical press corps on Thursday, the Pentagon chief dismissed concerns that his new pick for Central Command once had media problems of his own. "That was five years ago," Gates said. "I think that the subsequent five ye...

James Taranto: A week ago we noted that President Obama was coming under pressure from the left to cut and run from Afghanistan. Now at least one voice on the right, George Will , has joined the call. We argued that Obama had helped to bring this on via a rhetorical strategy that differentiated the effort in Afghanistan from the broader war on terror--not by downplaying the former but by degrading the latter. "If there is no war on terror," we asked, "what are we doing in Afghanistan of all places?" The White House got the message. Yesterday in what we take to have been an exchange with CBS News's Chip Reid, press secretary Robert Gibbs resurrected the war on terror: Reid: I believe it was March when the president announced his new strategy in Afghanistan, and since then things have only gotten worse. This July and August, I believe, have been the two worst months in terms of U.S. fatalities. Obviously it takes a long time to implement a mi...

Washington Times: Gen. David H. Petraeus plans to open an in-house intelligence organization at U.S. Central Command this week that will train military officers, covert agents and analysts who agree to focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan for up to a decade. The organization, to be called the Center for Afghanistan Pakistan Excellence, will be led by Derek Harvey, a retired colonel in the Defense Intelligence Agency who became one of the Gen. Petraeus' most trusted analysts during the 2007-08 counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq. Mr. Harvey distinguished himself in Iraq by predicting that the Iraqi insurgency would spiral out of control, at a time when it was widely underestimated by the Bush administration, in 2003 and 2004. He later dissented from the emerging consensus in Congress and the CIA, when he said, as early as March 2007, that al Qaeda had been strategically defeated. This was during the early days of the surge, at a time when most of the intelligence community thought the ...

Washington Post: Gen. David H. Petraeus has launched a major reassessment of U.S. strategy for Afghanistan , Pakistan , Iran , Iraq and the surrounding region, while warning that the lack of development and the spiraling violence in Afghanistan will likely make it "the longest campaign of the long war." The 100-day assessment will result in a new campaign plan for the Middle East and Central Asia, a region in which Petraeus will oversee the operations of more than 200,000 American troops as the new head of U.S. Central Command , beginning Oct. 31. The review will formally begin next month, but experts and military officials involved said Petraeus is already focused on at least two major themes: government-led reconciliation of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the leveraging of diplomatic and economic initiatives with nearby countries that are influential in the war. The review comes as Petraeus, who led a counterinsurgency effort credited with drasti...

Ralph Peters: YESTERDAY, Defense Secre tary Robert Gates demon strated, again, that he's the most capable Cabinet member to serve during President Bush's second term: The SecDef hit a grand-slam homer for our national security. First, he nominated Gen. David Petraeus to move up and take over the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the headquarters directing our efforts not only in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan and throughout most of the Middle East. Employing his war-taught grasp of the Islamic heartlands and his expertise in postmodern forms of warfare, Petraeus will ensure that all our efforts are integrated and complementary, that we maximize our effectiveness in this vital theater of war. As Lincoln said of Grant, "I can't spare this man - he fights." Gates also made it clear that the quality of the leadership transition matters: Petraeus won't leave Baghdad immediately. He'll stay long enough to oversee the withdrawal of the last surge forces and to as...

Time: ... While Republicans hailed the news that Petraeus - who implemented the "surge" of 30,000 additional U.S. troops into Iraq, which is seen has having tamped down violence - was moving up the chain of command, Democrats were cooler. Opponents of the war fear that if the Democrat-led Senate approves Petraeus's promotion, it could be taken as a signal to "stay the course" in a war that has dragged on for more than five years and has killed more than 4,000 U.S. troops. Party activists will be paying close attention to how Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama vote on Petraeus's new assignment, which the White House hopes will happen by the end of May. (Presumptive G.O.P. nominee John McCain hailed Petraeus' nomination, calling him "one of the great generals in American history.") Democrats are unlikely to mount a campaign to block Petraeus' promotion. Yet Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the next CENTCOM commander must com...

Fox News: Gen. David Petraeus has been tapped to become the next commander of U.S. Central Command. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced his decision Wednesday at a press conference in Washington. He also announced several other shifts in military leadership affecting Iraq . Taking Petraeus' position as the senior commander in Iraq would be Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, who had until recently been serving as Petraeus' deputy. ... This is a good move. It puts the guy who devised the successful strategy in Iraq in charge of both that conflict and the one in Afghanistan. Perhaps he can also coax the Pakistanis into a counterinsurgency operation to clean out the Taliban and al Qaeda operatives too. Gen. Odierno also did a great job in Iraq and deserves the promotion. Hopefully the Senate Democrats will not impede these appointments. The Kagans call Odierno the Patton of counterinsurgency .

Max Boot: To see why Tuesday's "retirement" of Navy Adm. William "Fox" Fallon as head of U.S. Central Command is good news, all you have to do is look at the Esquire profile that brought about his downfall. Its author, Thomas P.M. Barnett, a former professor at the Naval War College, presents a fawning portrait of the admiral -- a service he previously performed for Donald Rumsfeld. But evidence of Fallon's supposed "strategic brilliance" is notably lacking. For example, Barnett notes Fallon's attempt to banish the phrase "the Long War" (created by his predecessor) because it "signaled a long haul that Fallon simply finds unacceptable," without offering any hint of how Fallon intends to defeat our enemies overnight. The ideas Fallon proposes -- "He wants troop levels in Iraq down now , and he wants the Afghan National Army running the show throughout most of Afghanistan by the end of this year" -- would most likely...