The Daily Beast: ISIS analysis was altered to present a more favorable report to the American people
The Daily Beast, which by no means can be considered a right-wing news outlet, has released a new report in which it claims the official analysis on the effectiveness of Barack Obama’s ISIS strategy was altered in order to present a more rosy picture to the American people about the effort–and it was done at the request of CENTCOM.
Here is more:
Senior intelligence officials at the U.S. military’s Central Command demanded significant alterations to analysts’ reports that questioned whether airstrikes against the so-called Islamic State widely known as ISIS were damaging the group’s finances and its ability to launch attacks. But reports that showed the group being weakened by the U.S.-led air campaign received comparatively little scrutiny, The Daily Beast has learned.
Senior CENTCOM intelligence officials who reviewed the critical reports sent them back to the analysts and ordered them to write new versions that included more footnotes and details to support their assessments, according to two officials familiar with a complaint levied by more than 50 analysts about intelligence manipulation by CENTCOM higher-ups.
In some cases, analysts were also urged to state that killing particular ISIS leaders and key officials would diminish the group and lead to its collapse. Many analysts, however, didn’t believe that simply taking out top ISIS leaders would have an enduring effect on overall operations.
“There was the reality on the ground but it was not as rosy as [the leadership] wanted it to be,” a defense official familiar with the complaint told The Daily Beast. “The challenge was assessing whether the glass was half empty, not half full.”
But some feel it was not a request at all but rather a demand:
Sunday, September 20th open thread: ‘Wise up! Sucker’
Here is the open thread for Sunday, September 20th. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
Last week we covered 7 stories despite my trip to Illinois, did you miss any of them? If so there is an easy way to make sure it does not happen again. I understand that all of you are busy and cannot always find the time to check the blog for updates so why not subscribe to America’s Watchtower and receive email updates whenever I write a new post? That is the easiest way to follow the blog to ensure you never miss another post.
In addition to subscribing you can also follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right. But you will get more than that for I often post links to articles I probably will not be writing about so it is a great way to keep up with what is happening.
The Twitter widget in the sidebar is fully interactive. This widget updates my tweets in real time and allows you to respond to or retweet my tweets right from the blog. It also allows you to tweet me right from America’s Watchtower. How cool is that! If you do not have a Twitter account what better reason do you need to sign up for one!
I have decided to dig deep into my CD collection again this week for the musical selection so here is Pop Will Eat Itself performing “Wise Up! Sucker” live in 1995. The audio isn’t great but it is what it is, enjoy:
Donald Trump: ‘am I morally obligated to defend the president?’
Before I begin this post I must say that I feel “morally obligated” to once again state that I am not a supporter of Donald Trump and I have made my concerns about him painfully clear on more than one occasion to those who read this blog on a regular basis.
With that out of the way let us begin: Donald Trump has come under fire in the last couple of days because he did not correct a person who called Barack Obama a Muslim at a recent event in New Hampshire. The mainstream media has been hammering him on this issue and while I have been very critical of him this seems nothing more than a trumped up (pun fully intended) controversy designed to take him down because the mainstream media suddenly realizes that he could be a serious threat to the eventual Democratic nominee.
Donald Trump defended himself by asking on Twitter, ‘am I morally obligated to defend the president every time somebody says something bad or controversial about him? I don’t think so!” He followed this up on Twitter with comments such as “this is the first time in my life that I have caused controversy by NOT saying something” and “if someone made a nasty or controversial statement about me to the president, do you really think he would come to my rescue? No chance!” and finally, “if I would have challenged the man, the media would have accused me of interfering with that man’s right of free speech. A no win situation!” And I have to admit he is 100% right!
Scientists call for investigating ‘climate deniers’ using the RICO Act
It has been a long-standing tactic of the left to try to intimidate opposition into silence instead of relying on debate–this is why if you oppose Barack Obama you are called a racist; why if you oppose Hillary Clinton you are a misogynist; why if you oppose gay marriage you are called homophobic, and the list goes on and on and on…this is what political correctness is all about and why it has been dubbed by some as intellectual fascism.
And now a group of 20 so-called climate scientists is advocating something along those same lines as they are calling on the Department of Injustice to investigate “climate deniers” using the RICO Act. Here is more:
Twenty climate alarmist “scientists” wrote to President Obama this week requesting that the Department of Justice investigate climate skeptics under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) Act — a law intended for the prosecution of actual organized crime rings like the Mafia.
You can check out the entire letter here, but here is an excerpt:
As I write this I am about 33,000 feet above upstate New York–oh the wonders of modern free-market America! A new post-debate poll has been released in New Hampshire and it has a bit of stunning news contained within. Carly Fiorina has come out of nowhere to take a four point lead on Donald Trump in the Granite State.
Here is more:
Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina is leading the GOP field in New Hampshire, a new poll finds.
A Voter Gravity poll released Friday shows Fiorina with 22 percent support among Granite State GOP primary voters. She has a 4-point edge over her nearest competitor, bigwig billionaire Donald Trump, who has 18 percent support.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson nets 10 percent support, with the poll finding no other Republican White House hopeful cracking double digits in the first-in-the-nation primary state.
Republican debate open thread
As most of you know I am in Illinois this week at a training seminar for work. I thought this meant that I would be missing the Republican debate on CNN tonight however I did watch the debate while sitting in the hotel bar and so I have a couple of thoughts on the debate.
First: I think it was quite evident what CNN’s objective was because I noticed that it seemed like every question was presented to the addressee by the moderator as something like this, “so and so Republican candidate said this about you so how do you respond?” We know what the intent here was…it was clearly to promote in-fighting.
Second: even though the polls most likely won’t show it, this was a very bad night for Donald Trump and it started when he ridiculed Jeb Bush for his comment about cutting funding for women’s healthcare. Mr. Bush said he misspoke, but Mr. Trump would have none of it and went so far as to say he heard what he heard and that Jeb Bush wouldn’t have said it if he did not mean it. However Carly Fiorina was then asked about what Donald Trump said about her looks and she took the high road saying the American people heard what they heard. The implication was clear: he wouldn’t have said it if he did not mean it. Trump’s response? Carly Fiorina is beautiful. Condescending and ineffective.
But what I found to be even worse for Donald Trump, and I think this is something that most people might have missed, is when Ben Carson stated that a graduated income tax was a socialist idea and Donald Trump said he did not believe it was. Perhaps Donald Trump should read Karl Marx…
Well those my my thoughts but, as I said, I was sitting in a bar listening to the debate so take it for what it is worth. This is a debate open thread, what did you guys think about what you heard?
Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Afterburner with Bill Whittle: ‘The Donald’
Regular readers of America’s Watchtower know how I feel about Donald Trump and what his true goals and intentions are. However, in Bill Whittle’s latest Afterburner video entitled “The Donald” he explains what he likes about Donald Trump and he does it as only he can.
Enjoy:
Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Newly obtained documents show five month gap in Hillary Clinton’s emails
Hillary Clinton swore under oath that she turned over all State Department related emails from her personal homebrew server and she swore that she only deleted personal emails. However Judicial Watch has obtained more documents as a result of its lawsuit against the State Department and Hillary Clinton and interestingly enough there just happens to be a five month gap in the emails the former Secretary of State has handed over.
Here is more:
It appears as if the wheels are about to completely fall off of the Hillary Clinton campaign bandwagon–and it is happening quickly. Last week polls in the two critical early states, Iowa and New Hampshire, showed Bernie Sanders taking small leads after weeks of gaining on the former Secretary of State and this week brings devastating news for the once thought of inevitable Democratic nominee. Mrs. Clinton now trails the socialist from Vermont by double digits in both states.
In Iowa Bernie Sanders now leads by 10 points and in New Hampshire he leads by a whopping 22 points. Here is more:
Sunday, September 13th open thread: ‘Sail’
Here is the open thread for Sunday, September 13th. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
Last week we covered 7 stories, did you miss any of them? If so there is an easy way to make sure it does not happen again. I understand that all of you are busy and cannot always find the time to check the blog for updates so why not subscribe to America’s Watchtower and receive email updates whenever I write a new post? That is the easiest way to follow the blog to ensure you never miss another post.
In addition to subscribing you can also follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right. But you will get more than that for I often post links to articles I probably will not be writing about so it is a great way to keep up with what is happening.
The Twitter widget in the sidebar is fully interactive. This widget updates my tweets in real time and allows you to respond to or retweet my tweets right from the blog. It also allows you to tweet me right from America’s Watchtower. How cool is that! If you do not have a Twitter account what better reason do you need to sign up for one!
I apologize for getting the open thread up so late this morning but we stayed in the only hotel in the nation last night which does not have wifi!
Next week I will be traveling to Chicago (hi Lou!) for the week so posting might be light but I know I can count on you guys to keep the conversation going.
For the musical selection this week I have chosen a song entitled “Sail” by Awolnation. This song is about a person who wishes to sail away from his problems and I have always liked this song. Let’s face it, we all feel that way at times don’t we? I know I do…
Enjoy:
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