the opinionist

The Guardian Newspaper (UK) yesterday reported on a confidential report leaked to the Press that outlines a ‘bleak picture of a counterinsurgency effort undermined by intelligence failures that at times border on the absurd.‘

This is on topic of recent comments by Army General David McKiernan – the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan – that equally offered a grim view of military efforts to counter Talian and al Qaeda forces in southern Afghanistan.

Key points from the Guardian article:

Based on scores of interviews with British, US, Canadian and Dutch military, intelligence and diplomatic officials – and marked for “official use only” – the book-length report is damning of a US military often unwilling to share intelligence among its military allies.

It depicts commanders in the field being overwhelmed by information on hundreds of contradictory databases, and sometimes resistant to intelligence generated by its own agents in the CIA.

… [the] effectiveness of the intelligence effort being quantified by some senior officers solely in terms of the amount of “tip money” disbursed to sources.

… reveals the case of Dutch F-16 pilots in Afghanistan who were ordered by the US to bomb targets, only to be refused access to American “battle damage assessments” showing what they had hit, on the grounds that the Dutch were not “security cleared” to view them.

It calls for a substantial overhaul of how military intelligence is gathered, organised and acted on.

I’m not wholly – again – that this is a surprise – based on the 7+ years the U.S. has be fighting inside and around Afghanistan; the staggering amount of money thrown at the conflict; and the continuing rise in numbers of deployed U.S. boots on the ground.

Clearly the war is not working – despite the continued bravery and sacrifice of U.S. and Coalition forces from some 15+ countries / allies and NATO members alike.

- The Guardian Article : March 6 2009 – by Peter Beaumont: link
- The WikiLeaks leaked content – link

Posted on March 7th, 2009 under Afghanistan, Americans, Axis of Evil, British Sailors, Bush Administration, CIA, Espionage, Gitmo, Global Policeman, Guardian, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Islamofascist, Jack Bauer, Middle East, Mullahs, Muslim Brotherhood, NATO, NSA, Obama, Pentagon, President, Robert Gates, Rumsfeld, Russia, Security, Spending, Spying, Terrorism, U.S., UN, United Nations, War on Terror, Washington, WikiLeaks, al Qaeda, counter-intelligence, interviews, john mccain, journalism •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback