Obama Seeks Answers on Doctored ISIS Intel, But Says It Won’t Change War

Says He Wants 'Transparency' in Intelligence on War's Status

Growing evidence that Centcom deliberately doctored the intelligence reports on the ISIS war to make it appear the conflict was going better than it really was has made headlines, and President Obama has made clear he wants the situation resolved quickly, and wants “transparency” about what the intelligence community actually thinks about the status of the war.

At the same time, President Obama indicated that knowing the truth about the war’s failures wouldn’t matter in any practical sense, and that he intends to continue the war on ISIS under the current strategy, vowing to “take back their land” and “hunt down their leadership.

The inquiries have suggested Centcom doctored the reports to try to keep the current, failing strategy in place, but apparently didn’t calculate on the administration being so married to the current strategy that they simply wouldn’t care if they got accurate reports on how bad the war was going, and rather would find it refreshingly honest.

Obama has been loudly defending the current strategy for months, despite the lack of progress, and that seems bound to continue to be the case, with the ongoing slow escalation of the war likely to continue, irrespective of what the intelligence community thinks.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.