Reports of Anti-Senate Psy-Ops Spark Pentagon Probe

General Said to Order 'Psy-Ops' Against Officials to Secure Funding

Rolling Stone Magazine has sparked another furore and the promise of a major Pentagon investigation today, after revealing that Lt. General William Caldwell, in charge of the training operation in Afghanistan, illegally ordered “psy-ops” soldiers to manipulate visiting Senators and other top officials into providing additional troops and additional funding for the war.

According to the leader of the psy-ops unit, he was repeatedly ordered to “target” Senators and Congressmen, and when he began refusing those orders he was officially reprimanded. The magazine also revealed internal documents detailed officials to be targeted, including Sens. John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Jack Reed, Al Franken and Carl Levin.

The Pentagon’s pledge of an investigation promised to look into both which operations took place against US Congressmen and “if any of them were inappropriate or illegal.”

And while the seedy on-the-ground lies told to Congressmen visiting the warzone are sure to be troubling, they likely pale in comparison to the Pentagon’s long-standing testimony about the “progress” in the war to Congress, which WikiLeaks documents revealed was repeatedly contradicted by the “classified” facts in the military’s possession. Lying to Congress and the American public has been a matter of course for the Pentagon, and it is hardly surprising that they would try to use such operations inside Afghanistan itself.

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.