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New York Times Reporter: Obama Administration Misled on al Qaeda
Posted on 11/18/17 at 12:24 am
Posted on 11/18/17 at 12:24 am
LINK
quote:
A top foreign correspondent at the New York Times said Friday that the Obama administration deliberately downplayed al Qaeda’s strength in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election.
“The overall narrative that I think was being pushed to the press, and if you look back at the editorials that were done when that trove came out, was an image of bin Laden isolated, he had lost control of this group,” Rukmini Callimachi said during an event at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, referring to the 17 hand-picked documents released by the Obama administration in May of 2012.
Her remarks triggered the following question from Kim Dozier, a former top correspondent for the Associated Press and CBS, and current executive editor of the Cipher Brief: “Do you think that was something that was kept from the public’s view because it revealed that there had to be reams of communication going back and forth, which means U.S. intelligence, Western intelligence, was missing this?”
“Think back to when bin Laden was killed. It was 2011, it was right before a major campaign season. I don’t want to underplay the role that the killing of Osama bin Laden had,” said Callimachi. “But I think that that was theorized into something much bigger.”
“The head of the organization has been killed, and now—these are literally quotes that I would get: the organization has been ‘decimated,’ the organization is in ‘disarray,’ the organization is ‘on the run,’” she continued. “At the same time that we were preparing to pull out troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, I think that it was important to portray this as a problem that no longer existed.”
* * *
The Trump administration released roughly 470,000 files in November that were captured in the Abbottabad raid. Only a few hundred were released under the Obama administration, despite one official’s description of the haul as enough to fill a “small college library.”
When Callimachi was covering West Africa in 2011, Obama administration officials and others told her that al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which had just taken over the northern half of Mali, “was actually not really connected to al Qaeda.”
“The narrative I would get is that . . . it had opportunistically taken the al Qaeda name in order to have prestige and scare people, and that in fact those people were just criminals,” she said.
In 2013, after AQIM had been cleared out of the area, Callimachi began sorting through thousands of files that had been left in the city of Timbuktu. She discovered evidence that “central” al Qaeda commanders were actually “micromanag[ing]” the Malians who the Obama administration had said had no ties to al Qaeda.
“Suddenly, my worldview, which had been informed by officials . . . started to fall apart,” she said. “Suddenly, I was seeing that this group that I was told really had no ties, with no connection . . . was in fact being micromanaged by al Qaeda central.”
Callimachi said that the recently released documents from the bin Laden raid underscore the reality of the relationship between al Qaeda and its affiliates.
“In fact, the new trove that has now come out confirms very much what I was seeing in Mali, which is not just real connective tissue, but connective tissue to the point of [these affiliates] being micromanaged from Afghanistan and Pakistan,” she said. “Very minor personnel decisions are being decided by the group thousands of miles away.”
The newly released files, which panelists said represented the “digital life” of Osama bin Laden and his family, include bin Laden’s personal journal, video of his son, Hamza bin Laden, audio reports on al Qaeda in Iraq, and communications about the Pakistani Taliban.
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies' Thomas Joscelyn, who along with Bill Roggio has been pushing for the full release of bin Laden documents since 2012, said the administration attached a narrative to those files that al Qaeda was “on the decline” and that “there was no cohesion” among terror groups fighting from West Africa to the Middle East.
“That narrative that came out in 2012, we knew immediately was wrong, totally wrong, and was basically a cherry picked version of what’s going on,” he said.
Posted on 11/18/17 at 12:33 am to Bourre
Uh duh. Did it really take 5 years to figure this out. We were saying this in 2012.
It's the main reason they had to act like Benghazi didn't happen.
It's the main reason they had to act like Benghazi didn't happen.
Posted on 11/18/17 at 12:37 am to The Boat
quote:
Uh duh. Did it really take 5 years to figure this out. We were saying this in 2012.
It's the main reason they had to act like Benghazi didn't happen.
"IT WAS THE VIDEO'S FAULT! OUR IDOL (OBAMA) & OUR FUTURE QUEEN (HILLARY) DID EVERYTHING RIGHT!" - Rex
BTW: Is Rex still alive?
Posted on 11/18/17 at 1:34 am to Bourre
I speak leftist.
"Misled" is how they say "lie" when they do it
"Misled" is how they say "lie" when they do it
Posted on 11/18/17 at 1:42 am to Bourre
Nice of the NY Times to admit this now that it can't hurt Obama's chances of being re-elected.
Posted on 11/18/17 at 1:43 am to Bourre
Every intelligent voter knew this along with the many other false information to help re-elect Obama.
How courageous these reporters are becoming. Frick em all.
How courageous these reporters are becoming. Frick em all.
Posted on 11/18/17 at 2:02 am to Bourre
quote:fake news, fake news -- am I doing it right?
New York Times Reporter
Posted on 11/18/17 at 2:15 am to Bourre
Obama is a liar. Who'd of thunk it?
Posted on 11/18/17 at 3:39 am to L.A.
quote:It is amazing how many of them are suddenly getting religion five years after the fact
Nice of the NY Times to admit this now that it can't hurt Obama's chances of being re-elected.
Posted on 11/18/17 at 7:14 am to Bourre
quote:
“That narrative that came out in 2012, we knew immediately was wrong, totally wrong, and was basically a cherry picked version of what’s going on,” he said.
So they knew immediately that the official story was BS, yet I don't recall the NYT making a fuss about it.
The dominant media in this country are worthless. The truth is only true if it helps their side.
Posted on 11/18/17 at 7:16 am to skinny domino
quote:
fake news, fake news -- am I doing it right?
Actually, yes. The used the word Misled instead of "blatantly lied"
You have a chance yet, young snowflake.
Posted on 11/18/17 at 7:22 am to Bourre
It took the NYT five years to determine al Qaeda was not decimated as Obama was telling the country.
Good to know these guys are doing solid work keeping us all informed.
Here's another one for you guys at the Times, Russia was not completely neutered in the 80's. Despite what Barry said.
Good to know these guys are doing solid work keeping us all informed.
Here's another one for you guys at the Times, Russia was not completely neutered in the 80's. Despite what Barry said.
This post was edited on 11/18/17 at 7:23 am
Posted on 11/18/17 at 7:24 am to TaderSalad
I've said this before. In time, every administration is reviewed through clear and not rosy glasses. Even Bush II is viewed much more favorably now.
Mark my words: "President Obama will go down as the worst president ever in the history of this country"
Thank you, @realdonaldtrump for that prescient quote.
Mark my words: "President Obama will go down as the worst president ever in the history of this country"
Thank you, @realdonaldtrump for that prescient quote.
Posted on 11/18/17 at 8:20 am to HubbaBubba
So ubl is dead? Where is the body? How convenient!
Posted on 11/18/17 at 8:22 am to Bourre
There is absolutely NOTHING that the OBAMA administration said that was not 'misleading"
Obama was the most MENDACIOUS president to ever reside.
Obama was the most MENDACIOUS president to ever reside.
Posted on 11/18/17 at 8:31 am to Bourre
Misled, like their reporting previously?
It's why people like Gillibrand get a pass from NYTs and others.
She now says Bill Clinton should have resigned, but she stumped for the Clintons then.
She is a name being thrown around as presidential material.
It's why people like Gillibrand get a pass from NYTs and others.
She now says Bill Clinton should have resigned, but she stumped for the Clintons then.
She is a name being thrown around as presidential material.
Posted on 11/18/17 at 8:56 am to Wolfhound45
quote:
It is amazing how many of them are suddenly getting religion since a Republican was elected President
FIFY
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