Yesterday I wrote about how David Axe reported that General Tolley of US Special Operations Command Korea stated that covert missions were being run into the North.
Today we have the spectacle of David Axe basically pulling his hair out because he reported what he heard.
DUDE! STOP IT!
You reported what you heard and that's the end of the story. Read about his account of things here.
Washington Times has the story on SOCOM trying to walk back the story. Read it here but check out this tidbit.
TOKYO — The U.S. military on Tuesday denied a report that it has been sending commandos into North Korea to spy on underground military facilities, a mission that would violate the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War.What I find interesting is that the other reporters in the room are not denying the story that David put out. More interesting is the fact that others that attended the briefing, military members, aren't being trotted out to help deny David's story.
A U.S. military statement said that The Diplomat, an Asia-Pacific current affairs journal, had “taken great liberal license” with the comments attributed to a top U.S. general. According to The Diplomat, Brig. Gen. Neil H. Tolley, commander of special operations for United States Forces Korea, said at a conference last week that both U.S. and South Korean commandos parachute into the North to conduct reconnaissance on underground tunnels that are hidden from satellites.
My guess is this.
General Tolley has found himself in the back water regions of the war on terror and he's probably pissed. He wanted to be seen as doing important, dangerous things against a lethal foe so he inflated what his forces are actually doing.
Don't get me wrong. SOCOM is probably doing things the right way in Korea. They're probably running ops in the North and probably getting intel on the ground.
The problem is that the general stepped out of his role as a quiet professional and wanted a bit of lime light.
Sol,
ReplyDeleteThink about this idea. What if putting this intel out was legit. What if it came from the top as an idea. But, the intel itself is fake.
Why? To watch the Nork response and SIGINT. Perhaps in preparation for something. But, it's a possibility.
not a chance. first it was clumsly done. second, you don't play those types of games with a rogue nation that has a neophyte in charge by his finger tips. lastly, this was just plain stupid. why float it and then deny it and then say yeah it happened but it was a hypothetical?
ReplyDeletethe general fucked up. i've seen people court martialled for less.
You could call it clumsy. Some call it odd. But, that would be the whole point to putting it out there. Make a scramble. ACT like it's REAL. The whole point.
ReplyDeleteAnd what of "playing games"? Charlie Chan Junior doesn't have the balls. They watched Iraq. They watched us kick the shit out of Iraq, who had better gear than they do. Chink Jr. doesn't have the cojones, brother.
consider the environment...pretty low profile for a ruse to be launched from. consider the source...a low ranking general in a forgotten theater...
ReplyDeletei see no planning in this, just rank arrogance, self promotion, bullshit and a whole lot of what the fuck did i just say.
this guy is just a mess. first he attempted to deny it, then it hypothetical and now its a plan? i just don't buy it.
That would be the idea behind espionage. ;)
ReplyDeleteIf we're really doing it and he actually leaked the fact exactly why isn't he under arrest? It's more than just leaking classified information which itself can be extremely serious. If he actually made public an ongoing black operation he should be in Leavenworth.
ReplyDelete