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.
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.
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.
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.
They should punt him like a worn football.