General orders probe over possible mind control of Senators

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WASHINGTON – The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan is ordering an investigation into charges that an army unit trained in psychological operations was improperly told to manipulate American senators to get more money and troops for the war.

A senator allegedly targeted said Thursday that he's confident there will be a review of the facts, but played down the idea that he was manipulated.

The staff of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, head of the effort to train Afghan security forces, ordered the information operations unit to compile profiles, voting records and other information on visiting lawmakers to leverage in a campaign to get more assistance, said a story Thursday on Rolling Stone's website. It says the campaign also improperly targeted the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and others.
-Associated Press -Pauline Jelinek And Lolita C. Baldor,

It is already frightening enough when you just theorize... when a General is ordering an official probe, I am really worried!!!

Yeah, he's gonna investigate those bad guys that kept his funding rolling in? Sure...good one.

This is what they say when they get busted with their pants down.
Oh, we are going to pull our pants up, promise.

I don't believe it for one minute.

Meanwhile, massive psychological operations are being conducted on you and me every day.

Remember that PsyOp they did on us to convince us into the Iraq War?

WMD?
We got Psyched!

Are they psyching us out again? Looks like it!

More from the same article. I think this is important and if people won't click the link at least see this! From a "real news" source, not conpiracy web, it's on MSM.

The military cell devoted to what is known as "information operations" believed their mission on arriving in Afghanistan in November 2009 was to assess the effects of U.S. propaganda on the Taliban and local Afghan population, Rolling Stone said, quoting Lt. Col. Michael Holmes, whom it identified as the leader of the five-man team.

Holmes said they resisted the order to compile information on congressional delegations that were visiting there and think of what information "to plant inside their heads." He said they were subjected to retaliation for resisting.

"My job in psy-ops is to play with people's heads, to get the enemy to behave the way we want them to behave," Holmes is quoted as saying. "When you ask me to try to use these skills on senators and congressman, you're crossing a line."

Those singled out in the campaign included Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Al Franken, D-Minn., and Carl Levin, D-Mich. Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., of the House Appropriations Committee; the Czech ambassador to Afghanistan; the German interior minister, and a host of influential think-tank analysts, the story said, without identifying the international figures by name.

Originally posted by muzzleflash
Yeah, he's gonna investigate those bad guys that kept his funding rolling in? Sure...good one.

This is what they say when they get busted with their pants down.
Oh, we are going to pull our pants up, promise.


I don't believe it for one minute.

My initial response is that you seem to be taking this in an extreme manner. Didn't the system work as it is supposed to? An improper suggestion was made to people who rejected it and reported it up the chain of command where its being investigated. Absolutely, I believe that whoever made the improper suggestion needs to be punished and removed from any position of influence. I'd put money on that happening.

It makes me wonder how many psyop soldiers actually went along with it with other Senators and government officials and did not report it. I am surprised this thread hasn't blown up. This is shocking news!!!!

reply to post by donatellanator

Dear Donatellanator,
You're right, this is shocking news. Did they think it would work? Why? Had they tried it out on other people often enough? Who are those other people?

It doesn't seem as though it's had a big influenece on Congress, They're still looking at budget cuts for defense.

This is definitely important and I hope more news gets out. Thanks.

Originally posted by charles1952
reply to post by donatellanator

 

Dear Donatellanator,
You're right, this is shocking news. Did they think it would work? Why? Had they tried it out on other people often enough? Who are those other people?

-------

The power of influence is strong. Even moreso when you are trained in the art, both eso and exoteric.

Here is the original article from Rolling Stone:
www.rollingstone.com...

The orders came from the command of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a three-star general in charge of training Afghan troops – the linchpin of U.S. strategy in the war. Over a four-month period last year, a military cell devoted to what is known as "information operations" at Camp Eggers in Kabul was repeatedly pressured to target visiting senators and other VIPs who met with Caldwell. When the unit resisted the order, arguing that it violated U.S. laws prohibiting the use of propaganda against American citizens, it was subjected to a campaign of retaliation.

If that's not good enough...

According to the Defense Department’s own definition, psy-ops – the use of propaganda and psychological tactics to influence emotions and behaviors – are supposed to be used exclusively on "hostile foreign groups." Federal law forbids the military from practicing psy-ops on Americans, and each defense authorization bill comes with a "propaganda rider" that also prohibits such manipulation. "Everyone in the psy-ops, intel, and IO community knows you’re not supposed to target Americans," says a veteran member of another psy-ops team who has run operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. "It’s what you learn on day one."

The general’s chief of staff also asked Holmes how Caldwell could secretly manipulate the U.S. lawmakers without their knowledge. "How do we get these guys to give us more people?" he demanded. "What do I have to plant inside their heads?"

How much did this COST US THE TAXPAYERS FOR THIS PSYOP TEAM??????

At a minimum, the use of the IO team against U.S. senators was a misue of vital resources designed to combat the enemy; it cost American taxpayers roughly $6 million to deploy Holmes and his team in Afghanistan for a year. But Caldwell seemed more eager to advance his own career than to defeat the Taliban. "We called it Operation Fourth Star," says Holmes. "Caldwell seemed far more focused on the Americans and the funding stream than he was on the Afghans. We were there to teach and train the Afghans. But for the first four months it was all about the U.S. Later he even started talking about targeting the NATO populations." At one point, according to Holmes, Caldwell wanted to break up the IO team and give each general on his staff their own personal spokesperson with psy-ops training.

How many wars have been funded this way before anyone said a word?!! This is madness! The MSM is blaming some Iraqi for "lying about WMDs and starting the war" yet we have people in the military claiming they were asked to do psyops on US senators, officials, NATO members, foreign nationals, delegates, etc!?... My head is going to pop. I will post more as I find it.
---

Oh, WHOOPS!

(In recent months, the Pentagon has quietly dropped the nefarious-sounding moniker "psy-ops" in favor of the more neutral "MISO" – short for Military Information Support Operations.)

Originally posted by charles1952
My initial response is that you seem to be taking this in an extreme manner. Didn't the system work as it is supposed to? An improper suggestion was made to people who rejected it and reported it up the chain of command where its being investigated.

My understanding is that the officer who blew the whistle on this activity reported it something like five different times and at levels all the way up to the Pentagon and it was ignored every time. He finally felt that his only alternative was to go public with the information. And at that point the army started to investigate him.

The story is told in this news interview with a writer from Rolling Stone Magazine:

www.msnbc.msn.com...=41768304�

Dear Ipsedixit,
Thanks very much for posting the interview. I've watched it and read the article in the OP and I have to admit I'm a little confused. In fact I'm beginning to get the sinking feeling that the story may not be worth the effort to understand it.

LTC Holmes was told to do something he thought was improper and he refused. (Rolling Stone) The Pentagon said it could have been an entirely proper order depending on this and that. (Associated Press) As a result of refusing the order, LTC Holmes was yelled at by the officer giving the order (RS), who was either LTG Caldwell or a member of his staff (AP) This whole mess will be investigated according to GEN Petraeus (AP)

I can't see where LTC Holmes was investigated or where his story was turned down by anyone other than the officer giving the order.

This post goes simply to demonstrate the difficulty I'm having figuring this one out and is not a criticism of you or anyone else.

I haven't read the Rolling Stone article myself, but in the interview I linked, the writer from Rolling Stone says that the army started to investigate the whistle blower after he tried a number of times, without success to get a response to what he considered an illegal order, i.e., to employ psy-ops methods on American senators.

It's possible that the writer interviewed has mischaracterized what happened, I suppose, but in any case I'm sure the Pentagon will either clarify the matter or increase it's obscurity.

Existing thread here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Please add further comments to the ongoing discussion.
Thank you







-thread closed-



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