A Clear Attempt to Mislead and Deceive the American People

President Barack Obama addresses the nation from Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, May 1, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

At The American Conservative, Barbara Boland dives into the recently released “Afghanistan Papers.” These documents, uncovered by a Washington Post Freedom of Information Act litigation, illustrate what Boland calls “a clear attempt to mislead and deceive the American people.” She writes:

After an extensive investigation and a three-year long Freedom of Information Act legal battle, TheWashington Post released a trove of documents entitled the Afghanistan Papers Monday, and there’s a staggering amount of infuriating information contained therein.

The trove comes from a project entitled “Lessons Learned”.

commissioned by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR.) As part of the project, SIGAR staff interviewed over 600 people with firsthand knowledge of the war, including generals, diplomats, aid workers, and Afghan officials.

There’s over two thousand pages of previously unpublished documents and notes from interviews here showing that the U.S. government deliberately misled Americans about the progress of the war in Afghanistan and proffered misleading and dishonest claims that senior officials knew were untrue. The title “Afghanistan Papers” is an unflattering nod by The Washington Post to the Pentagon Papers, which exposed the lies by the government in the Vietnam War.

1) The government suppressed its own “Lessons Learned” 

2) Staggering Amount of Money Wasted

3) Who are the ‘Bad Guys’?

4) It was all fake news, lies and spin

5) Eighteen Years In, two parties responsible, no one accountable

These papers show a clear attempt to mislead and deceive the American people about the extent of the administrative and bureaucratic waste and incompetence that was occurring. What these interviews reveal is mind-blowing; that no one has been unaccountable is criminal.

Barbara Boland is TAC’s foreign policy and national security reporter. Previously, she worked as an editor for the Washington Examiner and for CNS News. She is the author of Patton Uncovered.

Read more here.