convore.json/groups/socal-martial-law-alerts/report-army-general-illegally-ordered-psy-ops-officers-to-influence-public-officials/messages.json

[{"user_id": 11626, "stars": [], "topic_id": 8976, "date_created": 1298609253.744015, "message": "A high-ranking U.S. General in Afghanistan illegally ordered psychological operations officers to influence political figures, Rolling Stone\u2019s Michael Hastings reports.\r\n\r\nLt. Gen. William Caldwell, the man charged with the training of the Afghan government\u2019s troops, ordered a group of \u201cinformation operations\u201d specialists led by Lt. Colonel Michael Holmes to help influence visiting Senators and Congressmen and garner more political support for the unpopular war. Holmes tells the magazine that when he and his fellow intelligence officers resisted the order, Caldwell\u2019s staff and military investigators set out to ruin their careers.\r\n\r\n\u201cMy job in psy-ops is to play with people\u2019s heads, to get the enemy to behave the way we want them to behave,\u201d Holmes says. \u201cI\u2019m prohibited from doing that to our own people. When you ask me to try to use these skills on senators and congressman, you\u2019re crossing a line.\u201d An officer attached to another psy-ops team in Afghanistan agreed: \u201cEveryone in the psy-ops, intel, and IO community knows you\u2019re not supposed to target Americans. It\u2019s what you learn on day one.\u201d\r\n\r\nAccording to Holmes, his unit\u2019s targets included Senators Jack Reed, John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Al Franken and Carl Levin; Congressman Steve Israel of the House Appropriations Committee; the Czech Republic\u2019s ambassador to Afghanistan and Germany\u2019s interior minister; and even Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen.\r\n\r\nHolmes says that Caldwell, an ambitious three-star general, ordered him to profile members of visiting congressional delegations and provide \u201cdeeper analysis of pressure points we could use to leverage the delegation for more funds.\u201d The general\u2019s chief of staff also asked Holmes what they would need to \u201cplant inside their heads\u201d to get more troops sent to the country.\r\n[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]\r\n\r\n\r\n\u201cWe called it Operation Fourth Star,\u201d Holmes says. \u201cCaldwell 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.\u201d\r\n\r\nFederal law forbids the use of psychological operations on U.S. citizens, and every defense authorization bill includes a \u201cpropaganda rider\u201d reiterating the point. Holmes also suspected that Caldwell\u2019s orders were in violation of the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, passed by Congress to ensure that U.S. citizens would never become subject to Soviet-style propaganda campaigns. Col. Gregory Breazile, the spokesperson for Caldwell\u2019s operation, disagreed with Holmes\u2019 assessment. \u201cIt\u2019s not illegal if I say it isn\u2019t!\u201d Holmes recalls Breazile shouting when the two discussed the legality of Caldwell\u2019s order.\r\n\r\nCaldwell\u2019s chief of staff then launched an investigation of Holmes that reported the Colonel drank alcohol, dressed in civilian clothing, improperly tried to start a business, made jokes of a sexual nature (\u201cLTC Holmes\u2019 comments about his sexual needs are even more distasteful in light of his status as a married man\u201d), and carried on an \u201c inappropriate\u201d relationship with a Maj. Laurel Levine. According to the Maj. Levine, who has received 16 service awards in her 19 years with the military and has a spotless record, Caldwell\u2019s vendetta against Holmes \u201cwill probably end my career.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe whole experience has left Holmes seemingly heartbroken by the military he served in. \u201cMy father was an officer, and I believed officers would never act like this,\u201d he says. \u201cI was devastated. I\u2019ve lost my faith in the military, and I couldn\u2019t in good conscience recommend anyone joining right now.\u201d\r\n\r\nA spokesperson for Caldwell denied all of Holmes\u2019 charges to the magazine.\r\n\r\nUPDATE: Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of Allied forces in Afghanistan, has now ordered an investigation into the Caldwell/Psy-Ops case.\r\n\r\nhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/20110224/pl_dailycaller/reportarmygeneralillegallyorderedpsyopsofficerstoinfluencepublicofficials_1", "group_id": 3920, "id": 205958}]