Rolling Stone Exposes Another Runaway General: "It’s not illegal if I say it isn’t!"

[No Limit]

Remember how when we had discussions on Brad Manning many people didn't think what he did was appropriate and instead should have went up the chain of command when he saw something illegal?

Well, that's what happened here, or atleast that's what was attempted here. And as a result the person making the complaints was officially reprimanded after an investigation was started on him based on the fact that he refused to follow the illegal orders given to him. The investigation turned up among other things that he used too much facebook and made inappropriate jokes (seriously).

The story is here:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politic...ploys-psy-ops-on-u-s-senators-20110223?page=1

The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in "psychological operations" to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war, Rolling Stone has learned – and when an officer tried to stop the operation, he was railroaded by military investigators.

...

The list of targeted visitors was long, according to interviews with members of the IO team and internal documents obtained by Rolling Stone. Those singled out in the campaign included senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Jack Reed, Al Franken and Carl Levin; Rep. Steve Israel of the House Appropriations Committee; Adm. Mike Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Czech ambassador to Afghanistan; the German interior minister, and a host of influential think-tank analysts.

...

Under duress, Holmes and his team provided Caldwell with background assessments on the visiting senators, and helped prep the general for his high-profile encounters. But according to members of his unit, Holmes did his best to resist the orders. Holmes believed that using his team to target American civilians violated the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, which was passed by Congress to prevent the State Department from using Soviet-style propaganda techniques on U.S. citizens. But when Holmes brought his concerns to Col. Gregory Breazile, the spokesperson for the Afghan training mission run by Caldwell, the discussion ended in a screaming match. "It’s not illegal if I say it isn’t!" Holmes recalls Breazile shouting.

...

Three weeks after the exchange, however, Holmes learned that he was the subject of an investigation, called an AR 15-6. The investigation had been ordered by Col. Joe Buche, Caldwell’s chief of staff. The 22-page report, obtained by Rolling Stone, reads like something put together by Kenneth Starr. The investigator accuses Holmes of going off base in civilian clothes without permission, improperly using his position to start a private business, consuming alcohol, using Facebook too much, and having an "inappropriate" relationship with one of his subordinates, Maj. Laural Levine. The investigator also noted a joking comment that Holmes made on his Facebook wall, in response to a jibe about Afghan men wanting to hold his hand. "Hey! I’ve been here almost five months now!" Holmes wrote. "Gimmee a break a man has needs you know."

"LTC Holmes’ comments about his sexual needs," the report concluded, "are even more distasteful in light of his status as a married man."

Both Holmes and Levine maintain that there was nothing inappropriate about their relationship, and said they were waiting until after they left Afghanistan to start their own business. They and other members of the team also say that they had been given permission to go off post in civilian clothes. As for Facebook, Caldwell’s command had aggressively encouraged its officers to the use the site as part of a social-networking initiative – and Holmes ranked only 15th among the biggest users.

I have a hard time believing they will court-martial this guy as you would normally do when someone in the military breaks the law, instead they will probably simply ask him to resign.

 

[StarBob]

I dunno I figure that he will considering he lead a campaign on CONGRESSMEN. I mean that's probably the last group of people you want to offend.

 

[No Limit]

Yeah, but being in the military that high up ususally gives you immunity from any prosecution in this country unless you do something really ****ed up. I guess we'll see.

 

[JFry]

Seems more and more like the US is at the mercy of our own military. Everybody is pulling their hair out trying to find places to cut money from the budget yet I haven't heard any politicians even suggest slashing the overwhelming military spending. And for what? What the hell are they protecting us from?

 

[Shakermaker]

Using a psy-ops unit to target congressmen. That is pretty crass.

 

[Mogi67]

Someone in the military is crooked, surprise surprise!

What the hell are they protecting us from?

They're not protecting us from anything, they're trying to conquer the middle east.

 

[Maestro]

They're not protecting us from anything, they're trying to conquer the middle east.

Oh god, I need to quote this.

 

[Escaep]

What the hell are they protecting us from?

trrists.

 

[Warped]

isn't the entire idea of war as much physical as it is psychological?? just saying

 

[Sparta]

isn't the entire idea of war as much physical as it is psychological?? just saying

You do see the problem with the military psychologically manipulating their own congressman don't you?

 

[15357]

Are they sure that the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 covers this? Because I'm not too sure if this is illegal.

If it is, well, punish him/them for breaking the law.

If not, well, nothing much you can/should do.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Note that there are some problems with conflicting reports here:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/02/lawyer-told-general-his-spin-wasnt-illegal-psyop/
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/304250
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/02/27/hastings/index.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/26/AR2011022603755.html

Note that the last article is written by a noted critic of US policy in Iraq.

It may be that Holmes was not actually given an illegal order. There does seem to be a certain amount of circumspection about it all, though. It's all buggering my head about so I must leave it to someone else to try and analyse all the disparate sources.

 

[Warped]

You do see the problem with the military psychologically manipulating their own congressman don't you?

I do, but were they really twisting arms? I mean people pull this shit every day. They're called lobbyists and they dish out shitloads of money and perks to senators and congressmen. just sayin

I know there are better ways to convince people to join your side or coalition but sometimes you just gotta swindle someone into doing something for you as long as the end result is just

 

[No Limit]

Note that there are some problems with conflicting reports here:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/02/lawyer-told-general-his-spin-wasnt-illegal-psyop/
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/304250
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/02/27/hastings/index.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/26/AR2011022603755.html

Note that the last article is written by a noted critic of US policy in Iraq.

It may be that Holmes was not actually given an illegal order. There does seem to be a certain amount of circumspection about it all, though. It's all buggering my head about so I must leave it to someone else to try and analyse all the disparate sources.

I only had a chance to read the first link you posted but the idea that this boils down to difference in opinion by the military legal team is a big problem I have. Bush used this as an excuse to do just about anything he wanted and then claimed it wasn't illegal because his lawyers told him it wasn't illegal. And it turns out there is absolutely no punishment for a lawyer to give anyone any advice they want.

What is not in dispute is that they used army intelligence resources to gather information about public officials and then use that information to try and shape the opinion of these officials about how much funding they should get. If something like that is in fact legal then it clearly shouldn't be.