Trump Admin Inflated Iran Intel, U.S. Officials Say

[spanone]

John Bolton and other Team Trump hawks are trumpeting intelligence that Tehran is readying attacks on U.S. forces. They’re exaggerating the threat, officials tell The Daily Beast.

On Sunday, the National Security Council announced that the U.S. was sending a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Gulf in response to “troubling and escalatory” warnings from Iran –– an eye-popping move that raised fears of a potential military confrontation with Tehran. Justifying the move, anonymous government officials cited intelligence indicating Iran had crafted plans to use proxies to strike U.S. forces off the coast of Yemen and stationed in Iraq. National Security Adviser John Bolton also discussed the intelligence on the record. A consensus appeared to be emerging: that Iran was gearing up for war.

But multiple sources close to the situation told The Daily Beast that the administration blew it out of proportion, characterizing the threat as more significant than it actually was.

“It’s not that the administration is mischaracterizing the intelligence, so much as overreacting to it,” said one U.S. government official briefed on it.

Another source familiar with the situation agreed that the Trump administration’s response was an “overreaction” but didn’t dispute that a threat exists. Gen. Qasem Soleimani—the head of the Qods Force, Iran’s covert action arm—has told proxy forces in Iraq that a conflict with the U.S. will come soon, this source noted.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-administration-inflated-iran-intelligence-us-officials-say?ref=home

[H2O Man]

1. Recommended.

Shocking that Bolton would lie about a threat, huh? He and the others are dangerous.

[spanone]

4. Bolton is salivating to invade Iran....has been for years. Dangerous as hell.

[Wounded Bear]

6. Yeah, he's a PNAC holdout...

If you look at what Dubya did, it was obvious they were surrounding Iran, hoping to make some excuse to attack.

[hedda_foil]

2. That was fast.

[spanone]

5. It's called wagging the dog.

The phrase 'Wag the Dog' is used to indicate that attention is purposely being diverted from something of greater importance to something of lesser importance. Example of Use: “He's wagging the dog to keep you from discovering the truth about the car wreck.”

[gohuskies]

3. The Dotard is getting desperate to create distractions

Drumpf and all his enablers are scared shitless because once the lid on their obstruction pot blows up they will all be exposed as Russian co-conspirators. The treason runs deep in this GOP maladministration.

[D_Master81]

7. Shocked I say...shocked!

At this point what isnt inflated, misrepresented or just out right lies?

[LibFarmer]

8. what a surprise

trying play from the Cheney playbook

[spanone]

9. Well, George W. Bush got away with starting a war based on false info...why not don?

Grrrrrrr

[emmaverybo]

10. Know where that false info came from?

According to NYT, Israeli intelligence discovered Saddam Hussein ordered 9/11. That was reported in a front pager only a few days after the attack. Sorry, I lack citation, saw the actual news clipping.