Petraeus tells CIA analysts to heed troops on war

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PETRAEUS_CIA_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-10-14-07-15-29

WASHINGTON (AP) -- David Petraeus, the former general who led the Afghanistan war and now heads the CIA, has ordered his intelligence analysts to give greater weight to the opinions of troops in the fight, U.S. officials said.

CIA analysts now will consult with battlefield commanders earlier in the process as they help create elements of a National Intelligence Estimate on the course of the war, to more fully include the military's take on the conflict, U.S. officials say.

Their input could improve the upcoming report card for the war.

The most recent U.S. intelligence assessment offered a dim view of progress in Afghanistan despite the counterinsurgency campaign Petraeus oversaw there and painted a stark contrast to the generally upbeat predictions of progress from Petraeus and other military leaders. Petraeus has made no secret of his frustration with recent negative assessments coming primarily from the CIA, and said during his confirmation hearing that he planned to change the way the civilian analysts grade wars.

[Selatius]

1. Ah, so if getting a 60 on a test merits an F, redefine 60 to be a D.

I'm sure the assessments will improve if you let the military use body count of the enemy as a metric of success. Total victory is achievable if everybody who is willing and able to fight you is killed. Basically, kill every male above 14 because it's apparent a significant amount of the population there won't stop resisting foreign troops on their land.