This is deeply concerning:
WASHINGTON – Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, is calling for an investigation into allegations that the commander of the American mission to train Afghan security forces ordered military personnel to manipulate visiting U.S. lawmakers into providing additional funding and support for the mission there.
Rolling Stone reported online Thursday that Lt. Gen. William Caldwell pressured soldiers trained in "psychological operations," or psy-ops, in violation of federal law, "to target visiting senators and other VIPs," including Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) as well as Adm.Michael Mullen, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Writer Michael Hastings, whose June 2010 profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal led to the general's removal as the senior military commander in Afghanistan, cites Lt. Col. Michael Holmes, leader of an information operations unit at Camp Eggers in Kabul, as saying Caldwell's chief of staff asked him how the unit "could secretly manipulate the U.S. lawmakers without their knowledge."
How out of control is the military in Afghanistan?
