Stephen Conroy concerned by claims US military officers fudged reports on war against Islamic State.
Labor's defence spokesman, Stephen Conroy, has raised with the Chief of the Defence Force claims that senior US military officers manipulated reports on the war against Islamic State.
The New York Times is reporting that US intelligence analysts have accused their superiors of changing conclusions on the readiness of Iraqi security forces and the success of the bombing campaign in Syria.
The changes reportedly painted a better picture to the White House about how the war against IS was going.
The Daily Beast said the claims were supported by more than 50 intelligence analysts.
Senator Conroy told Lateline they were serious allegations.
"We've all lived through the invasion based on false intelligence information. No-one wants to see a repeat of that," he said.
The allegations — made public just before Australian fighter jets launched their first strikes on IS in Syria — are now being investigated by the Pentagon's inspector general.
"The investigation will address whether there was any falsification, distortion, delay, suppression or improper modification of intelligence information," a spokeswoman for the inspector general said.
Australian special forces soldiers are involved in training Iraqi forces, but the number of Australian soldiers in that role is being reduced from about 200 to about 80.
Senator Conroy said it would be "very concerning" if the intelligence Australia was receiving from the US had been tampered with.
He said he had raised the claims with the Chief of the Defence Force, as well as US officials.
"When you see 50 analysts potentially put their name to some fairly serious allegations, I think it deserves a full and independent investigation," Senator Conroy said.
"I think the fact that [US defence secretary] Ash Carter has put out a very specific instruction that says we don't want anything other than the unvarnished truth, [that] suggests that we've got to make sure that no-one thinks gilding the lily or misrepresenting or anything more serious is acceptable in a circumstance like this."
Conroy satisfied by response of Defence Force Chief
Senator Conroy said he was satisfied by the response of Defence Chief Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, who was confident in the intelligence being received.
But he said a thorough investigation into the issue was vital.
"I think everyone should be awaiting the report of the inspector general and he's an independent agency, so I think it's vital that a thorough investigation is held into this," the senator said.
"I think it would be a very serious situation if people had been doing any of the things described."
Meanwhile, Senator Conroy also poured doubt on allegations Australia had potentially caused civilian casualties in Iraq.
Earlier this month a US Central Command report listed an alleged incident where an Australian air strike against IS in Iraq may have caused civilian casualties.
Senator Conroy said he had been briefed on the issue.
"I don't believe that there's been any accusation that we have definitely killed civilians, but from the information — and I've received a full briefing on this — we have a system that works better than anyone else's in the world to minimise."
How will Islamic State and Turkey handle the Kurds taking over the Turkish border? Inquiring minds want to know ...
Defense officials tell NBC News that US special ops. forces are on ground in Syria assisting Kurdish forces in fight against ISIS
Gen. Austin says that 4 or 5 of the trained super troopers still remaining fighting in Syria. Maybe next batch will be slightly more successful.
edit.
Erdogan must be fuming with YPG being untouchable now.
lol well turkey will probably sit on the side and eat popcorn
Gen. Austin says that 4 or 5 of the trained super troopers still remaining fighting in Syria. Maybe next batch will be slightly more successful.
edit.
Erdogan must be fuming with YPG being untouchable now.
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and GCC forces manage to cause a traffic jam in middle of barren wasteland ft. Houthi sound system.
I do believe they will put down the popcorn and be more proactive since their guys aren't winning
This pretty much encapsulates, in a nutshell, why the Mideast suffers from such endless conflict.
Drone footage of SVBIED's:
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So they are gonna go get drinks? maybe have a Bbq?
We finally have some good new in the fight against Daesh.....in Africa. Most known Boko Haram camps in Nigeria have been wiped out, it said they don't have the capacity to actively control territory(although they still can launch some attacks).
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/189748-boko-haram-camps-wiped-out-nigerian-military.html
I'm not white, don't have any white friends, co-workers, don't want to be white, etc and I'm afraid of ISIS and don't like Recep "goat fucker" Erdogan. Explain that.I would like to reply to this quote by zenkou from the other thread.
Your Europeans and Whites have killed, looted, raped, colonized, enslaved my people for centuries it is Europeans fault as they are the devils who promoted suffering, and war.
ISIS and Muslims scare white people because we know what your people are capable of doing and are trying to seek vengeance.
Your also scared of a strong leader like Erdogan. Who cares about his people and spend time with refugees during Ramadan. Muslims like him, but Europeans are scared of his level of influence.
The Kurds are sell outs. not all, but the YPG, PKK, Peshmerga are for crying to the devil for help.
The current Anbar situation.
@Perfidious
you may not be white, but you are influenced, brainwashed, and been confused by the Whites who are leading you astray to who is your real enemy. Erdogan has done nothing against you, but you view him an enemy as he is the enemy of Europeans.
Using farm animals and relating it to sex is what Whites love and talk about more than anyone. So that statement was uncalled for.
Another person wishing death upon me based on my words and what is being said: the truth. While Europeans and their descendants are killing my people with drones. who is the evil one
Kais stepping up to take liquidfires place quite well.
Or, just hang in here, or maybe I can see that white people have toned down the killing, looting, and raping just a bit and see how your brothers are doing a lot of killing, looting, and raping.
Nah, I'm just blinded by the white man. Brb, have an appointment with the doc. I want to get the Sammy Sosa treatment.