REPORT: Army Manipulated Reed, Other Senators
Thursday, February 24, 2011
A report in Rolling Stone magazine today claims that the U.S. Army used specialists in psychological operations to manipulate Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed and some of his Senate colleagues into supporting the war in Afghanistan during their visits to the country.
According to the report, Lt. Gen William Caldwell, ordered “information specialists” at Camp Eggers in Kabul to target senators and others who visited him. Rolling Stone said the leader of the unit initially resisted the order.
“My job in psy-ops is to play with people’s heads, to get the enemy to behave the way we want them to behave,” Lt. Colonel Michael Holmes told the magazine. “I’m prohibited from doing that to our own people. When you ask me to try to use these skills on senators and congressman, you’re crossing a line.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
Earlier today Reed told MSNBC that he “didn’t feel anything unusual going on” during his visit to Afghanistan. He described the charges as “very serious and disturbing” and called for a full investigation.
