There was also a huge release of Afghanistan Papers. Buried deep within those is General Flynn telling government interviewers that everyone was lying about the war. Not so coincidentally, his life was chosen for ruin.
Flynn also said in a public hearing that he wanted to audit the intelligence community. They understood this correctly as the first shot fired in a war against the administrative state. He was fired by the Obama Admin shortly thereafter. Since then, his life has been a living hell.
The Guardian: Describing a “positivity bias” in reporting back to DC, Flynn concluded the “rosy picture” being painted across the board from Afghanistan was as corrupt as the theft ... and condemned a “lack of courage in senior government officials to tell the truth.” And you know how well Obama people handled criticism. US lies and deception spelled out in Afghanistan papers' shocking detail
Gen. Flynn --
Commanders and policymakers, on the spectrum of news, they want always to be good news. Operational commanders, state dept policymakers and Dept of Defense are going to be inherently rosy in their assessments. They will be unaccepting of hard-hitting intelligence. [They all say] we are doing a great job. Really? So if we are doing a great job, why does it feel like we are losing?
There is corruption in reporting ... That also includes from the State Dept. There is no way that over the years ... that we can say things are wonderful. Every measurable activity is failing. So when you look at Afghanistan, every single measurable activity is failing."