U.S. intelligence is known to be present almost everywhere, except in places like North Korea, but don't tell anyone. It's a state secret.
The ongoing war in Ukraine is different. This complex and bloody conflict is being presented without nuance to the American public.
Things were much different during the Vietnam War, when the operating assumption by the press corps was that they were being lied to. Today, only rare independent voices are challenging officialdom in Team Biden's Washington.
Consider this: Much of the resistance being put up by Ukrainian forces against Russian invaders is rooted in a now closed covert CIA training program run from Ukraine’s eastern frontlines, former intelligence officials told Yahoo News.
In a program that originated in 2014 during Russia's assault on Ukraine's Donbas region, "CIA paramilitaries taught their Ukrainian counterparts sniper techniques; how to operate U.S.-supplied Javelin anti-tank missiles and other equipment; how to evade digital tracking the Russians used to pinpoint the location of Ukrainian troops, which had left them vulnerable to attacks by artillery; how to use covert communications tools; and how to remain undetected in the war zone while also drawing out Russian and insurgent forces from their positions, among other skills," the ex-official said in the March 16 report by Zach Dorfman.
After the Donbas incursion, the U.S. military helped run a publicly-acknowledged training program for Ukrainian troops in the country’s western region, far from the frontlines. That program also included instruction in how to use Javelin anti-tank missiles and sniper training, the report said.
So why is the U.S. secret war in the Russia-Ukraine conflict above reproach?
As with the nonstop coverage of the false Russiagate allegations during Trump administration and the media-enforced coronavirus crackdown of 2020-21, the script-writers have left no doubt as to who the villains are.
Larry Ward, Chairman of the Constitution Rights PAC and member of the Free Press Foundation Advisory Board, posted the following in a March 17 Facebook post:
Remember after 9-11 when our country was attacked…
When corporations said they would not serve Arabs…
or when we froze every Arab’s bank accounts and credit cards…
or when hospitals would not treat Arabs in the hospital or when Arab sports stars and celebrities were banned for being Arab?
Neither do I. That would be morally reprehensible. So why is it OK to treat Russians and Russian born citizens this way? The state attacked Ukraine…not it’s citizens.
Earlier in January, Yahoo News reported on the CIA’s secret U.S.-based training initiative for Ukrainian special operations forces and other intelligence personnel. That program, which began in 2015, also included instruction in firearms, camouflage techniques and covert communications. Yahoo News’ prior report also revealed that CIA paramilitaries had traveled to eastern Ukraine to assist forces loyal to Kyiv in their fight against Russia and its separatist allies.As Russia amassed troops on the Ukraine border, however, Team Biden, still feeling the sting of the Afghanistan withdrawal, pulled all CIA personnel out of Ukraine, Yahoo News reported, citing former intelligence official in close touch with colleagues in U.S. government.
The administration was “terrified of even clandestine folks being on the frontline,” says the former official.
U.S. officials previously denied to Yahoo News that the CIA training programs were ever offensively oriented. “The purpose of the training, and the training that was delivered, was to assist in the collection of intelligence,” said a senior intelligence official.
The CIA training, in particular the sniper training, has reportedly paid off for Ukraine. Since Russia's invasion, Ukraine claims to have killed three top Russian generals, at least one which was hit by sniper fire.
“I think we’re seeing a big impact from snipers. Especially as Russian forces get bogged down from lack of supplies,” a former senior official told Yahoo News. “I think the training really paid off.”
The CIA operatives taught their Ukrainian counterparts the best skills for irregular warfare, said the former senior intelligence official.
“We tried to really focus on operational planning, then really hard military skills like long-range marksmanship — not just the capacity to do it, but to know how to do it on a battlefield, to really deplete the leadership on the other side,” said the former senior intelligence official.
Free Press International
