National Review @NRO The Russian Bounties Story Turns Out to Be Trash Journalism

https://twitter.com/_/status/1306466169680007171

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Here, the Times was not honest. NBC News’ Courtney Kube and Ken Dilanian have now reported that no such consensus intelligence finding ever existed. This is especially noteworthy coming from Dilanian, who has regularly produced his own credulous reporting of anti-Trump stories. The NBC report is based on military sources, including comments on the record from General Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which is responsible for the entire region:

[General McKenzie] says a detailed review of all available intelligence has not been able to corroborate the existence of such a program. “It just has not been proved to a level of certainty that satisfies me” . . . The U.S. continues to hunt for new information on the matter, he said. “We continue to look for that evidence. I just haven’t seen it yet. But . . . it’s not a closed issue.” McKenzie’s comments, reflecting a consensus view among military leaders, underscores the lack of certainty around a narrative that has been accepted as fact by Democrats and other Trump critics, including presidential nominee Joe Biden, who has cited Russian bounties in attacks on President Donald Trump…. Senior military officials say they don’t believe the intelligence is strong enough to act on. Echoing comments in July by Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, McKenzie said that if he could establish that the Russians were offering payments to kill Americans, he would push to forcefully respond. But the intelligence is far from conclusive, he said. [Emphasis added]

In other words, not only is there not a consensus intelligence finding, there is a consensus view among the military brass that the story hasn’t been proven. That does not mean it is impossible; many things are possible. Russian support for the Taliban while the Taliban have been at war with us for 19 years is already well-known, and it is certainly plausible that Russian intelligence might go further than that. But every report on this story has, properly, treated the possible offer or payment of bounties as a significant and newsworthy escalation. The bounties angle has been central to the Biden campaign’s argument. It would, by any traditional definition, be casus belli justifying war between the United States and Russia — indeed, it would be proof that Russia is already formally at war with the United States. And it turns out to be unsubstantiated.