No wonder the Obama administration continues insisting the campaign against the Islamic State is peachy despite the deluge of reports to the contrary. The Pentagon inspector general has launched an investigation after it was alleged that U.S. Central Command was skewing intelligence reports to make it appear the fight against the Islamic State was working, The New York Times reports. That means the Obama administration was told a pie in the sky story about the effectiveness of its no-boots-on-the-ground strategy. National Review’s David French, a veteran of the Iraq war, writes of the investigation, “I keep getting the ominous feeling that the clock is ticking on a truly significant terror attack, one that will leave our political leadership answering to the American people — why didn’t you do more to defeat the enemy? And if one answer is that Pentagon officials lied about success against ISIS, then courts-martial should be the response.” If the IG’s investigation uncovers doctoring of intelligence reports, the next question is why. Were military leaders cowing to Obama’s assumptions? This doctoring may have been the work of civilian appointees at the Defense Department working to prop up the narrative of Obama’s successful leadership. That provides cover for him to avoid taking any further action after his disastrous pullout from Iraq.

(Revised.)