An attempt by the US military to defend Donald Trump's first covert military operation fell apart on Friday, when a video the Pentagon cited as "valuable intelligence" snatched during the raid transpired to be more than a decade old, and available on the internet.
As human rights groups and members of congress called for an inquiry into the Yemen raid that killed one American special forces commando and several civilians, including children, the department of defence released a statement intended to show the value that the operation had in protecting America against Islamic extremists.
They released excepts from videos that Col John Thomas, a US Central Command spokesman described as "one example of the volumes of sensitive Al-Qaeda terror-planning information recovered during the operation".
But experts monitoring jihadist behaviour online poured scorn on the claim, pointing out that the video, which includes tips for bomb making, was typical of what can already be found on the internet.
The videos showed a man in a white robe and a black balaclava appearing to give instructions into how develop a bomb.
If it seemed familiar that's because it was. It quickly emerged that the video titled “Courses for Destroying The Cross,” was first released a decade ago.
Screen grabs of the same video were posted on Site Intelligence group in November 2007, in a revelation unearthed by Buzzfeed, and have been online for years.
Eliot Higgins, an expert in online behaviour of extremist groups had earlier questioned the claims by the Pentagon that the information helped them understand al-Qaeda's "terror-planning".
"The videos aren't particularly noteworthy, it's no news that these videos exist, nor is the content remarkable," he said. "They could have likely found the same sort of guides by browsing LiveLeak for a few hours."
The Pentagon did not immediately reply to the Telegraph's request for comment.
Mr Trump is coming under increasing pressure to justify his authorisation of the attack which killed one US Navy SEAL, and several civilians. Human rights groups said some 23 people were killed in the raid, including up to ten children,
Emerging facts about last Sunday's raid have undermined the Trump administration's account, with some Yemen experts also accusing the Pentagon of "spin".
The department of defence initially described the commando raid in central Yemen as an offensive against a fortified "al-Qaeda headquarters" that resulted in the capture of information that will provide "insight into the planning of future terror plots".
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary went even further, briefing that that the raid had gathered an "unbelievable amount of intelligence that will prevent the potential deaths or attacks on American soil".
But information from US military officials speaking on condition of anonymity, human rights groups and sources on the ground build a different, contradictory, picture, in which massive fire power was brought to bear on a ramshackle village against targets of limited importance in the so called "war on terror".
By this account, the reinforced al-Qaeda "headquarters" was a two room residence crammed in among other houses in the village; the "determined enemies", which the Pentagon said included women in "prepared fighting positions" were scared residents firing weapons into the night in panic; and the value of the intelligence gathered is still being assessed.
(Telegraph)
