"But there have been officials who stated it to news sources."

And those statements have been made anonymously and without credible evidence to back up the statements. It's just spin.

Over my career I saw the truth on the ground verses the stuff that came out the mouths of the "officials" they rarely if ever matched reality. Especially when it was a politician talking.

As for the rest of your statement, there is just so much wrong in it I'm not going to spend hours swatting it all down. I've made a valid effort to provide some reality to the news spin. I decline to comment further.