I’m sure I’m not giving a good account of the article, hell, if you found Filkins’ writing too boring and lacking in hard facts, I doubt you want to read me taking a stab at it.
I am interested enough to do some more reading up on this, though, so maybe if more reliable info emerges, I’ll report back. In the meantime, I’m satisfied with my stated speculation in direct response to the contrary speculation by the OP. I posted a link to an article that colored my speculation for anyone who was interested in reading it and in the hope it would spark further discussion that would help us all try to understand what really happened. Not sure if we’ll ever get there, but I am sure we’re not there now and any current discussion of the matter will require a standard of evidence that would seemingly leave you disappointed.