Do you have a cite? I've seen a lot of different sources take the perspective I describe on MC '02, and it's easy to support from the JFCOM final report (see e.g. pages 59-60).
I would be very interested in evaluating a substantive claim that, rather than van Riper's surprise attack being outside the scope of the wargame but entirely plausible and effective all the same, a retired general with no personal stake in the outcome of the game nonetheless cheated in order to try to make it come out the way he wanted, despite that it'd be trivially obvious he'd done so.