Michael Hastings wrong (*gasp*): U.S. Gen. McChrystal Cleared

My regular readers know how much *respect* I have for Michael Hastings and his current employer, Rolling Stone Magazine. Hastings and Rolling Stone earned that level of respect after they did an especially abysmal job of smearing US General Stanley McChrystal.

Today, via War On Terror News comes this:

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

U.S. Gen. McChrystal Cleared Of Wrongdoing

18 April 2011 VOA News The U.S. government has cleared its former top military commander in Afghanistan of wrongdoing that forced his resignation last year.

Last June, Gen. Stanley McChrystal was dismissed after Rolling Stone magazine published an article that quoted his senior aides making disparaging comments about members of President Barack Obama's national security team, including Vice President Joe Biden. The article, titled “The Runaway General,” quoted McChrystal's aides as calling a top Obama official a “clown” and another a “wounded animal.” It also said McChrystal was “disappointed” by his first meeting with the president.

The Department of Defense issued a report Monday saying it interviewed several witnesses and determined there was not sufficient evidence to suggest that McChrystal and his aides violated any Pentagon standards. It also called into question the accuracy of portions of the article about McChrystal, who was the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

Rolling Stone's editors have repeatedly defended the article, saying Monday it was “accurate in every detail.”

Last week, the Obama administration appointed Gen. McChrystal to head a new advisory board to support military families, an initiative of first lady Michelle Obama and the vice president's wife, Jill Biden.

BlackFive also notes the exoneration of General McChrystal:

The McChrystal Report

Posted By Blackfive • [April 18, 2011]

The Inspector General report on GEN (now retired) Stanley McChrystal is out. You can read it here.

There might have been a different outcome in his *cough* retirement status if the Obama administration had waited for the report, rather than fire the guy based on a report from a Rolling Stone pop culture hipster with background from another "independent" reporter and out of focus photographer with an axe to grind.

Of course, now they have to make it up to him by having him work with the First Lady...yeah, nice.

From DoDBuzz.com :

...Monday’s DoD report isn’t first time the Pentagon has officially contradicted a Hastings story. When he wrote his profile of Gen. David Petraeus earlier this year, which portrayed Afghanistan as a chaotic lost cause where villains and scoundrels are waiting to take over, Hastings described a “draft report” that called for ending the war by splitting Afghanistan into sections run by local warlords. ...

B5 has more here.


Bottom line is that this report confirms - again, and officially - what we all have known for a long time: Michael Hastings NEVER lets the facts get in the way of a good (ie his) story.

Maybe a career change is in order for Mikey, because the evidence is in that he really is not very good at this reporting thing. You know: "Just the facts"!