Michael Hastings (journalist)

Michael Hastings (born January 28, 1980) is an American journalist and a writer. He was a regular contributor to Gentlemen's Quarterly and now is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine.^[3] From 2002 - 2008, he was a journalist for Newsweek magazine,^[4] famous for his Iraq War coverage and book about the death of his fiancée Andrea Parhamovich I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

Stanley McChrystal interview

In June 2010, Rolling Stone published "The Runaway General", Hastings's profile of US Army general Stanley McChrystal,^[9] then commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force in the war in Afghanistan. The article reported remarks by McChrystal's staff that were overtly critical and contemptuous of White House staff and other civilian officials. On June 22, the news of the forthcoming article reached the attention of the American print media and the White House. McChrystal immediately issued an extensive apology, and Duncan Boothby, the civilian contractor responsible for coordinating the article with Hastings, resigned. U.S. President Barack Obama summoned him to the White House on June 23,^[10][11] and relieved him of command.^[12] Hastings offered his views on relations between McChrystal and the Obama administration.^[13]

Hastings was originally meant to have controlled contact, which expanded when he had to catch a bus to Berlin with the general and his entourage after international flights were grounded, because of the air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption, which gave him sufficient time to pick up less discreet remarks.^[14] How Hastings got access to McChrystal's inner circles is detailed in a Newsweek article. ^[15] Huffington Post named Hastings a 2010 Game Changer for his reporting, along with Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone.^[16] Hastings was also awarded a Polk Award for his repoorting.^[17]

Although Michael Hastings and Eric Bates, executive editor of Rolling Stone, repeatedly defended the accuracy of Hastings' article about General McChrystal, an inquiry by the Defense Department inspector general has found no proof of wrongdoing by General McChrystal or his military and civilian associates ^[18] The Pentagon report also challenged the accuracy of Hastings' article "The Runaway General" which quoted anonymously people around McChrystal making disparaging remarks about members of President Barack Obama's national security team, including Vice President Joe Biden. This inquiry disputed key incidents or comments reported in Hastings' article. The report from the inquiry states “In some instances, we found no witness who acknowledged making or hearing the comments as reported. In other instances, we confirmed that the general substance of an incident at issue occurred, but not in the exact context described in the article.” In response, Rolling Stone stated that “The report by the Pentagon’s inspector general offers no credible source — or indeed, any named source — contradicting the facts as reported in our story, 'The Runaway General.'

In an interview with Matt Lauer of NBC's TODAY show on June 23, 2011, Hastings said “I did not think Gen. McChrystal would be fired. In fact, I thought his position was basically untouchable, I thought it would give them a headache for maybe 72 hours.” ^[19]

In February 2011, Hastings wrote another lengthy article profiling McChrystal's successor, General David Petraeus, and detailing Petraeus' strategy for the war.^[20]

Publications

• Hastings, Michael (2008). I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story. New York, NY: Scribner. 
• Hastings, Michael (October 2008). "Hack: Confessions of a Presidential Campaign Reporter". Gentlemen's Quarterly. http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/200810/michael-hastings-newsweek-presidential-campaign. 
• Hastings, Michael (April 2009). "Obama's War". Gentlemen's Quarterly. http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/200904/obama-afghanistan-iraq-war-troops. 
• Hastings, Michael (June 22, 2010). "The Runaway General". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/119236. 
• Hastings, Michael (2 February 2011). "King David's War". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/king-davids-war-20110202. 
• Hastings, Michael (23 February 2011). "Another Runaway General: Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/another-runaway-general-army-deploys-psy-ops-on-u-s-senators-20110223. 
• Articles in, inter alia, Foreign Policy, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek International, Salon, and Slate.

References

External links

• Michael Hastings of Rolling Stone on the Story that Brought Down Gen. McChrystal – video report by Democracy Now!