McChrystal Story: Blame “Runaway General” on a Runaway Volcano

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by Rachel Sklar | 12:57 pm, June 22nd, 2010

» 10 comments

One of the big questions people are asking today about Rolling Stone‘s stunning story about General Stanley McChrystal is this: How could he have said all that to a reporter? Rolling Stone maintains absolutely that all comments were on the record. So honestly: What was he thinking?

NBC’s Richard Engel, the network’s chief foreign correspondent, has what sounds like the best possible explanation: McChrystal sort of forgot that the reporter was a reporter.

For real. Earlier today on MSNBC, Engel told anchor Chris Jansing and NBC chief Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski that he’d just spoken to Michael Hastings, who wrote the Rolling Stone piece, and Hastings had told him that what had been planned as two short stints with McChrystal had turned into a month-long extended process, almost like an embed — thanks to Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Per Engel:

“I just hung up the phone with Michael Hastings who wrote the article for Rolling Stone and – he said it was something of an accident -this article was never meant to be like this. What happened was, Michael Hastings presented this idea to the military, to McChrystal’s military advisors, media advisors, saying ‘I want to do this profile’…they agreed, and he was supposed to have two days with him in Paris and then followed up another visit in Afghantistan.”

The article opens with the General in Paris — but then the ash cloud hit. Per Engel, Hastings’ two-day visit with McChrystal turned into a ten-day trip as they were all stuck together in Europe, which “was extended to a month,” probably as they all shipped back out from Paris to Afghanistan.

Does that explain why McChrystal would lapse and go off like that in front of a reporter? Well yes and no, depending on how comfortable you get with a now-veteran military reporter who’s been hanging around for a month. Said Engel, “He ended up spending a lot of time as a fly on the wall and got to know them quite well.” According to Engel, Hastings maintains that it was all on the record and that he was always around with either a tape recorder or a notebook — so maybe it was just all about blending into the backround and looking like he belonged. Or maybe it was a sort of reverse Stockholm Syndrome. Or maybe McChrystal thought, “This guy is solid, we can trust him.” Or maybe McChrystal wasn’t thinking at all. Either way, Hastings got his story and has a volcano to thank for it. McChrystal, not so much.

Video below – Engel comments are toward the end.

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http://www.facebook.com/people/Joe-Baur/7714171 Joe Baur

Going against the chain of command, as General
McChrystal did, looks real ballsy on a Wikipedia bio! http://mildlyrelevantthoughts.com/2010/06/general-mcchrystal-rolling-stone-interview-the-runaway-general/
Abdulameer

The only sensible person mentioned in the entire Rolling Stones article was Douglas Macgregor, a retired colonel and leading critic of counterinsurgency who attended West Point with McChrystal. He said: “The entire COIN strategy is a fraud perpetuated on the American people… The idea that we are going to spend a trillion dollars to reshape the culture of the Islamic world is utter nonsense.”

This is the whole reason why we have made no progress in Afghanistan since we threw out the Taliban over eight years ago. Our only interest is to prevent that territory from being used as a staging ground for international Islamic terrorism. We achieved that. Now we should get out and be prepared to go in again should our interests require it. It is both cruel and fatally foolish to expend thousands of American lives and trillions of dollars propping up an Islamic regime. The only difference between the Taliban and the rest of the Afghan population is that the Taliban wants a stricter application of Sharia law. All religious Moslems consider us, non-Moslems, to be their enemy, and there is nothing we can do about that. Unfortunately, none of our military or civilian leaders understand anything about Islamic doctrine. If they did, they would never attempt to implement a policy which is based on winning the hearts and minds of an Islamic population. It cannot be done.
Dandee

What I think about this is, beware If you ever say anything against this administration. You will be dealt with, in their way.
disgusted

just – Telling it – the way it is!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Jones/1384303476 Chris Jones

The bigger question is how could he let all that spill to a left-wing, anti-war rag like Rolling Stone?
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

Wait a minute. The Commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan was stuck in Paris for ten days? The US military may have chosen to abide by the no-fly rules, but if memory serves, Spain and Portugal weren’t affected (at least in the beginning) and I find it hard to believe that a jeep or a train couldn’t have gotten the guy closer, if not all the way home.
Nachi

Another megalomaniacal moron, infusing himself into the wisdom of BushDrunk’s wars. Another “warrior.” How proud we shold be of such true grit! Punk!
scristanti

you libs here are sick, this scumbag that wrote this and befriended him for that many days will get his due, what goes around comes around, bet the general never dreamed this guy would shaft him like this, plus you have to read the whole article, all second hand comments except for a couple of things, what made him even talk to this scum of a man, he should have known rolling stone is nothing but a voice for the far left war hating a—-! and to think he even voted for obama, well look what it got him, he probably regreted voting for him last year, as so many millions have, not to worry, he is only a one term president, nachi, these soldiers that you call morons fight over there every day, lose their lives just so you can say the idiotic things you just said, to have your freedom to do whatever you want, you moron
Nachi

Leave the loud-mouthed little tough guy in place. He promised to ;perform all kinds of things to please the Republiscum masses. Give him his rope to perform in BushDrunk’s insane Holy Wars where no one can/will win anything.but dishonor – and create more mythical heroes in the the sham of a Green Zone. And one day soon the world press will expose the entire scam.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Orpheus-Patriot/100001158342607 Orpheus Patriot

This man never should have had to resigned. The only should-be-resigners are Obama and Michael Hastings for spinelessness and thoughtless treachery repectively.

http://teapatriot.blogspot.com