Stanley McChrystal

DoD Report Says McChrystal Profile Inaccurate, Rolling Stone Responds

Melissa Jeltsen | April 18, 2011, 4:34PM

The award-winning Rolling Stone profile of General Stanley McChrystal -- which portrayed the former top general in Afghanistan as having a loose tongue when it came to the Obama administration -- effectively ended his military career.

But the Department of Defense is still maintaining McChrystal and his staff, who were quoted in the article making disparaging comments about Obama administration officials, were not at fault. An Inspector General report released Monday after a Freedom of Information Act request has cleared the general and his staff of any wrongdoing.

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Topics: Barack Obama, Inspector General Report, Stanley McChrystal

Stanley McChrystal

Army Investigating Rolling Stone Story That Led To McChrystal Ouster

Rachel Slajda | August 4, 2010, 3:32PM

The Army is investigating what happened in the lead-up to Michael Hastings' article in Rolling Stone that lead to the ouster of Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the commander in Afghanistan.

"A four-star commander was relieved ultimately due to this article. We want to understand what happened here," an Army spokesman told CNN.

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Topics: Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Military

War In Afghanistan

McChrystal Quote Suggests Flippant View Of Civilian Casualty Policies

Justin Elliott | June 22, 2010, 3:24PM

One of the hallmarks of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan are new rules of engagement that, whether or not they are effective, are designed to reduce killing of civilians by American planes and soldiers.

That's why it's surprising to see McChrystal quoted in the big Rolling Stone profile seeming to take a decidedly flippant view of those very policies. Greg Sargent and Marcy Wheeler highlighted this passage:

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Topics: Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, War In Afghanistan

War In Afghanistan

Gen. McChrystal: We've Shot 'An Amazing Number Of People' Who Were Not Threats

Justin Elliott | April 2, 2010, 3:09PM

In a stark assessment of shootings of locals by US troops at checkpoints in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal said in little-noticed comments last month that during his time as commander there, "We've shot an amazing number of people and killed a number and, to my knowledge, none has proven to have been a real threat to the force."

The comments came during a virtual town hall with troops in Afghanistan after one asked McChrystal to comment on the "escalation of force" problem. The general responded that, in the nine months he had been in charge, none of the cases in which "we have engaged in an escalation of force incident and hurt someone has it turned out that the vehicle had a suicide bomb or weapons in it."

In many cases, he added, families were in the vehicles that were fired on.

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Topics: Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, War In Afghanistan

War In Afghanistan

The (Coming) Surge In Afghanistan: Brought To You By Kim And Fred Kagan?

Justin Elliott | September 28, 2009, 11:39AM

Frederick Kagan, the neoconservative think-tanker best known as the architect of the surge in Iraq, continues to have access to Gen. Stanley McChrystal as an adviser after serving as part of a team producing the recent assessment of the Afghan war, a spokesman for the general tells us.

It had been reported that Kagan and his wife, military historian Kimberly Kagan, were part of the group that advised McChrystal on the high-profile assessment that warns of "mission failure" if more troops are not sent. But it wasn't previously known that Kagan's work with McChrystal extended beyond the review.

It's striking that Kagan, who writes for the Weekly Standard, guest blogs at National Review, and advised the Bush Administration on Iraq, is now advising President Obama's top commander in Afghanistan.

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Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Frederick Kagan, Kimberly Kagan, Stanley McChrystal, War In Afghanistan