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The Rolling Stone article that ended McChrystal’s distinguished military career
The Rolling Stone article that ended McChrystal's distinguished military career. Photograph: AP
The Rolling Stone article that ended McChrystal's distinguished military career. Photograph: AP

Rolling Stone man who brought down Stanley McChrystal

This article is more than 13 years old
Journalist Michael Hastings reveals how he got to write article that was praised by troops and led to US general's sacking

If you are about to unleash a storm of controversy that will end the career of one of the great hero-generals of the US army, the last place you want to be is embedded with the very troops he used to lead in Afghanistan.

But Michael Hastings – the US journalist whose article in Rolling Stone magazine led to the sacking of Stanley McChrystal – says many of the soldiers thought the piece was "kind of cool". They particularly liked the reporting of their anger at the general's restrictive rules of engagement, which are designed to prevent civilian casualties but put soldiers in greater danger.

"The response from troops was all quite positive because of how unhappy they had been with McChrystal's strategy and limitations on use of force. I had a number of different individuals saying we are glad this is out here," he said.

Hastings flew back on a C130 military transport plane to Kabul yesterday night, arriving just in time to see Barack Obama publicly announcing he had just sacked the commander of Nato forces on the lawn of the White House.

In the green-lit gloom of the plane, Hastings saw soldiers seated on the nylon hammocks reading printouts of his piece unaware the culprit was right next to them, settling in for a snooze after an exhausting day.

It has been widely reported that Hastings got his big story because of a fluke – the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland that trapped McChrystal and his team in Paris where they were on official business.

It was there that the journalist got some of his most explosive material, including McChrystal's anger at having to glad-hand French officialdom and an account of the four star general getting drunk on Bud Light Lime with his men.

But Hastings says being stranded by the volcano only played a part, and that the most newsworthy things happened in the first 24 hours that he was hanging round with "Team America", as the general's close colleagues styled themselves.

He said just being in Paris was the main advantage he had over journalists who have spent time trailing McChrystal around Afghanistan – Team America were in relaxation mode and were more indiscreet than normal.

And he argues that the special access journalists get to McChrystal in Afghanistan also leads them to not report as fully and freely as they might.

He said: "They go on these trips with McChrystal and they get to see all this cool stuff and they completely drink the Kool-Aid. They think McChrystal is awesome, these guys are fun to be with and I'm in a room talking about classified stuff."

For many people it was a shock to read of McChrystal and his team in Paris getting "totally shitfaced". The general has a (perhaps embellished) reputation for monk-like asceticism, eating once a day and banning alcohol from his headquarters in Kabul.

Hastings says people should not be surprised by the Paris antics, particularly as it was McChrystal's wedding anniversary. "These are a bunch of special forces guys, that's what they do. People say I can't believe they are drinking but who do you think is crazy enough to be fighting these insane wars for nine years?"

Although he knew he had strong material, he was amazed by the repercussions of his report. "I thought he was unfireable," he said. "I never thought Obama would actually do it. I honestly thought it would be a three-day headache maybe at best and then they would roll with it and go on, which is what they have done with other media debacles."

Hastings is in Kabul, but refused to say for how long: "I'm not going to discuss travel arrangements. I'm generally paranoid, I spent time in Iraq and bad stuff happened there."

A little later he asked, "Are you going to use that paranoid quote?"

The Guardian said only if he allowed it to be quoted.

"I guess – fuck it," he said.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Barack Obama sacks Afghan war commander Stanley McChrystal

  • Barack Obama rejects calls to drop deadline for Afghanistan troop exit

  • Where McChrystal led, Britain followed

  • Four British soldiers killed in accident in Helmand

  • Stanley McChrystal: Beyond the brouhaha

  • Fears for Afghan strategy after 24 hours of turmoil

  • US military commander on McChrystal comments: 'I was nearly sick'

  • Ex-SAS man recruited to General Stanley McCrystal's team likely to leave with him

  • David Petraeus: Stanley McChrystal's successor

  • General McChrystal and the militarisation of US politics

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