Troops Glad McChrystal's Gone: Rolling Stone Writer

Reporter 'very surprised' by 'unfireable' general's ouster
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 25, 2010 4:20 PM CDT
Troops Glad McChrystal's Gone: Rolling Stone Writer
Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, then President Obama's nominee to be commander of US forces in Afghanistan, testifies on Capitol Hill, June 2, 2009.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

The journalist whose Rolling Stone exposé got Stanley McChrystal fired says troops in Afghanistan are thanking him. "Over here, soldiers were happy that he got fired," Michael Hastings, who's embedded in Afghanistan, tells the Huffington Post. "I've had a number of people come up to me, I got an email from a Marine this morning: 'Hey man, you did great work.' All the guys in my company think it's good McChrystal is not there because he was putting our lives at risk."

Did Hastings expect his article to result in a shakeup of American and NATO leadership in Afghanistan? "I was very surprised. I thought Gen. McChrystal was unfireable," Hastings says. "Essentially the story calls [President Obama] out for being weak and not having control of his Afghan policy. If he had let [McChrystal] stay, it would have confirmed this idea in the story. He had to prove that he was in control. I wasn't sure that he was willing to do that."
(More Stanley McChrystal stories.)

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