"The Rolling Stone magazine journalist whose article about Gen. Stanley McChrystal helped end the Afghanistan commander's career has been denied permission to embed with a military unit in Afghanistan, a Pentagon spokesman told CNN Wednesday."
The writer was obviously, disappointed. It appears that he thought his career plans had been unfairly undermined by the Pentagon decision not to 'embed' him with a military unit in "The Sandbox".
Interesting article, you may wish to read it. Hastings is right, there is obvious aversion on the part of Military commanders in a War Zone to accept him as an "embedded correspondant".
One wonders why? Could it be that his last series of interviews with our fighting men and women resulted in the relief from command of one of the most successful Generals of the entire Middle Eastern Command?
The cited article includes segments of a Larry King interview. One memorable quote was when Hastings said: "If the White House had wanted to 'sweep this thing under the rug', they could have done that".
Sure. The article was published in a popular American magazine, and was clearly critical of the President's military decisions.
Another question from King was: "What do you think is going to happen to him (McCrystal), Michael?"
Hastings' answer: "I'm not sure, I think he's going to open a book store ...".
General George S. Patton made many comments critical of the current administration during WWII. He was counseled by his peers and military superiors against such intemperate comments, and was (for a while) relegated to posts which were not on the Front Line of battle.
But he never was treated to such an ignominious dismissal.
I, for one, am glad to hear that Hastings will not be reporting the "War News" At this time, it's not clear whether his career has been embellished or tarnished by this article. We can only assume that it has been embellished for his 'fearless determination to print the truth', no matter how much his perceived 'truth' has damaged current Military efforts in the Middle East.
But there's no obvious reason why current Military Commanders should readily agree to accepting Michael Hastings as an "embedded correspondent".
The man (Michael Hastings) is a quisling, nothing more and nothing less. His technical skills as a writer are immaterial in this context.
For now, he is the 21's Century's equivalent of Lord HaHa.
As a Military Spokesman told CNN News Wednesday:
"Embeds are a privilege, not a right. The unit decided they didn't feel the trust necessary for an embed. They declined,"
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