Michael Hastings Is Dead

Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings has died in a car crash. In retropect, I felt that Hastings was rather hard on Gen. Stanley McChrystal. (I am guilty of this too.) Even Hastings article noted that McChrystal stressed to his troops to avoid civilian causalities in fire fights in Afghanistan. McChrystal set a terms of engagement that was controversial with the troops. also warned about the dangers of using drones to America's long-term international standing.

"What scares me about drone strikes is how they are perceived around the world," he said in an interview. "The resentment created by American use of unmanned strikes ... is much greater than the average American appreciates. They are hated on a visceral level, even by people who've never seen one or seen the effects of one."

McChrystal said the use of drones exacerbates a "perception of American arrogance that says, 'Well we can fly where we want, we can shoot where we want, because we can.'"

Hastings often got into needless fights. One case being his email exchange with I have worked in media and this is not the kind of email you should send to a White House official. Hastings sent this email to Hillary Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines

From: Michael Hastings

Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2012 12:50 PM


To: Reines, Philippe I 
Cc: Nuland, Victoria J


Subject: Re: Request for comment 



Why don’t you give answers that aren’t bullshit for a change?

Hastings continually gets more abrasive with each email. I can't blame Reines for eventually telling Hastings to "fuck off."

On Sun, Sep 23, 2012 at 1:38 PM, Reines, Philippe I wrote:


I now understand why the official investigation by the Department of the Defense as reported by The Army Times The Washington Post concluded beyond a doubt that you’re an unmitigated asshole. How’s that for a non-bullshit response? Now that we’ve gotten that out of our systems, have a good day. And by good day, I mean Fuck Off

I do respect Hastings' passion to get the story. If not necessarily his methods. This quote from Julius Caesar sums up my feelings on Hastings.

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Caesar.