The Death of Michael Hastings – Who Is Really to Blame?

Michael Hastings was the kind of investigative reporter that many of us strive to be – exposing corruption and crime among the powerful elite, in the face of threats. Standing strong against injustice and unethical activities to defend the rights of readers to know the truth. Oddly enough, the FBI has broken from its past efforts to educate the public with occasional FOIA releases of FBI files covering historic figures or events, and resorted to using its FOIA vault to defend itself against public claims that it was actively investigating Hastings leading up to his death.

In 2012, one of Hasting’s greatest efforts took the form of a book titled, “The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan.” However, it wasn’t the book that ruffled the most feathers. It was actually his article in Rolling Stone published in 2010 titled “The Runaway General” – an in-depth profile of General Stanley McChrystal.

Even in his introduction, Hastings wrote a cutting rebuke of the U.S.’s efforts in Afghanistan, writing, “He’s [McChrystal] in France to sell his new war strategy to Read more…