Some pieces of journalism have the ability to disrupt even the most powerful of leaders.
In 2010, war correspondent Michael Hastings followed U.S. General Stanley McChrystal on a trip around Europe. The general, who commanded international and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was supposed to be garnering support for the fighting abroad, but Hastings found much more. The article he published in the wake of that trip ultimately led to the resignation of the general.
In the first half of Monday's Up to Date, Steve Kraske talks with Hastings about that reporting experience and about his new book, The Operators: The Wild & Terrifying Inside Story Of America's War In Afghanistan which picks up back in Afghanistan and looks at the military forces there.
Michael Hastings is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. He regularly covers politics and international affairs for the magazine, including the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. In 2011, he received the George Polk Award in journalism for his Rolling Stone story "The Runaway General." His work has appeared in Newsweek, GQ, Men's Journal, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, Salon, Foreign Policy, The Daily Beast, and The Huffington Post. In 2010, Hastings was named one of The Huffington Post's Game Changers of the year. His GQ story "Obama's War" was selected for Best American Political Writing 2009. The author also of I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story, Hastings lives in Vermont.
