Retired U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal, whose career was torpedoed by a 2010 article in Rolling Stone, describes his dramatic ouster as commander of international forces in Afghanistan in a column for the social networking site LinkedIn.
McChrystal was forced to retire after the Rolling Stone article by journalist Michael Hastings, titled ‘The Runaway General,’ described unnamed aides of the general making jokes and derisive remarks about the White House’s team.
“Most importantly, my very identity as a soldier came to an abrupt end. I’d been soldiering as long as I’d been shaving. Suddenly I’d been told I could no longer soldier, and it felt as though no one really cared if I ever shaved again,” McChrystal wrote in the online column published Tuesday. “I’d caught a curveball directly on the chin; I wanted to find a corner of the dugout, away from TV cameras, to rub my head and maybe sniffle a bit.”
A Pentagon inquiry first reported on by the New York Times cleared McChrystal of wrongdoing in the aftermath of his dismissal. Rolling Stone issued a statement saying it stood by “every detail” of the story.
“I’d never been more tempted to feel like a victim –- an emotion that could have easily consumed me. Many would have supported, even welcomed me in the victim role; pundits would have let me rant, and a tell-all would have been an instant best seller,” the former general wrote on the site typically used for networking among business professionals.
McChrystal published a best-selling memoir in 2013 under the title ‘My Share of the Task.’ Brad Pitt will reportedly play the general in an upcoming film based on a book by Hastings.
--- NBC News Staff