Michael Hastings's Blog

Just wanted to drop a note: The Hastings Report, the blog I started last year over at True/Slant, now lives at michaelhastings.wordpress.com. Not sure what the new blogging schedule is going to look like–probably pretty light for the foreseeable future. That being said, anyone interested can follow me at Twitter @mmhastings. Thanks very much for the support, and a sincere thanks to everyone who read the blog over the past year.

My headline is actually not a play on a words. General Daniel Menard, the Canadian fellow who was relieved from duty over the weekend for (allegedly?) having an affair with a female staffer, wasn't the most popular fellow in Kabul, I've been told.

Why? He was recently charged with a "negligent discharge," or ND. Meaning his rifle accidentally went off, which doesn't exactly endear you to your fellow soldiers(or at least that's what soldiers I know tell me.)Apparently, this didn't endear him

As I write this, we are 15 minutes away from seeing what bids have come in to buy Newsweek. So I did a bit of Googling to catch up on the press coverage to see how my old Alma mater was fairing.

The Conventional Wisdom doesn't look good. Newsmax, TV Guide, some 91 year old guy…But, hey, you never know. And as I wrote at length here–along with my own personal biases and disclosures–I hope the magazine survives.

I did notice a new theme pop up in the last 48 hours. If Newsweek does survive...

More trouble for the Kandahar "non-operation operation?" The Canadian general who was supposed to be leading the offensive got fired over Memorial Day weekend for (allegedly?) sleeping with a female staffer. Clearly, the strange news was announced on a day when it would get buried under the weight of the American holiday weekend. From AOL:

Brig. Gen. Daniel Menard, who is married with two children, was Canada's top soldier with a decorated 26-year career. He was based in southern...

And so the war turns: I highlighted McClatchy's story on McChrystal and Marjah earlier in the week, wherein the Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (COMISAF, to his friends) was quoted calling Marjah a "bleeding ulcer." The headline of the story, apparently, didn't go down well with the folks at ISAF HQ. To wit, Admiral Smith, the chief public relations man in Afghanistan, wrote a letter to the lads at McClatchy:

…The key part of that dialogue that Dion witnessed was "You...

Here's an update on the progress of the Marjah offensive, straight from the mouth of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

"This is a bleeding ulcer right now," McChrystal told a group of Afghan officials, international commanders in southern Afghanistan and civilian strategists who are leading the effort to oust the Taliban fighters from Helmand.

"You don't feel it here," he said during a 10-hour front-line strategy review, "but I'll tell you, it's a...

Wanted to direct your attention to a must read in Foreign Policy by Kirk Johnson. He highlights one of the least talked about yet troubling aspects of our Iraq withdrawal plan–all the Iraqis who've allied themselves with us are going to be left behind.

Why do we need to worry? Johnson cites what the insurgent-types have planned for those their fellow Iraqis who they view as collaborators:

I recently came across a frightening document that outlines another group's designs for the coming U.S...

Howdy. I am on deadline, writing a piece that involves our current war in Afghanistan. So apologies for the low blog pace. But it means I've been k keeping an eye on what all the folks in media land are saying about that par particular conflict.

Here's Time's Joe Klein, following up on his cover story a few weeks back, saying things ain't going well.

The adage is: if you're not winning against a guerrilla insurgency, you're losing. We're not winning in Afghanistan… I must admit, again, I'm...

From the AP, via Military.com:

FORWARD OPERATING BASE RAMROD, Afghanistan — NATO commanders are weighing a new way to reduce civilian casualties in Afghanistan: recognizing troops for "courageous restraint" if they avoid using force that could endanger innocent lives.

The concept comes as the coalition continues to struggle with the problem of civilian casualties despite repeated warnings from the top NATO commander, U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, that the war effort hinges on the...