Retired General Stanley McChrystal regrets the controversy that happened in the wake a Rolling Stone article that ultimately led to his resignation as commanding general in the War in Afghanistan.
“I regret that it went that way… but you know, I was in command. I was responsible.” McChrystal said.
The general sat down with David for a wide-ranging interview for his new memoir My Share of the Task released earlier this month.
The movie Zero Dark Thirty has been making headlines for it depiction of United States intelligence personnel using enhanced interrogation techniques as a part of the detainee program in the lead-up to the successful raid on Osama Bin Laden’s Pakistan compound. McChrystal rejected the argument some have made that using “torture” is an acceptable practice and dismissed the notion that the end result justifies the means.
“The effect of torture, is really on the torturer,” McChrystal said. “It corrodes the moral fiber of the force.” He also cited its effect on perceptions of the U.S. from the outside world, specifically pointing to the Abu Ghraib scandal, saying that it mobilized anti-western forces against America.
The former top commander in Afghanistan, who had previously spent five years as head of the Joint Special Operations Command, also focused on the state of America’s armed forces today and how they will look in the future. He argued that the use of Special Forces will become the “marquee part of modern warfare,” with an important focus put on knowledge of the enemy. “Who knows the most and who learns the quickest, wins in any fight,” he said, adding “it’s not going to be a bulk number of soldiers.”
Watch the entire PRESS Pass conversation above to hear more from General McChrystal including a frank discussion on the controversy surrounding the friendly-fire death of former NFL Star turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman in 2004.
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"...a frank discussion on the controversy surrounding the friendly-fire death of former NFL Star turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman in 2004."
Yeah right. Too bad David didn't ask him an informed question. Here's one:
General McChrystal, a 2007 Dept. of Defense IG report found you were “accountable for the inaccurate [Silver Star] award recommendation” for Pat Tillman. For example, the report found the two witness statements were altered “somewhere in the [Silver Star] approval chain” (apparently by the Ranger RGT commanding officers). “PFC [O’Neal] stated that he did not sign the valorous award witness statement” and “also pointed out parts he knows he did not write and parts that were not accurate.” “SGT [Ward] pointed out parts that were inaccurate, in that he was unable to see CPL Tillman’s actions from his location” (for details, see the post “Never Shall I Fail My Comrades” in the Feral Firefighter blog).
Kevin Tillman told Congress: “These are deliberate acts of deceit. … To falsify a witness statement in a Silver Star award, fabricating it with these kids’ names on it.” And, Jon Krakauer, in the paperback edition of his book, "Where Men Win Glory," described "how you "administered the medal recommendation process” and directly supervised the Ranger RGT commanding officers who apparently altered the witness statements. He wrote that a false narrative "was painstakingly written to create the impression Pat Tillman was killed by enemy fire” and that “The Silver Star recommendation was "fraudulent" by "any objective measure."
General McChrystal, in your memoir, you wrote that Pat Tillman's Silver Star citation contained “errors,” but that they were “not the result of any intention to misrepresent or mislead.” Could you please explain how “errors” could possibly explain the two forged witness statements in the Silver Star recommendation that you approved?
The book jacket for Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s new memoir, “My Share of the Task,” promises to “frankly explore the major episodes and controversies of his eventful career.” However, despite McChrystal’s vaunted “candor,” his memoir whitewashes or ignores all the controversies of his career. For example, he still declines to “confirm or deny” the accuracy of Michael Hasting’s “Rolling Stone” profile which got him fired (McChrystal doesn’t even mention Hastings by name, nor discuss his 2012 book, “The Operators” which details “Le’Affair Rolling Stan”).
McChrystal has said, “The one thing you can never, and should never want to dodge, is responsibility.” But, he has “dodged” responsibility for his central role in the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s 2004 friendly-fire death, the use of routine torture by JSOC forces under his command from 2003-2005, his strategically flawed Afghan War “surge,” and for “Le’Affair Rolling Stan” (for details, see my 150-page post, "Never Shall I Fail My Comrades" -- The Dark Legacy of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, at the Feral Firefighter blog).
General McChrystal played a key role in the Army’s cover up: McChrystal received confirmation of Tillman’s fratricide within two days, he had the responsibility to pass on notification to the family, made a decision not to tell the family, he supervised the preparation of a misleading Silver Star recommendation (no mention of fratricide, with two witness statements apparently altered by the Ranger RGT CO’s, and with “inaccurate” assertions in the citation & supporting narrative), approved the misleading Silver Star citation, and apparently directed others to conceal friendly fire from the medical examiner and a CID investigator (McChrystal’s JAG officer congratulated the Ranger RGT JAG for “keeping the CID at bay.”
And, McChrystal’s portrayal of the interrogations that directly led to the 2006 killing of Abu Zarqawi totally contradicts the accounts of author Marc Bowden (“The Ploy”) and former interrogator Matthew Alexander (“We found Zarqawi in spite of the way the task force did business”). And, McChrystal somehow failed to even mention interrogator Eric Maddox who was decorated for his efforts which directly led to the 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein (perhaps because a key detainee had a “heart attack” and died shortly after arriving at Camp Nama).
In April 2011, just after McChrystal was “cleared” by the Pentagon’s NYT reporter Thom Shanker of “all wrongdoing” in the “Rolling Stone” case, President Obama appointed him to head up the “Joining Forces” program to support military veterans and their families. In response, Mary Tillman (Pat’s mother) said, “It’s a slap in the face to appoint this man” … “He deliberately helped cover up Pat’s death”… someone who has a heartfelt desire to help families would not have been involved in the cover-up of a soldier’s death…”
This past Memorial Day, I spoke with Mary Tillman and she said seeing Gen. Stanley McChrystal on the news was “like rubbing salt in a wound.” Unfortunately, this old general just won’t fade away; now he’s making the rounds of the talk show circuit peddling his book.
In the past, I used to have a grudging respect for McChrystal when he simply refused comment on the Pat Tillman story. But, if McChrystal won’t be candid about his controversies, I feel he ought to take the advice of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who offered up a barbed assessment of how the White House had “spun” the Bin Laden raid: “I have a new communications approach to recommend … Shut … up.”