General Stanley McChrystal to Retire
General Stanley McChrystal, who was relieved of his command of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan following publication of a damaging and controversial Rolling Stone profile, has announced to the Army that he plans to retire soon, The Washington Post reports.
An Army spokesman, Col. Tom Collins, said McChrystal, 55, notified the service of his plans on Monday but has not yet submitted formal retirement papers. It is not clear when the general will leave the service, but the process usually takes a few months.
The Rolling Stone piece, by freelance reporter Michael Hastings, generated substantial buzz on the Internet after Politico and Time magazine published it in toto before it even appeared on Rolling Stone‘s website (moves that themselves drew criticism from media pundits). In the aftermath, President Obama relieved McChrystal of his command, and controversy continued as The Washington Post and ABC News published stories that, citing unnamed military sources, challenged the integrity of Hastings’ reporting. The publications have since defended that decision.
In the aftermath of the profile, The New York Times‘ David Carr questioned whether the hype surrounding the McChrystal profile was warranted, given that the factual assertions in the piece do not appear to reveal McChrystal as insubordinate.
