Talk:Michael Hastings (journalist)/Archives/2016

Conspiracy theorist cited

Article cites a known conspiracy theorist Kimberly Dvorak as a source for the citation claiming "some described the circumstances surrounding the crash as suspicious."

Also, article cites that same source claiming a "death threat" by an "unnamed staffer" mentioned in "Hastings book, “The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan,”".
Neither is true.
Firstly, so called "unnamed staffer" is named 18 times in this excerpt alone - he is "Jake McFerren, a retired Army colonel and longtime McChrystal friend and confidant". Secondly, he apologized.

"A few minutes later, McChrystal and I started talking again. Jake interrupted.
“Sorry about threatening to kill you,” Jake said.
It was the first time anyone in the group had acknowledged the blow­out on Friday night.
“Yeah, geez, the guy is just trying to do his job,” McChrystal said.
“No worries. Like I said, it happens all the time, but yeah, you’re probably the highest rank to do so,” I said. I laughed, and they didn’t."--89.146.143.253 (talk) 21:09, 20 August 2016 (UTC)

I am on record multiple times on this page as being against inclusion of the conspiracy speculations, and I wouldn't mind seeing all of them removed at this late date. Including the disingenuous "consistent with cyberattack" claims of Richard Clarke, who was promoting a book on cyber-warfare when Hastings died. -Jordgette [talk] 22:39, 20 August 2016 (UTC)

I also feel that the recently added quote from The Operators is entirely inappropriate. -Jordgette [talk] 16:42, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

Criticism of Hasting's book is worthless here, and I'm skeptical of proscribing citation of Dvorak, even when she's published in high quality outlets, based on an article from Mother Jones. Agree completely with Jordgette though: I've removed the text from that section and shortened it to make it far less prominent in the section on his book. -Darouet (talk) 17:05, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

Also, the implication that Clarke said those things just to promote his book is ludicrous. He writes books full time now, and despite his professional participation in the US War on Terror at the highest levels, has repeatedly criticized aspects of US anti-terrorism or war policies. -Darouet (talk) 17:09, 26 August 2016 (UTC)