R.I.P. Micahel Hastings 1980-2013

As some of you may know one of our countries most important young journalists died in a car crash on 6/18/2013. He apparently lost control of his car at a high speed causing him to hit a tree and his car to explode multiple times bursting into flames. Michael Hastings was probably most well known for his take down of one of the countries most popular Generals. Stanley McChrystal was running the war in Afghanistan at the time and thought it would be cool to have a reporter from Rolling Stone follow him and his crew around so he could impress his son by getting on the cover. Little did he know he asked a journalist with a significant amount of integrity and dedication to the truth to profile him. Michael didn't become enamored with McChrystal's power and suck up to him for access. He saw things he found to be truly abhorrent behavior from a war superstar that the media loved but many boots on the ground soldiers were skeptical of. One particular brand of skepticism came from the family of Pat Tillman who knew how despicable Stanley McChrystal could be because his fingerprints were all over the cover up of Tillman's death. The infamous article that resulted in President Obama forcing McChrystal's resignation is called "The Runaway General" (linked here but originally in Rolling Stone). Michael also expanded his war reporting from this article into a book called "The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story Of Americas War In Afghanistan". This book was one of the most important books about the war in Afganistan because it gives you an insight into war fatigue and the concept of counter insurgency from an outsiders point of view.

In all of the obits of Michael Hastings you will read (except New York Times) he will be described as fearless, courageous, dedicated to truth, refuses to cozy up for access, and also a super nice guy. It bums me out that he died because we have so few journalists who care more about the truth than they do access. So few journalists who aren't scared to stand up to government power and corporate power. Every time he appeared on television you could feel his passion. One of my favorites is when he went after David Patreus on the Piers Morgan Show.

Michaels last piece before his death was a BuzzFeed article called "Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans". 

There are also still some questions and disinformation surrounding Hasting's death and the days before his death. Hasting's contacted Wikileaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson right before he died to notify her that he was being investigated by the FBI. He also sent a similar email to some of his friends and sources. He said he was working on a big piece about the NSA and would need to "lay low" for a while. Cenk Uygur and his crew at The Young Turks are continuing to look into the specifics of Hasting's death reporting them independently. 

There are still obviously unanswered questions. There is one thing to be sure of, America lost a great journalist and writer WAY too soon. R.I.P. Michael Hastings forreal! 

Michael also wrote two other books-- I Lost My Love In Baghdad & Panic 2012: The Sublime and Terrifying Inside Story of Obama's Final Campaign (E-Book only).