A Pentagon inquiry into the magazine profile that led to the retirement of Gen. Stanley McChrystal could find no evidence that would confirm what was written in the Rolling Stone article.
As we reported back in June, McChrystal was summoned to the White House and relieved of his position as top commander in Afghanistan, after Rolling Stone ran a piece titled "The Runaway General" that described McChrystal and his staff as making disparaging remarks about officials in the Obama administration.
The New York Times reports on what the Defense Department's Inspector General found:
The inquiry, which the Defense Department's top investigative body began last fall, disputed key incidents or comments as reported in the article.
"Not all of the events at issue occurred as reported in the article," the inspector general's review stated. "In some instances, we found no witness who acknowledged making or hearing the comments as reported. In other instances, we confirmed that the general substance of an incident at issue occurred, but not in the exact context described in the article."
Rolling Stone said it stands by its story. Responding to the report, it said the Pentagon had offered no "credible source – or indeed, any named source – contradicting the facts as reported in our story, 'The Runaway General.'"
The magazine notes that when the story hit print, McChrystal's immediate response was to issue an apology.
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