Journalist Michael Hastings Dies in Automobile Accident - East Idaho News
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Journalist Michael Hastings Dies in Automobile Accident

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GETTY 61913 MichaelHastings?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1371631387758Paul Morigi/Getty Images for The Guardian(LOS ANGELES) — Journalist Michael Hastings, whose article on Gen. Stanley McChrystal effectively ended his command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was killed in a single-car crash early Tuesday, Los Angeles Police confirmed on Tuesday.  Hastings was 33.

According to the accident report, Hastings’ vehicle crossed a median and struck a tree where it burst into flames.  One witness reported that Hastings’ car was moving at a high rate of speed at the time of the crash.

A contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine, Hastings’ 2010 article, “The Runaway General,” focused on McChrystal’s apparent contempt for his civilian commanders.  Summoned back to Washington, President Obama demanded the general’s resignation, remarking how the conduct described in Hastings’ article “undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system.”

McChrystal was replaced by then-Gen. David Petraeus, regarded as one of the architects for the turnaround of the Iraq war.

Hastings won the 2010 Polk award for magazine reporting for “The Runaway General.”  Also a reporter for BuzzFeed, he leaves behind a wife, Elise Jordan.

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