Pentagon clears Gen McChrystal of wrongdoing

WASHINGTON (PAN, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was sacked last year after the publication of an article in the Rolling Stone magazine, has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

A Pentagon investigation, whose report was made public on Monday, disputed the accuracy of the article, in which McChrystal made derogatory remarks against US President Barack Obama, and other top officials of his administration.

“The evidence was insufficient to substantiate a violation of applicable DoD (Department of Defense) standards with respect to any of the incidents on which we focused,” said the Pentagon report.

“Not all of the events occurred as reported in the article. In some instances, we found no witness who acknowledged making or hearing the comments as reported. In other instances, we confirmed the general substance of an incident at issue occurs, but not in the exact context described in the article,” it added.

Rolling Stone defended its story by arguing that the report by Pentagon’s inspector general offered no credible source – or indeed, any named source – contradicting the facts.

“Much of the report, in fact, confirms our reporting, noting only that the Pentagon was unable to find witnesses ‘who acknowledged making or hearing the comments as reported.’ This is not surprising, given that the civilian and military advisors questioned by the Pentagon knew that their careers were on the line if they admitted to making such comments,” the magazine said.

“Asking unnamed sources to reveal their identities strikes us as an exercise in futility. Rolling Stone stands by our story, which is accurate in every detail. We also note that Gen. McChrystal’s own response to the story was to issue an apology, saying what was reflected in the article fell ‘far short’ of his personal,” the magazine added.

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