Rolling Stone Author Michael Hastings: McChrystal Knew Comments Were On the Record

In this March 28, 2010 photo, President Barack Obama is greeted by Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal as he arrives at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.

/ AP

Michael Hastings, the author of the Rolling Stone profile that has put the job of the top military general in Afghanistan in jeopardy, said in an interview with CNN Tuesday afternoon that "it was all very clear it was on the record."

"I had a tape recorder and a notepad in my hand most of the time," he said. Speaking from Kandahar, Hastings added that "there were parts that were off the record that I didn't use."

Hastings said he heard from Gen. Stanley McChrystal's team that there were "fear and concern about parts of the story" before it came out, and that he believed that McChrystal's risk-taking nature resulted in his taking the "calculated risk" of giving a Rolling Stone reporter such access to his inner circle.

Hastings said he was "completely taken aback" by some of the strong comments offered about members of the administration.

"I suspected it, obviously, that there were tensions there," he said. "But the candor in which they were delivered from the minute I arrived in Paris was extraordinary. Most of the material that we use in the story takes place in Paris happened within 24 or 48 hours of me arriving there....this is right off the bat."

Hastings, who is currently embedded with U.S. forces in Afghanistan, ended up spending ten days in Paris and Berlin with McChrystal after getting "stuck" with them because of the volcano in Iceland, according to an interview he gave NBC.

He said the men drank for nearly the entire bus trip from Paris to Berlin.

"They let loose," Hastings said. "I don't blame them; they have a hard job."

MORE COVERAGE:

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Will McChrystal Be Fired? White House Says "All Options Are on the Table"

Top Democrat David Obey Calls for "Dangerous" McChrystal to be Relieved of Command

McChrystal, Staff Disparage Team Obama

Washington Unplugged: Fallout From General McChrystal Comments

Ambinder: The McChrystal Fallout

General McChrystal Clearly in Four-Star Trouble

Gates: McChrystal Made a "Significant Mistake"

Hamid Karzai Backs McChrystal amid Uproar

McCain, Lieberman, Graham: McChrystal Comments Inappropriate

McChrystal Apologizes for Critical Remarks

Pictures: General McChrystal and President Obama

[love2ridend]

Mike Wallace proclaimed that if he were traveling with enemy soldiers he would not warn U.S. soldiers of an impending ambush. This is how reporters feel about our military.

[thadius5]

Get with the program General.........or GET LOST! You should be a patriot, fighting for America, or you should leave the military. Believe in what you are doing 100% or quit!

[dprice123-2009]

McChrystal knows that this war is over for us....time to pack up, come home and never return.

[documemts]

He didn't deserve the job to begin with. He was the one who was part of the cover-up on Tillmans' friendly fire shooting. Rotten apple from the beginning.

[ladyang]

Paris to Berlin, that's about 12 hours, That fool was blitz! He would have said anything if he was drunk! No excuse, take your punishment like a man - general!

[RobAla]

The General exercised poor judgment, and he will probably pay for it. On the other hand, President Obama has exercised poor judgment continually on a daily basis since he has been in office. I can't imagine the frustrations of working for him.

[velma179]

The difference is that McChrystal's poor judgment is verifiable in any objective thought process. Obama's poor judgment is just your opinion.

[riptide213]

Punji stick politics.

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred political battles without a single loss.

If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may politically win or may lose.

If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always politically endanger yourself.