Usually when reporting on powerful public figures, the press advisor and I would have had a conversation that established what journalists call 'ground rules,' placing restrictions on what can and cannot be reported. — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
General David Petraeus was so successful at getting on covers of magazines, having journalists fall in love with him, that in fact he was able to use that power to go around the normal chain of command. — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
I have a deep-seated skepticism about the morality of violence. Violence is almost always morally corrosive. — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
The humanitarian argument is so selective I find it difficult to swallow. It's not even so much about the choice as to where we… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
If Bill O'Reilly is calling you a far-left critic, in my book, no matter what your political persuasion is, that's probably - that probably… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
I'm post-cynical on this stuff. I look at the El Salvador model as the glory days: Why don't we just fund the death squads… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
Whether or not Afghanistan would be a peaceful nation-state had we not gone into Iraq I doubt. Afghanistan is going to be Afghanistan, no… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
One of their major initiatives was getting all officers on Facebook. So the question is, why are these people who are there to train… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
It was interesting watching the Afghanistan war review deliberations, this three-month process where Barack Obama did the most thorough foreign policy review ever by… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
Inside the White House there were always extreme amounts of doubt about whether they should be escalating in Afghanistan. In fact, most of the… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
The State Department is essentially... I was going to use the word useless. But I don't know if that's correct. — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
If someone tells you something is off the record, I don't print it. If they don't tell me something is off the record, then… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
If you polled the military in Afghanistan as to how many think we should be there or not, the numbers would probably be similar… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
Afghanistan would have been difficult enough without Iraq. Iraq made it impossible. The argument that had we just focused on Afghanistan we'd now be… — Michael Hastings Copy Share Image
