Six rollercoaster weeks that brought down America's top general by the ROLLING STONE journalist who broke the story - now the inspiration for the major motion picture WAR MACHINE.

'An impressive feat of journalism by a Washington outsider who seemed to know more about what was going on in Washington than most insiders did' New York Times

General Stanley McChrystal, innovative commander of international and US forces in Afghanistan, was living large. During a spring 2010 trip across Europe he was accompanied by journalist Michael Hastings of Rolling Stone, who looked on as McChrystal and his staff partied and openly bashed the Obama administration. Hasting's published piece aroused a political firestorm: McChrystal was unceremoniously fired.

The Operators gives us a shocking behind-the-scenes portrait of Allied military commanders, their high-stakes manoeuvres and bureaucratic in-fighting. Hastings takes us on patrol missions in the Afghan hinterlands and to hotel bars where spies and expensive hookers participate in nation-building gone awry, revealing a hellish complexity and, he fears, an unwinnable war.

Phoenix
Non-Fiction/Current Affairs

The inspiration for the upcoming movie WAR MACHINE, starring Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton and Ben Kingsley (streaming on Netflix from 26 May).

General Stanley McChrystal, the innovative commander of international and US forces in Afghanistan, was living large. Loyal staff liked to call him a 'rock star'. During a spring 2010 trip across Europe to garner additional Allied help for the war effort, McChrystal was accompanied by journalist Michael Hastings of ROLLING STONE. For days, Hastings looked on as McChrystal and his staff let off steam, partying and openly bashing the Obama administration for what they saw as a lack of leadership. When Hastings' piece appeared a few months later, it set off a political firestorm: McChrystal was ordered to Washington, where he was unceremoniously fired.

In THE OPERATORS, Hastings gives us a shocking behind-the-scenes portrait of Allied military commanders, their high-stakes manoeuvres and often bitter bureaucratic in-fighting. He takes us on patrol missions in the Afghan hinterlands and to hotel bars where spies and expensive hookers participate in nation-building gone awry, drawing back the curtain on a hellish complexity and, he fears, an unwinnable war.