1:30:34 So, um... I'd like to... Wait wait we got one more topic i want to get to. Oh! I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Uh...so Petraeus Did you notice that there- here's an interesting thing. McChrystal resigned by the way he's out Yeah, I heard that and and they're letting him resign as a this is exactly what we said We said he was gonna resign He'll never have to buy himself another beer ever again because people love him the people who understand what he was actually doing as a patriot Although he was completely misdirected And they let him resign as a four-star general which he actually I guess. He wasn't the four star general long enough to technically
1:31:12 be able to resign with that accommodation. But now he gets a bigger pension yeah, so and the bigger pension these guys resigned people said why didn't he just resign if you didn't like it? You have this convoluted theory that he had to do all these things to get kind of get kicked out So I know where you're going and I think we should play this CNN piece from your blog actually from Dvorak.org slash blog of...I think you're going towards Laura Logan Well, I wasn't headed toward Laura Logan. But Laura Logan was part of the whole thing... Yeah she actually was stunned! Everyone's on her case because she stupidly made some negative commentary about the guy Hastings article on McChrystal that got him fired
1:31:57 And she was befuddled by the whole thing saying this doesn't work this way. In fact, she went on and on with about how they don't decide it's just impossible for what you're doing play a little bit of her because I thought it was interesting so Matt Taibbi uh... who was the guy who's written in Rolling Stone magazine about to Goldman Sachs which of course made no impact on Washington same magazine and another great writer he said you know this is bull crap that he actually says that lara logan you suck was a title of his article and now i'll give me my thoughts on that in a minute but here she is on CNN I guess saying she's befuddled about how this could actually take place
1:32:35 The Rolling Stone piece that ended General McChrystal's career raises an intriguing journalistic question. Could this have happened with a military beat reporter? Joining us now is the woman with plenty of experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, CBS' chief foreign correspondent Laura Logan. Welcome! If you had been traveling with General McChrystal and heard these comments about Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Jim Jones, Richard Holbrooke would you have reported them? It really depends on the circumstances. It's hard to know here, Michael Hastings if you believe him says that there were no ground rules laid out and I mean that just doesn't really make a lot of sense to me because if you look at the people around General McChrystal If you look at his history he was the Joint Special Operations Commander He has a history of not interacting with the media at all And uh...his Chief Of Intelligence Mike Flynn is the same I mean I know these people they never let their guard down like that To me something doesn't add up here I just don't believe it
1:33:26 When you are out with the troops and you're living together, sleeping together is there an unspoken agreement that you're not going to embarrass them by reporting insults and banter? Yes. Tell me about that. Absolutely! There is an element of trust What I find is the most telling thing about what Michael Hastings said in your interview his manner is pretending to build an illusion of trust and he's laid out there what his game is. That is exactly the kind of damaging type of attitude that makes it difficult for reporters who are genuine about what they do, I don't go around in my personal life pretending to be one thing and then being something else. I find it egregious that anyone would do that in their professional life
1:34:13 I take that to the point of even when i apply to interview someone about something difficult and they want to know the areas in the interview, I might not say well we're going to spend a whole interview on this but I will list that. I will list that controversial issue. You don't want to blindside them? Because... So what she's basically saying is... She's married to a Blackwater guy you know Oh there ya go! So what she's basically saying is, you know if if you uncover something You need to keep it off the record and protect your relationship so that you can continue to have a relationship and report She continued not to give us any news. So when I saw him And these are both linked to both this video and Matt Tabies column who says this is what's wrong with journalism in In the world and he's right Oh yeah But see they're both wrong
1:34:57 They both missed the point, is that this was a setup. It was a setup! Right... The point that we make on this show which is that the whole thing was an obvious set up they actually she actually confirms it but she doesn't know she's confirming it right? She's bitching about the article, but what she's complaining about is actually telling you that this couldn't have possibly happened unless it was meant to happen. Exactly! She never says that... But because she's not thinking in those terms. But what this game- Crystal couldn't be like, oh why didn't he just quit if he hated the situation? He couldn't, he'd be quitting with three stars and would be very dubious and look like a quitter, look like a coward
1:35:34 I mean, he just couldn't resign. It was impossible! He would put himself into a hole so he could get out and what is apparent... First he leaked the memo which is insubordination they wouldn't kick him out on that then he does something else then finally does this ridiculous interview which makes him look like a complete insubordinate So they have to make a deal to get him out of there Which they do give them an extra star and tell him to get lost He's happy, he got accomplished what he needed to accomplish And if nobody thinks this wasn't a complete fake set up even though even Hastings may have not known it but whatever the case was just listening to her she pretty much says this guy doesn't talk to anybody why is he, why's this guy this freelancer hanging around for a month and partying. And the Pentagon has
1:36:24 That's what Matt Taibbi writes, has 30 thousand people in their PR department. Yeah he says they have a budget of over 3 billion dollars in PR? Thirty thousand people! And then this just got through some... oops oh we slipped up didn't we? It doesn't make any sense No and now we know that were just going to be in Afghanistan longer Yeah, and of course they bring in a course. I got this just you know I as you know I'm not a fan of Petraeus But if you want to read something dig up the portrays article that was written in the daily cost in 2007 where they blast betray us Betray us for having for one thing having one of these valor medals with a V on it yeah, all right start with a V on which means he had to have been killed or shot or something or wounded or
1:37:13 or having you know, they say he's never discharged his gun in a war zone. He's covered with medals from head to toe and people are talking about most people that are high up say you don't have to wear all the medals even if they're not all required if you have certain like Uber medals that count for half of the medals underneath them You know, these ribbons. And you can take off the ones below but no this guy has to look like I've said it before and the military people who listen to this show can say whatever they want about it He looks like a Generalissimo in the Banana Republic with all these things hanging off of him. And now all it's missing is the big giant hat that has got the big top, you know that hat they wear with all the scrambled eggs all over it Why does he wear that? I guess he has to take his hat off It's ridiculous this guy! I hope people see...I hope what we discuss on this show makes people at least question some of this