Thread by @LaFleurDelSur

The late, great Michael Hastings (2013) on good reporting and the mainstream press:

"It's so difficult to get the real news into the paper, into the magazine ... the editors make it difficult." (10:39)

The late, great Michael Hastings on good reporting and the mainstream press:

"The Pentagon press team is just that - they're the press team FOR the Pentagon." (10:58)

The late, great Michael Hastings (2012) on good reporting & the mainstream press:

"The media has played a role here in protecting ... & promoting ... & mythologising David Petraeus [while] ... not addressing the REAL problems with [his] record." (14:49)

The late Michael Hastings (2012) re "The Operators":

"I think we went totally off track ... Now ... we find ourselves in a quagmire. ... The mistake the WH made was underestimating the desire & will of the Pentagon to escalate the war in Afghanistan."

The late Michael Hastings (2012) re "The Operators":

"... crazy guys running around the world, figuring out best ways to kill people ... That's what this book is about: after a decade of war, what sort of people rise to the top, & how do they get there?"

The late, great Michael Hastings (2012) on Obama's drone policy:

"So he [Obama] enshrines
- killing people &
- spying on journalists
as the two major tenets of his national security state.
I think this is outrageous." (18:25)

The late Michael Hastings (2012) on 'Sitting down with #Assange':

"I felt #Assange was a fascinating figure. I could relate ... to when the govt starts to really criticise your work. And I'd been out there defending @wikileaks and what they were doing."

The late Michael Hastings (2012) on 'Sitting down with #Assange':

Int: What's he like?

MH "He's cool! [but also] isolated, vulnerable, and broke. He hasn't been charged with anything - they're just allegations."

The late Michael Hastings (2012) on 'Sitting down with #Assange':

"The govt is trying to flip Manning to testify against Assange ... to say [they] committed espionage. As a journalist who reports on classified info, this is completely outrageous." (5:33)

The late Michael Hastings (2012) on the press role in persecuting #Assange:

"By distancing themselves from Assange, by criticising his hygiene, his ego, by essentially disowning him, they have made easier for the US govt to ... attack Assange." (5:59)

The late Michael Hastings (2012) on the press re #Assange:

"[Saying] "he smells" or "has holes in his socks" - I could name you 25 other Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists who have those same issues but they would never be treated that way." (7:10)

The late, great Michael Hastings (2012) on the press and #Assange:

"If #JulianAssange worked for the New York Times, he would have got a Pulitzer Prize." (7:10)

The Rolling Stone interview of #JulianAssange by the late Michael Hastings:

Final para:
Q: When do you think you’ll be able to regain that freedom to [travel & do your work]?
A: In relation to the United States, we’ll have to wait for the revolution.

rollingstone.com/politics/polit…

After the death of Michael Hastings, @kgosztola published (18 June 2013) his retrospective take on the Rolling Stone article:

"Hastings, unlike many other journalists, took seriously the fact that the US government had decided to target Assange."

shadowproof.com/2013/06/18/rer…

@kgosztola A good analysis of issues related to the suspicious death of Michael Hastings, at 33yrs, can be found in the @CorbettReport, which includes the tweet Hastings sent to @Wikileaks shortly before his death.

That video has a link to extensive show notes.

@kgosztola @CorbettReport @wikileaks POSTSCRIPT:
What was the story Michael Hastings was working on at the time of his death?

Fox News reported (14 Aug 2013):

foxnews.com/politics/journ…