XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: jukesimpson@msnbc.com   
      
   It won't matter to the MSM cunts.   
      
   Three years into the disappearance of Bowe Bergdahl in   
   Afghanistan, Michael Hastings — the journalist whose reporting   
   cost General Stanley McChrystal his job — wrote a Rolling Stone   
   story on the missing soldier, a piece which the magazine called   
   “the definitive first account of Bowe Bergdahl.”   
      
   Hastings, who died in a car accident in Los Angeles in June   
   2013, had unparalleled access for that story.   
      
   He spoke to Bergdahl’s parents, who had by that time stopped   
   talking to the press, following “subtle pressure” from the army,   
   and he quoted from emails the young soldier had sent to them,   
   documenting his growing disillusion with the war and the US   
   military.   
      
   Hastings also spoke to several unnamed men in Bergdahl’s unit —   
   soldiers who, we now know, had to sign a strict nondisclosure   
   agreement forbidding them from discussing the soldier’s   
   disappearance and search with anyone — let alone one of the top   
   investigative journalists in the country.   
      
   'Michael and Matt both worked really, really hard on that story,   
   and I know for a fact that they did it in a way that completely   
   angered the US military and the US government.'   
   But most controversially, Hastings’ piece revealed what has been   
   the subject of much debate and vitriol over the last few days:   
   That a disillusioned Bergdahl had actually abandoned his post   
   and “walked away.”   
      
   At the time of the story’s publication, the media had all but   
   forgotten about Bergdahl — who was released on Saturday after   
   five years in the hands of the Taliban, in exchange for five   
   Guantanamo prisoners. And, with the exception of some initial   
   chatter, Hastings’ piece, which paints a deeply unflattering   
   picture of Bergdahl’s unit and its leadership, hardly had the   
   impact of some of his other investigations.   
      
   But someone did pay attention to it: the FBI.   
      
   That, at least, is what was revealed in a heavily redacted   
   document released by the agency following a Freedom of   
   Information Act (FOIA) request — filed on the day of Hastings’   
   death — by investigative journalist Jason Leopold and Ryan   
   Shapiro, an MIT doctoral student whom the Justice Department   
   once called the “most prolific” requester of FOIA documents.   
      
   The document, partially un-redacted after Leopold and Shapiro   
   engaged in a lengthy legal battle with the FBI for failing to   
   fulfill its FOIA obligations, singles out Hastings’ Rolling   
   Stone piece — “America’s Last Prisoner of War” — as   
   “controversial reporting.” It names Hastings and Matthew   
   Farwell, a former soldier in Afghanistan and a contributing   
   reporter to Hastings’ piece.   
      
   'If this deployment is lame, I’m just going to walk off into the   
   mountains of Pakistan.'   
   The document also included an Associated Press report based on   
   the Rolling Stone piece, and what it identifies as a “blog   
   entry” penned by Gary Farwell, Matthew’s father — which actually   
   appears to be a comment entry on the Idaho Statesman’s website.   
      
   “The article reveals private email excerpts, from [redacted] to   
   his parents. The excerpts include quotes about being ‘ashamed to   
   even be American,’ and threats that, ‘If this deployment is   
   lame, I’m just going to walk off into the mountains of   
   Pakistan,’” the FBI file reads. “The Rolling Stone article   
   ignited a media frenzy, speculating about the circumstances of   
   [redacted] capture, and whether US resources and effort should   
   continue to be expended for his recovery.”   
      
   'I’m happy the FBI is reading Rolling Stone on the job.'   
   The FBI file — as well as a Department of Justice document   
   released in response to Leopold and Shapiro’s lawsuit — suggests   
   that Hastings and Farwell’s reporting got swept up into an   
   “international terrorist investigation” into Bergdahl’s   
   disappearance.   
      
   A spokesperson for the FBI told VICE News that the agency does   
   not normally comment on pending investigations and that it lets   
   FOIA documents “speak for themselves.” The investigation was   
   still pending as of last month, Leopold said.   
      
   According to the files — and a rare public statement by the FBI   
   following Hastings’ death — Hastings was never directly under   
   investigation by the agency, despite having pissed off a lot of   
   people in very high places.   
      
   But it is not exactly clear why Hastings and Farwell’s   
   “controversial” reporting made it into a criminal investigation   
   that was already active before they even wrote the Rolling Stone   
   story.   
      
   'The FBI says Hastings was not a target of their investigation   
   but his reporting was. How do you investigate someone's   
   reporting without investigating them?'   
   “Michael and Matt both worked really, really hard on that story,   
   and I know for a fact that they did it in a way that completely   
   angered the US military and the US government, and while other   
   reporters were steering away from it, they were totally on it,”   
   Leopold told VICE News. “The FBI was investigating this, whether   
   they were investigating Michael or investigating the story, and   
   there was a lot of fear around it, because they characterized   
   the story as ‘controversial’ — whatever that means.”   
      
   “Then the question became, why was the FBI looking at this, what   
   were they looking at?” Leopold added. “The FBI says Hastings was   
   not a target of their investigation but his reporting was. How   
   do you investigate someone's reporting without investigating   
   them?"   
      
   Farwell declined to discuss the details of the file, but told   
   VICE News, “I’m happy the FBI is reading Rolling Stone on the   
   job.”   
      
   He had not known that his name, and his father's, showed up in   
   the FBI's files until Leopold pointed it out to him. Leopold   
   told VICE News: "When I showed Matt these files he was like, oh   
   my god, this is basically outlining my conversations."   
      
   Farwell said: “When it first came out it was just Michael, and   
   Jason was like, ‘Hey dude, this has your dad in it.’ And I was   
   like, ‘Oh shit, they're talking about me in these redactions,   
   that's weird.’ Anyway, I signed a privacy waiver and sent it out   
   to Jason."   
      
   Entire paragraphs in the FBI documents remain redacted — leaving   
   many questions about the scope of the investigation into the   
   journalists’ work. But the un-redacted sections about Farwell   
   characterize him as a 10th Mountain infantryman, who helped   
   broker a meeting between Hastings and — presumably — some of the   
   sources for the Rolling Stone story.   
      
   Now that Bergdahl is free, the lid on Pandora’s box has been   
   lifted.   
   In his comment on the Idaho Statesman's site, also picked up in   
   the FBI file, Farwell Senior comes to Bergdahl's defense after   
   the Rolling Stone article sparked backlash against the soldier,   
   of a similar sort that we are seeing today. He also credits his   
   son for brokering Hastings’ meeting with the Bergdahls.   
      
   “I’m going to excuse that young kid for his choice of words, but   
   I’m not going to excuse the leadership of his outfit, nor the   
   misguided policies of our government in Afghanistan and   
   elsewhere which have put our young people in harms way without a   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)