Promoted to
brigadier general on 1 January 2001, he served as assistant division commander (operations) of the 82nd Airborne Division from June 2000 to June 2001, including duty as Commander, Coalition/Joint Task Force Kuwait, part of
United States Army Central, in
Camp Doha,
Kuwait. From June 2001 to July 2002 he was chief of staff of
XVIII Airborne Corps, including duty as chief of staff of
Combined Joint Task Force 180, the headquarters formation contributed by
XVIII Airborne Corps to direct all
Operation Enduring Freedom operations in
Afghanistan.
Commander, Joint Special Operations Command in April 2003, giving a briefing regarding the
Iraq War He commanded the
Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) for five years, serving first as Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command, This position he describes as commander of Task Force 714 in his autobiography, a force which has been identified as the
JSOC high-value targets task force. Nominally assigned to
Fort Bragg, North Carolina, he spent most of his time in Afghanistan, at
U.S. Central Command's forward headquarters in
Qatar, and in Iraq. In Iraq, he personally directed special operations, Early successes included the capture by JSOC forces of
Saddam Hussein in December 2003. He was promoted to
lieutenant general on 16 February 2006. McChrystal's Zarqawi unit,
Task Force 6-26, became well known for its interrogation methods, particularly at
Camp Nama, where it was accused of abusing detainees. After the
Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal became public in April 2004, 34 members of the task force were disciplined. McChrystal later said that, "we found that nearly every first-time
jihadist claimed Abu Ghraib had first jolted him into action." He also said that, "mistreating detainees would discredit us. ... The pictures [from] Abu Ghraib represented a setback for America's efforts in Iraq. Simultaneously undermining U.S. domestic confidence in the way in which America was operating, and creating or reinforcing negative perceptions worldwide of American values, it fueled violence". McChrystal was also criticized for his role in the aftermath of the 2004 death by
friendly fire of Ranger and former professional football player
Pat Tillman. Within a day of Tillman's death, McChrystal was notified that Tillman was a victim of
friendly fire. Shortly thereafter, McChrystal was put in charge of paperwork to award Tillman a posthumous
Silver Star for valor. On 28 April 2004, six days after Tillman's death, McChrystal approved a final draft of the Silver Star recommendation and submitted it to the acting Secretary of the Army, even though the medal recommendation deliberately omitted any mention of friendly fire, included the phrase "in the line of devastating enemy fire", and was accompanied by fabricated witness statements. On 29 April, McChrystal sent an urgent memo warning White House speechwriters not to quote the medal recommendation in any statements they wrote for President
George W. Bush because it "might cause public embarrassment if the circumstances of Corporal Tillman's death become public." McChrystal was one of the first to caution restraint in public statements, until the investigation was complete. McChrystal was one of eight officers recommended for discipline by a subsequent Pentagon investigation, but the Army declined to take action against him. According to
Pulitzer Prize-winning
Washington Post reporter
Bob Woodward, beginning in late spring 2007 JSOC and CIA
Special Activities Division teams launched a new series of highly effective covert operations that coincided with the
Iraq War troop surge of 2007. They did this by killing or capturing many of the key
al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq. In a
CBS 60 Minutes interview, Woodward described a new special operations capability that allowed for this success, noting that it was developed by the joint teams of CIA and JSOC. Several senior U.S. officials stated that the "joint efforts of JSOC and CIA paramilitary units were the most significant contributor to the defeat of al-Qa'ida in Iraq." Journalist
Peter Bergen also credits McChrystal with transforming and modernizing JSOC into a "force of unprecedented agility and lethality," playing a key factor in the success of JSOC efforts in subsequent years and in the success of the war in Iraq.
Director, Joint Staff McChrystal was considered a candidate to succeed General
Bryan D. Brown as commander of
U.S. Special Operations Command in 2007, and to succeed General
David Petraeus as commanding general of
Multi-National Force – Iraq or Admiral
William J. Fallon as commander of
U.S. Central Command in 2008, all four-star positions. Instead, McChrystal was nominated by
George W. Bush to succeed Lieutenant General
Walter L. Sharp as
director of the Joint Staff in February 2008, another three-star position. Normally a routine process, McChrystal's
Senate confirmation was stalled by members of the
Senate Armed Services Committee who sought more information about the alleged mistreatment of detainees by Special Operations troops under McChrystal's command in Iraq and Afghanistan. After meeting with McChrystal in private, the Senate Armed Services Committee confirmed his reappointment as lieutenant general in May 2008 and he became director of the Joint Staff in August 2008. and McChrystal in the Oval Office in May 2009
Commander of US and ISAF forces in Afghanistan With his 10 June 2009, Senate approval to take command in Afghanistan, McChrystal was promoted to
general. Shortly after McChrystal assumed command of NATO operations,
Operation Khanjar commenced, marking the largest offensive operation and the beginning of the deadliest combat month for NATO forces since 2001.
Afghanistan assessment made public McChrystal submitted a 66-page report to
Defense Secretary Robert Gates calling for more troops in
Afghanistan, saying "We are going to win." That became public on 20 September 2009. McChrystal warned that the war in Afghanistan might be lost if more troops were not sent, but the report ends on a note of cautious optimism: "While the situation is serious, success is still achievable."
Recommended troop increases in April 2010 In 2009, McChrystal publicly suggested between 30,000 and 40,000 more troops were needed in
Afghanistan, as the lowest risk option out of a number of possible troop level changes. He was advised by White House Staff not to present troop increases to "defeat the Taliban", but to "degrade" them.
Scott Ritter, former Chief UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq, stated at the time that McChrystal should be fired for
insubordination for disclosing information that he should have said only in private to the President of the United States.
New York magazine refers to the leaked report as the "McChrystal risk" as it boxed Obama into a corner about boosting troop levels in Afghanistan.
Rolling Stone article and resignation In an article written by freelance journalist
Michael Hastings ("The Runaway General", appearing in
Rolling Stone magazine, July 8-22, 2010 issue), McChrystal was not quoted as being directly critical of the president or the president's policies, but several comments from his aides in the article reflected their perception of McChrystal's disappointment with President Obama after their first two meetings. According to
Rolling Stone, McChrystal's staff was contacted prior to release of the article and did not deny the validity of the article, although senior members of his staff dispute this, and have accused Hastings in
Army Times of exaggerating the seniority of aides quoted and breaking the
off the record trust of private conversations between him and the aides. Hastings told
Newsweek that he was quite clearly a reporter gathering material, and actually bemused at the degree to which soldiers freely spoke to him. A report by the Department of Defense inspector general finds "Not all of the events at issue occurred as reported in [Hastings's] article." The statements attributed to McChrystal and members of his staff drew the attention of the White House when McChrystal called Vice President Biden to apologize. McChrystal issued a written statement, saying: Biden's call to President Obama to tell him of the apology prompted Obama to request a copy of the profile and then to summon McChrystal to attend in person the president's monthly security team meeting at the White House in lieu of attending via secure video teleconference. During a meeting with Obama on June 23, two days before the article was released to newsstands and only one day after it was released online, McChrystal tendered his resignation, which the president accepted. Obama's statement on the topic began as follows: "Today I accepted Gen. Stanley McChrystal's resignation as commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. I did so with considerable regret, but also with certainty that it is the right thing for our mission in Afghanistan, for our military and for our country." Later that day, McChrystal released the following statement:
Retirement Shortly after his removal from command in Afghanistan, McChrystal announced that he would retire from the Army. His retirement ceremony was held on July 23, 2010, at
Fort McNair in Washington D.C. During this ceremony, McChrystal was awarded the
Distinguished Service Medal by
Army Chief of Staff Gen.
George Casey and the
Defense Distinguished Service Medal by
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
Pentagon inquiry Hastings and Eric Bates,
executive editor of
Rolling Stone, repeatedly defended the accuracy of Hastings' article. An inquiry by the
Defense Department inspector general found no evidence of wrongdoing by McChrystal or his military and civilian associates. The Pentagon report also challenged the accuracy of Hastings' article, disputing key incidents or comments reported in it. ==Post-military career==