Pentagon probe clears McChrystal after sacking

A Pentagon probe cleared General Stanley McChrystal of any wrongdoing Monday and cast doubt over the accuracy of a Rolling Stone article that got the former Afghanistan war chief sacked. The Defence Department Office of Inspector General concluded there was insufficient evidence that McChrystal or his staff had violated Pentagon standards, after interviewing several witnesses and reviewing a US Army investigation into the case.
The Army had concluded that McChrystal and his staff had, in fact, made derogatory statements about their civilian superiors. But the inspector general's report found that "not all the events at issue occurred as reported in the article... In some instances, we found no witness who acknowledged making or hearing the comments as reported." Quotes attributed to "sources familiar" with a meeting between President Barack Obama and senior military officers during which McChrystal was said to have though the president looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the Pentagon brass could not be confirmed by the investigation. It also could not confirm quotes attributed to "an adviser" who had allegedly said McChrystal was "pretty disappointed" with Obama after a one-on-one meeting with the president.
The article had described drunken, offensive conduct by McChrystal and his staff at a dinner party in Paris, but the inspector general concluded it was in fact a "celebratory" occasion marking the general's wedding anniversary. Comments that then-national security adviser James Jones was a "clown" and calling late Afghanistan-Pakistan envoy Richard Holbrooke a "wounded animal" also could not be verified.