he finished it right before he went on the embed with general stanley mcchrystal.said earlier, that story became a big firestorm. he received a contract to write a book based on that embed and his experiences in afghanistan. and this was kind of put aside. he always thought he would publish it. he always thought it was a very important message. but he was a very busy, prolific guy. >> absolutely. we really appreciate you being here and sharing his work with us and with the world. ely elise jordan, thank you so much. elise is going to stick around and answer questions after the show. you can watch that on the krystal continued on thecycle.msnbc.com. a sneak peek on a gripping new doc on notorious crime boss whitey bulger. >> whitey's just staring at me and just grinding his teeth. he said, "i'll kill you. i'll stab you and then i'm kill you." i'm like, holy jesus this is interesting. it says here that a woman's sex drive increases at the age of 80. helps reduce the risk of heart disease. it seems that 80 is the new 18. grannies, bless your heart, you are bringing se

this as former commander stanley mcchrystal is defending the sometimes deadly, dangerous missions under searched for the captured soldier. >> anyone who serves has a responsibility to the people they serve with, but also, we as a nation have a responsibility to those who serve. so, i think if we raise this discussion up and we say we've got a service member for whom we are responsible, the answer's pretty clear, then we also should look at sergeant bergdahl, and he had responsibilities as well, and i think they should review that and see whether we are meeting those responsibilities on both ends. >> yes, no american needs to be left behind. then again, it goes again to that he needs to be accountable for his actions, accountable for what he did, and he needs to stand trial. >> bitterness of some of his former colleagues when they talk about him. the military has made clear it plans to talk with bergdahl once he's well enough to recount what happened first and what he went through later, but this morning he's still in a u.s. military hospital in germany. that's where our senior internati

retired general stanley mcchrystal tells yahoo! news it is too soon to charge sergeant bergdahl as a deserter. >> we have to wait and talk to sergeant bergdahl and get his side of the story. one of great things about america is we should not judge until we know the facts. and after we know the facts, we should make a mature judgment on how we should handle it. >> let's get the latest from nbc's tracie potts in washington, d.c. tracie, good morning. what are we learning about that closed door meeting this morning? >> reporter: we're learning that some lawmakers were completely convinced by the evidence that the administration presented and some were not and they were most vocal. after this briefing that lawmakers say really should have happened before bergdahl was released. sergeant bowe bergdahl appeared fairly healthy and alert in this taliban video, but in another video shows the congress behind closed doors, lawmakers say he appeared tired and sick, barely responsive. perhaps drugged. some lawmakers agreed it was enough to justi

because they recognize that they are among the most dangerous -- >> well, here's what stanley mcchrystal said today, general in charge of our forces in afghanistan when bergdahl disappeared. here's what he had to say today. >> leave americans behind, that's unequivocal. anyone who serves as a possibility to the people they serve with. also we as a nation have responsibility to those who serve. >> so you can question whether or not these five were legitimate in exchange for bergdahl, but the american military who actually knows how to defend our country is out there every day, understands the risk, got behind this deal. because if whatever takes -- >> i believe what happened in this deal was the president of the united states said, and susan rice said, we're going to get this guy back and we're going to pay whatever the price is and the price is going to be exorbitant, particularly because as newt says, these guys are going to be waging war against us from qatar. and to the extent you think we'll be monitoring all of that, you know, these are people who have access to encrypted technology

. >>> retired general stanley mcchrystal tells yahoo! news it's too soon to judge sergeant bergdahl as a deserter. >> we're going to have to wait and talk to sergeant bergdahl and get his side of the store richlt one of the great things about america we shouldn't judge until after we get the facts. >> let's get more facts from nbc's tracie potts in washington. good morning to you. what are we learning about this closed door meeting? >> reporter: we're learning after that meeting some lawmakers were convinced that the administration did the right thing and the others, the most vocal, were not convinced. they spoke out after this briefing, a briefing that they expected before all this happened. sergeant bowe bergdahl appears fairly healthy and alert in this taliban video. in another video shown to congress behind closed doors, lawmakers said he appeared tired, impaired sick barely responsive, perhaps drugged. some lawmakers agreed it was enough to justify president obama's quick order to get bergdahl out without consulting congress first.

investigated because ofhis reporting, a report that led to president obama's decision to fire stanley mcchrystal, who is the commanding general of all the u.s. forces in the afghanistan war. some reports at the time of the crash referenced the claim about the fbi brian shapiro and others prove otherwise. the mit students turned up an fbi document that singles out the reporting on sergeant bergdahl and his unprecedented access to the family. the fbi labeled the report as controversial. not only detailing his discontent with the military, but also highlights the negotiations with the taliban for his release and hastings was passed in. u.s. officials have offered to swap five of the 3000 afghan prisoners being held by american forces. and they began to gravitate away from the unit. they spent more time with the afghans than they did with the platoon. his father recalling that time would later describe this as psychologically isolated and hastings wrote this. >> in the early morning hours of june 30, according to soldiers in the unit, he approached his team leader on after he got off guard duty and

leave no soldier behind, and this is a point that's been repeated in recent days by general stanley mcchrystal, commander in 20009, he said the same thing, forces go missing, we rescue them, you settle questions how they went missing after the fact and that's the president's position. >> new issue of "time" magazine, i'll put the cover up on the screen, viewers can see it. a headline, simple headline, was it worth it? there it is right now. you've got all of your reporters, a lnt lengthy analys. was it worth it. >> we don't know yet. a number of people in the country and congress is skeptical. no one's disagreeing with the principle, we don't leave a soldier behind. the question, was the cost too high, freeing five taliban prisoners denied release before because of secret and top secret information about the possibility return to the battlefield and was the process appropriate, not telling congress, following the law, using a statement of the president 2007 during a campaign he wasn't going to use as a way of getting this done. >> were they surprised, based on your reporting, time magazine rep

. >>> retired general stanley mcchrystal was the retired general at the time that bergdahl vanished and broke his silence today. he was asked if he thought it was the right call to swap the taliban commanders for the safe return of bergdahl, he was asked if he would have done the same thing, this is what he said. >> we don't leave americans behind, that is unequivocal. now we'll hear discussion on the mechanisms. i'll leave that to the critics. but what i will say is it leaves the great issue, responsibility and service. first, anyone who serves has a responsibility to the people they serve with. but it also, we as a nation have responsibility to those who serve. so i think if we raise this discussion up and we say we have a service member for whom we are responsible the answer is pretty clear. and then we also should look at sergeant bergdahl and he had responsibilities, as well. they should review that and see if we're meeting these responsibilities on both end. >> general mcchrystal urged the critics not to judge him until the facts are in. he defended the extensive search efforts, y

best known nor 2010 profile in rolling stone of generally stanley mcchrystal, top commander then in afghanistanarticle entitled, the run away general, not only capturing the challenges of staying the in afghanistan, also disparaging remark that the general made about top white house officials. though hasting he didn't know the impact his art cal would have, he was fired days later. >> i believe it is the right decision for our national security. it undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system. >> more pressing is mcchrystal's information about bowe bergdahl, who no one had heard about yet. now hastings book has been released posthumously. it's about the rush to the war in iraq in 2003. joining me right now is michael hastings widow, elise jordan. she's a republican strategist at the national review, and a former speech writer for condoleezza rice. >> thank you. michael hastings joined me on hardball in 2012. here's what he had to say about the futility of keeping u.s. forces in afghanistan. >> 99% of the people we fought and killed in afghanistan,

regard office all of that, an american soldier, bergdahl, deserves to come home, even general stanley mcchrystal, who we know is not a big obama fan, said we should not be judging the soldier. >> i think we're going to have to wait and talk to sergeant bergdahl and get his side of the story. one of great things about america we should not judge until we know the facts. and after we know the facts, then we should make a mature judgment how to thanl. >> handle it. members of congress do not think the brass can take care of this. for congress to suggest they know more than the military brass is an outrage. it's an insult. republicans they're not supporting the troops. they're attacking the troops. they think our generals are idiots and can't figure out what happened to this guy and they don't want to give him time to do it because they hate obama so much. republicans are disenginesoudis. one person supporting the troops, president obama. he is standing behind his decision. >> i make absolutely no apologies for making sure that we get back a young man to his parents and that the american people unde

a 2010 "rolling stone article" on general stanley mcchrystal, the u.s.nder in afghanistan, sparked a political controversy after mcchrystal and his aides were quoted making disparaging remarks about top administration officials. the article exposed longstanding government discord over the afghan war's direction and led to mcchrystal's firing. >> one year after his death, hastings' reporting has made waves once again. in 2012, hastings wrote a major piece for rolling stone on the american prisoner of war, army sergeant bowe bergdhal. at the time, hastings thought it was the most important story of his career. in 2012, he spoke to "russia today" about bowe bergdahl's case. >> etiquette is the most significant and undercovered story from the american perspective, a story about the only prisoner of war left for these two wars. in a normal circumstance, he because cause cÉlÈbre, of the way he was captured, he has been buried for a variety of reasons. excuse me,drove -- as to what drove bowe bergdahl to leave, first, i he was a 23-year-old kid who joined the a

general stanley mcchrystal, according to your own poll it's split 50/50 in the country.sraelis gave up 1027 prisoners for one soldier. we gave up five. i mean, we always give up more in these things than they do because we have a different value on human life. i'm troubled. >> the israelis never gave up anybody for a deserter, number one. that goes flying out the window. we do. >> that uniform code of military justice, he will be subjected to that. if is he a deserter, that's a crime. >> that's right. he is going to be tried for it. >> we will determine that. >> i will will tell you why we know it, just so you and your own little world can become clearer. >> >> all right. classified report on the man. if that classified report had cleared him, you know damn well the obama administration would be running around and trumpeting it all over the place. >> again, that will be determined. we have a sophisticated system, military justice in this country. >> we got it, that will be determined by them. >> what do you say, kate? >> well, first of all, there have been five years to

. >> you know, interesting, krystal, stanley mcchrystal is a critic of the deal. listen. >> we don't leave americans behind. that's unequivocal. anyone who serves has a responsibility to the people they serve with, but also we as a nation have a responsibility to those who serve. we've got a service member for whom we're responsible, the answer is pretty clear. >> i mean, we're adults. come in the room like general mcchrystal and say things like this, will this end this kind of back and forward? >> i think the american people are going to move on from this. i think they're glad he's home. one last point and general mcchrystal was alluding to this. the conversation over whether or not bowe bergdahl der deserted has no place here. we don't pick and choose which joerld weers going to make sure we retrieve. we can answer those questions through an investigation. those questions will be answered. but we don't leave anyone behind. we don't question their actions, don't say we liked them, we didn't like them so we not going to go after them. we bring them back, that's ou

general stanley mcchrystal and general wilkinson. now, distinguished adjunct professor at the college of william & mary. mark, i'll begin with you. you worked on some of these issues with petraeus in the bush administration. in iraq, let's just take the example of iraq, not even talking about taliban. in iraq, all of that was conducted under the normal laws of war. there were insurgents who tried to kill american troops, who blew up marines with ieds, who were taken and released back. am i correct? >> if you take a look back at the arguments during the early phase of the iraq war, there are going to be people in conflict who do bad things. look even further back, this is when larry was at the state department, take a look at the arguments over the taliban and al qaeda. there were nazi ss officers during the second world war who were treated as prisoners of war. if they were war criminals, tried and in many cases executed. a lot of the problems we see with detainees today is a result of the failure to abide by international rules. >>

. >> when he was a clear hero or clear deserter, general stanley mcchrystal, u.s. commander of forces in afghanistan at the time, said we don't leave americans behind. does it matter which one he was? >> i think that principle we don't leave americans behind, everyone will agree with. it's also true we don't pay any price. so the debate is over whether the price was too high, both in the way obama went about this by using his article to authority and ignoring a clear law of congress, or by releasing five detainees, in time we've reported that there were a number of people against releasing these people because of secret and top secret intelligence, suggesting they could be a danger in the future. we'll find out in several years what became of these people. but it wasn't as if these were five taliban leaders who there were no concerns about. there were significant concerns about and that's where the debate is. >> what's interesting, richard, all good points that michael brings up, particularly this in is a nuance case. it was a nuanced decision to make the trade und

called "the runaway general" won a george polk award and resulted in the resignation of general stanley mcchrystalmichael's book "panic 2012" took a scythe not just to the re-election campaign of the sitting president, but also to the press corps that tries to make its own bones every four years by covering campaigns like that according to the campaign's own rules. in "panic 2012" michael hastings turned to the phrase "off the record" into an epithet that damned the newsmakers but also the journalists who accepted those terms. his book about the iraq war and death of his american fiancee, my friend, andi parhamovich. that book was a heartbreaking and personal story about the war and about that personal relationship. but even then, michael's reporting pulled no punches and spared no feelings when it came to apportioning blame for why that attack happened. and now, a year since he's been gone, and michael's work turns out is back at the center of the news. it turns out, no surprise, it's as upsetting and as relevant as ever and it's happening on two different stories at the same time. first, there's

and that's a point that's been echoed by former general stanley mcchrystal in an interview yesterday said the same thing, we have to bring these guys home. and then when they get home, if there's a question about desertion, then you go through an investigation, a legal process then. >> so joe, the president is showing some public passion today. the white house is also engaged in a sort of behind-closed-doors lobbying campaign. last night sending officials up to capitol hill to talk to senators. to show them the video of bergdahl that they saw in december which they say caused them to be so concerned about his health. senators, though, many of them don't seem convinced. >> reporter: right. this was a video that was apparently recorded right around the time of the death of south african president nelson mandela. in that video, senators said bergdahl appeared gaunt. he had trouble speaking, and there was some indication for american officials that he was sick. however, people who were watching the video told us last night, in their view, he also could have been drugged. so there's a dif

. >> general stanley mcchrystal, the former commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan, today he gave an interview to yahoo! news in which he reinforced the military, and the thoughts that you leave no soldier behind on the battlefield, said it was the right thing to do, and said any questions about sergeant bergdahl's contact that led to his capture should be settled as a separate matter. i imagine that sergeant mcchrystal's words will have an impact on this debate. but from your position on capitol hill and having seen the way this went today, you describe this as an electoral environment in which this is being discussed. what do you think happens next here? where do you think this is going? >> well, what happens next is that the information that we've been waiting for comes out. i mean, it's really stunning that people are making their own determinations on the circumstances of bergdahl's departure, when we haven't gotten any of the necessary information to try to make that determination. not the least of which is hearing from bergdahl himself.

general stanley mcchrystal said the same thing. and as long as we're speculating, let's be honest.i were the white house right now, given the intensity of the republicans in congress and their desire to scuttle the president on anything, and frankly, politicize every issue of national security, i would wouldn't trust them either to go to them with this and not leak it, to be completely frank. and i think that was the white house's concern. they were warned that if this was leaked, the taliban would kill bergdahl. and frankly, i think that that's not a risk you want to take. >> you think that's fair? they told senior leadership if you leak this, the kid is going to get killed, do you think they would have leaked it? >> i don't think so. but i don't think is about republicans and democrats there are a lot of service members who served with bergdahl who are coming forward to talk about this because they see a strategic issue. during the bush presidency, then senator obama often raised serious questions about the bush administration's strategy. and when you're talking about releasing a

he previously advised both general stanley mcchrystal and general david petraeus and served on the staff of the senate armed services committee. we will start with mr. andrews. you have five minutes, sir. you will need to turn on the microphone, that little button in front of you. >> thank you, mr. chairman, ranking members and members of the subcommittee. >> if you would, mr. andrews, sorry to interrupt, but get the microphone right in front of you. >> i'm andy andrews, father of second lieutenant darryl andrews who was killed in afghanistan while in the process of searching for bowe bergdahl. his first tour in afghanistan was in 2004 as an enlisted soldier. he developed a medical condition that required surgery so he was sent to germany and then back to the states. he applied to the program, he was accepted into it and enrolled in 2006 at texas state university to complete his master's degree. while enrolled in rotc. he was commissioned as second lieutenant in the u.s. army, stationed at ft. benning, georgia, then briefly at ft. richardson, alaska, before being sent to afghanistan in a

. >> reporter: the former head of joint special operations commander stanley mcchrystal weighed in during an interview with "yahoo! news." well, we don't leave americans behind. that is unequivocal. there will be a lot of discussion on whether the mechanism for getting sergeant bergdahl was right and i'll leave it to people to argue that. >> reporter: this issue is a long way from settled. the closed door senate meeting was held in the hope the administration could tamp down some of the criticism for the prisoner swap but among those senators we heard from afterward it did not appear the white house was able to change any minds. >> joe johns, thank you so much and starting us off this morning. continue our coverage. we are learning the white house isn't just dealing with blowback from bergdahl's release but it prepared for the criticism but officials tell cnn the attacks on bergdahl himself and his family caught the administration by surprise. cnn's jim acosta is traveling with the president in brussels. what more are you learning, jim. >> reporter: the white house expected the release of

stanley mcchrystal who commanded u.s.hl disappeared is commenting on the release. he spoke in an interview with yahoo! news. watch this. >> after sergeant bergdahl, then-private bergdahl came up missing, we did a huge number of operations to try to stop the taliban from being able to move him across the border into afghanistan. we made a great effort and put people at risk in doing that. that's what you should do. that's what soldiers do for each other. it wasn't the wrong thing to do. i think we're going to have to wait and talk to sergeant bergdahl now and get his side of the story. >> thanks to an unlikely source we have new details of sergeant bowe bergdahl's disappearance that the pentagon doesn't want you to know at least not yet. wikileaks obtained a classified report. brian todd has been combing through that report. what are you finding out? >> wolf, these documents show the taliban very early on know they've gotten a gold mine with bowe bergdahl and tried to bargain with him. top-secret reports also show how conf

he advised stemming the -- stanley mcchrystal and david petraeus. he has served on the armed services committee. you have five minutes. you will need to turn on the microphone. >> mr. chairman, ranking members of the subcommittee's. andrews, atuld, mr. the microphone right in front of you. >> i am the father of sergeant killed in the process of looking for sergeant bergdahl . he developed a medical condition that required surgery. he was sent to germany and then back to the states. he applied to a program and was accepted. at texased in 2006 state university to complete his master's degree while enrolled in rotc. he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the united states army. the forto f -- alaska being sent to afghanistan in april of 2009. we were able to talk to darren by telephone whenever he would call. his birthday is on the third. he told us that they had been out looking for the last 24 hours for the soldier who had walked away. i asked if the soldier had been captured while on guard duty. he said that he did not think so. all that his

he advised stemming the -- stanley mcchrystal and david petraeus. has served on the armed services committee. you have five minutes. you will need to turn on the microphone. >> mr. chairman, ranking members of the subcommittee's. >> if you would, mr.

organizations like the joint special operations command under general stanley mcchrystal transformed themselves into a network itself. best debris technologies were sourced in places like silicon valley advanced analytics and transformed how we close with and destroyed our adversaries. now as this nation currently washed its hands of over a decade of bloody war we find ourselves all too eager to dismantle the same innovative organizations that played such a critical role in bringing us back from the brink. problem is that there is a new crop of threats coming up, a new crop of adversary threats. while we have those of us who paid a heavy price to learn lessons in counterinsurgency, while we have struggled to retain them against those who believe america will never again be involved in a dirty ground war, these new threats to gaining ground. the american system of global economic prosperity is underwritten by our security and international patronage and guarantees and there are three revisionist nations that seek to roll back guarantees. and carve out regions of dominance. these natio

he advised stemming the -- stanley mcchrystal and david petraeus.e has served on the armed services committee. you have five minutes. you will need to turn on the microphone. >> mr. chairman, ranking members of the subcommittee's. >> if you would, mr. andrews, at the microphone right in front of you. >> i am the father of sergeant andrews, killed in the process of looking for sergeant bergdahl. he developed a medical condition that required surgery. he was sent to germany and then back to the states. he applied to a program and was accepted. he enrolled in 2006 at texas state university to complete his master's degree while enrolled in rotc. he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the united states army. he went to f -- alaska the for being sent to afghanistan in april of 2009. we were able to talk to darren by telephone whenever he would call. his birthday is on the third. he told us that they had been out looking for the last 24 hours for the soldier who had walked away. i asked if the soldier had been captured while on guard duty. he said t

wrote for rolling stone to i wrote for rolling stone for many years, did the piece that got stanley mcchrystalrom the general who was commander of the armed forces there, fired because of his and his stats kind of raucous anti-white house carousing and badmouthing of the president and the vice president and all of that. obama as you know that they fired him for this insubordination. michael by the way died last year in a car crash, a horrible loss for journalism and for people who care about dead innocent civilians in various parts of the world. so i can talk about the afghanistan work that we did and the conclusions that we came to, but suffice it to say that the afghanistan government which is by and large a joke didn't do any counting at all. the ngo's didn't have the resources to even begin the process. the united nations tried to do the best and really didn't succeed because, although i guess they came the closest, because of limitations that they faced. and the u.s. military, which started out, as tommy for exploded on afghanistan saying we don't do body counts. eventually moseyed around

four years ago to the week, general stanley mcchrystal was forced from his job after that "rolling stonestings died one year ago tomorrow in a tragic car accident. joining us now writer and political commentator elise jordan who joins us with her late husband's previously unpublished novel "the last magazine." welcome. >> great. thanks for having me on. >> tell us about the book. >> it's about the dirty underbelly of journalism. it is a satire of a news magazine during the run jump to the iraq war and it's harshly critical of the establishment voices who were very pro-iraq war and for reasons and, suddenly, their support went out the window when the war went down the tubes. so that's kind of -- it's just his -- benting his frustration and how he felt that the media really played a very negative role in the run-up to the war on iraq. >> john? >> your husband died in this tragic car crash and became the subject of a lot of conspiracy theories and craziness. among the terrible things you had to go through in losing him you then had to live in this weird vortex everybody in the world was spe