Is Gen. McChrystal The Best Man For Afghanistan?

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GUY RAZ, host:

For weeks now, the debate centered on whether to send in more troops as the top U.S. commander, General Stanley McChrystal, favors, or whether to scale back the mission, something Vice President Joe Biden is set to support. Now, military officers, analysts and politicians here in Washington regard McChrystal as a highly talented and courageous leader. And when he was tapped to fill the top military post in Afghanistan, the Senate Armed Services Committee confirmed him unanimously.

And yet, according to reporter, Jon Krakauer, who's written a book about the death of NFL player turned army ranger, Pat Tillman, General McChrystal has a credibility problem. And Krakauer wrote about it this week for the online magazine, The Daily Beast.

He explains that back in 2004, General McChrystal knew that Tillman had been killed by friendly-fire, but he didn't report it at the time. McChrystal rushed to write a recommendation that Tillman receive the Silver Star, the Army's third highest medal. So McChrystal put together a package with accounts by eyewitnesses of what Tillman did.

Mr. JON KRAKAUER (Author, "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman"): None of them ever disagreed that the reason he deserved it was because he exposed himself to just this savage machine gunfire to protect a young private under his command.

Now, the fact that this machine gunfire happened to come from Americans in no way lessens his valor, and McChrystal and his team decided that Tillman deserved the Silver Star. But when he submitted the proposal - the Silver Star package to the secretary of the Army, there was no mention of friendly-fire. The thing had deliberately implied that he was killed by enemy fire.

And as a consequence, the secretary of the Army, who didn't know that friendly-fire was the cause of death, approved the metal. And all the press reports -hundreds of them, thousands of them - kept the public in the dark that friendly-fire was the cause of death.

RAZ: You say General McChrystal was involved in a cover-up.

Mr. KRAKAUER: Not only involved; he was at the center of it. He played a pivotal role. You know, in the past, he's made it sound like, oh, yeah, I was sort of peripherally involved and I was handed these documents that I signed for the Silver Star, but I - he claims - this is what he told the Senate. He claims, I didn't read it carefully enough to notice that it didn't mention friendly-fire.

Now, anyone who knows McChrystal knows that's preposterous. He is meticulous. He is known to be perfectionist. I asked a soldier who served under him, can you imagine that he - for a document this important and this high profile - he would not read it carefully enough to recognize that there is no mention of friendly-fire? And the soldier reluctantly said no.

RAZ: Could Pat Tillman still have received the Silver Star even if General McChrystal came out right away and said this was a friendly-fire incident and we're going to give him the Silver Star?

Mr. KRAKAUER: Yes. There's no question. He deserved it. He would have gotten it whether it was friendly-fire or not. So that - you know, it doesn't make sense. You have to ask yourself, why would they cover up the fact it was friendly-fire? That's…

RAZ: Right. Why would they do that?

Mr. KRAKAUER: Well, because this was April 2004. Two or three weeks before Tillman was killed, the Battle of Fallujah started. A couple of weeks before Tillman was killed, the Army, Rumsfeld and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs Staff were notified that CBS was going to broadcast the Abu Ghraib revelations for the first time.

As Kevin Tillman, Pat's brother, who enlisted with him, put it: In a month swollen with political disasters, the Bush administration couldn't stand one more political disaster.

RAZ: Jon Krakauer, you're making a pretty serious allegation here that General McChrystal deliberately played politics.

Mr. KRAKAUER: I'm making that very strong - it's extremely serious, which troubles me because no one takes it seriously. I think there's no denying that the Bush administration attempted and did use Tillman's name for political gain. There's no dispute that McChrystal submitted this fraudulent Silver Star recommendation. What's argued is whether there's any connection between the two.

RAZ: Jon Krakauer, a month ago, you talked with my colleague, Melissa Block, about your new book…

Mr. KRAKAUER: Mm-hmm.

RAZ: …about the death of Pat Tillman.

Mr. KRAKAUER: Mm-hmm.

RAZ: You called General McChrystal quote, "probably the best man for the job in Afghanistan."

Mr. KRAKAUER: I don't argue with people who say he is the most effective commander in the Army. He's done - he's come up with some really important ideas about what to do about cutting down on Afghan civilian deaths, for instance. But I, you know, I have looked into this and there's no doubt in my mind that he has repeatedly lied to the American people, he's deceived the nation, and he has lied to the Senate. He's lied to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

RAZ: But if you're making those allegations and you're saying he's lied, then why does any of it matter if you think he is the right man for the job?

Mr. KRAKAUER: I don't think he should be in the job. I think he is the best man for the job.

RAZ: You don't think he should be in the job?

Mr. KRAKAUER: No. I think what he's done is tragic. It's not just tragic for him. It might be tragic for the country. Here you have who is perhaps the best man for job, who has disqualified himself by this act of deceit - a very serious one. If it wasn't Stanley McChrystal, if it was some field grade officer who no one had heard of, who was found guilty of what McChrystal has done, he would be court marshaled.

RAZ: Jon Krakauer is the author of the new book "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman." You can find his article on General McChrystal at thedailybeast.com.

Jon Krakauer, thanks so much.

Mr. KRAKAUER: You're welcome.

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