Michael Hastings' death was right after Snowden decided to become a whistleblower. Any connection?

30  2016-03-19 by [deleted]

[deleted]

20 comments

Check this article out. It's a little bit newer so there are a few more insights as to who could possibly have benefited.

At the time of his death, Hastings had been working on a story about CIA Director John Brennan. The president of Strategic Forecasting Inc. (“Stratfor”), a CIA contract global intelligence firm, has described Brennan in secret emails as someone on a “witch hunt” of investigative journalists. Brennan, of course, has denied these claims: a CIA spokesperson told reporter Kimberly Dvorak in an email that notwithstanding WikiLeaks, “any suggestion that Director Brennan has ever attempted to infringe on constitutionally-protected press freedoms is offensive and baseless.”

Does any one remember the intel guy that was seen on video stumbling around like he had been drugged? They later found his body in a dumpster and ruled in a "homocide" - but the story just got forgotten.

Supposedly he was the one that took down the network that stole 8 nuclear missiles back in 2007.

What I dont get is his wife defends the establishment and rules out any uncertainty over the cause of his death.

Most people can't even consider that someone they know could be targeted in the way Hastings probably was. They have no clue as to the excesses of the military budget, and how people far less vocal even than Hastings have met similar "opposition". The deep state grew so fast, and people can't learn that fast. They just can't grasp that America isn't here anymore.

people far less vocal even than Hastings have met similar "opposition".

Oh, really? Do tell.

The deep state grew so fast, and people can't learn that fast. They just can't grasp that America isn't here anymore.

Well, except for you. Amirite?

do tell.

Soon enough.

Except for you

No there are many others.

remember she and Hastings were separated, living apart in different cities.

it seems Hasting got honeypotted, that new friendly female neighbor.

yeah and it seems the love of his life died in Baghdad in 2007. He wrote a book about it.

one of his last sunday morning political shows, Hastings was losing it big time, stressed out and upset, nobody covering his back.

somebody was playing him like a fish, then they reeled him in and crashed his car or simulated it.

Or so you wildly speculate.

Seems possible his wife's opinion is more informed than yours. She was married to him. I'm going to go with her opinion before random people on the internet who didn't know Hastings at all, but who do have an ax to grind and an agenda to push.

Fair point

There's no evidence that Hastings was connected with the Snowden leaks. Definitely no trail leading to Glenn Greenwald or Laura Poitras. Supposedly he was in the midst of an investigation of Jill Kelley an a lawsuit by her filed against the DOD and FBI.

But this was after he'd revealed secrets that destroyed General David Petraeus' career. So if you're assuming an assassination angle, payback for that would seem more likely.

McChrystal, his derogatory Obama comments, thats what likely did for Hasting, ruined McChrystal's chances at going into politics.

remember McChrystal was the top SOCOM general at the time, brutal counter insurgency expert with many friends. combat soldiers skill sets that sometimes get used back home after wars are lost.

Hastings was made the example of to bring all the rest of the US journalists into line, put the fear into them. their phones were tapped, and other methods used to scare them.

their phones were tapped

Just to reply to this section of your comment, I'd like to point to the tapping of Associated Press' main trunks in 2013 during their investigation of James Risen's sources for a book he wrote in 2005.

http://www.npr.org/2013/05/14/183810320/justice-department-secretly-obtains-ap-phone-records

I'd like to point to the tapping of Associated Press' main trunks

Main trunks? What's your source for this? It's not in the linked article.

The AP's phones were not tapped. The Justice Department collected phone records, like who called whom, what time, for how long, pursuant to a criminal investigation. That's not phone tapping and the calls themselves were not listened to.

In May 2013, Obama’s Justice Department informed the Associated Press that it had, over a period of two months, seized records for more than 20 phone lines associated with the agency’s staff. Soon after, it seized phone records and e-mails between a Fox News reporter and a State Department contractor. It has investigated the relationship between multiple New York Times and Washington Post reporters and their government sources.

[emphases mine]

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/03/james-risen-anonymous-source-government-battle

Hastings was made the example of to bring all the rest of the US journalists into line, put the fear into them

Or so you wildly speculate.

their phones were tapped,

You just made that up.

and other methods used to scare them.

You are making up a lot of stuff here.

he'd revealed secrets that destroyed General David Petraeus' career.

No. He didn't.

one of his last sunday morning political shows, Hastings was losing it big time, stressed out and upset, nobody covering his back.

somebody was playing him like a fish, then they reeled him in and crashed his car or simulated it.

Fair point